Don't Panic! (Or Should We?)

Let's get last night's game out of the way. There's not a lot of positive things to say about it, and I hate to dwell on the negative.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the Cards have only rallied from down three runs twice this year, so once Blaine Boyer allowed that extra run in the third, you could just about pack it in.  The problem with last night's game is that there just wasn't much to recommend it, either on the positive side or the negative side.  Well, Chris Perez had a terrible night, but nobody really thinks that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  Most everyone wound up with a hit last night, but never at a time where it mattered.

In fact, the most exciting part of the night may have been when Colby Rasmus doubled (on a pretty tough pitch) and came around to score the first run of the evening.  Rasmus is one of the only outfielders hitting at the moment, so it would seem he needs to be in there just about every day, and I think that's what we'll see for a while.

Again, though, the middle of the lineup has been the biggest problem.  It does little good for Albert Pujols to hit anything short of a home run, because lately the three guys behind him aren't going to get him in.  Ryan Ludwick epitomized this last night, going 0-4 and leaving three men on base.  The pitching staff, for the most part, is hanging in there, but this offense hasn't been up to snuff.

Not surprisingly, there's been a lot of talk about what should be done.  Bernie Mikalsz thinks it's time for John Mozeliak to be bold.  Joe Strauss has his opinions.  It was a major topic on last night's UCB Radio Hour and in the chat room during the show.  Everyone thinks something should be done, even if they aren't sure what or how desperately it needs to be done.

There is the line of thinking that the Cards don't need to panic, that they are only a game out in the NL Central.  This is very true and I wouldn't recommend that Mo just give away the farm for a marginal talent.  However, I'm wondering if things aren't a little worse than the standings indicate. 

The run of great pitching at the end of May kept the Cards in the race.  If they'd pitched even at a normal rate, there's a likelihood they'd have lost 2-3 more games than they did, pushing them closer to four games out.  That would put them tied with the Cubs for third and just a game over .500.

Now, obviously they didn't lose those games and they are still in the hunt, but with the pitching being a little less than dominant over the past few days, there comes a time where the offense has to step up or the slide will be pronounced.

On the side of not rushing, the Cardinals's schedule is in their favor.  After today's tough matchup, the Cards get four with a bad Colorado team that has already lost their manager, three with Florida, who sit under .500 even with their very strong April start, and three with Cleveland, last in the AL Central.  That gets the Cardinals to the middle of the month and their next off day.

Mozeliak probably should make a move by then, though, because the rest of June is the Tigers, the Royals, the Mets, the Twins and the Giants.  That's a stretch where the offense really needs to be clicking.

Tonight should be another low scoring game due to the quality of the pitchers that are going.  Aaron Harang goes for the Reds, and after a down year last year, he's bounced back to his normal ace-like level.  He's been hit pretty well in the past by the Cardinals, though, as Pujols and Ludwick both have two homers against him and Skip Schumaker has a .333 average vs. the Cincinnati hurler.

Chris Carpenter goes for the Cardinals and we all know what he's capable of.  The Reds have had fits with him in their history, though a lot of the Reds are young enough that they've not faced the St. Louis ace.  At the least, Carpenter should be able to keep it in the yard, something that was a little difficult last night.

As a final note, many of you have seen that Tony La Russa is suing Twitter, though it looks like he's already gotten what he wanted out of the deal.  I think TLR Twittering would be pretty cool, though.  Imagine getting "Thompson lot of heart, even if he wants to kick puppies" on your feed!