All Cardinals, All the Time!

If you had told me before the year started that the Cardinals would be looking at winning 2 out of 3 from the last-place Cubs in the last series of the year to finish 96-66 and win the division, and if you had told me:

• Chris Carpenter won't pitch an inning.
• Jason Motte won't pitch and inning.
• Mitchell Boggs will pitch terribly for a month, be sent down, and then traded.
• Jaime Garcia will get 9 starts, then be out for the year for shoulder surgery.
• The Cardinals bullpen by the end of the season will feature four rookies in the highest leverage situations (Rosenthal, Siegrist, Maness, Martinez).
• Rafael Furcal will be hurt and Pete Kozma will be the starting shortstop for most of the year.
• Matt Carpenter will be the starting second baseman all year.
• At various times Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina, Allen Craig, Matt Adams, David Freese, and Tony Cruz will all spend time on the DL...

Well, I'd say you were crazy.   But there you go.   That's what a .330 with RISP will get you.   That's what rookie pitchers like the four mentioned above and Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Tyler Lyons, John Gast, etc. will get you.   Arm after arm after arm, with at least five of them touching 96-98 mph.   Wow!

So... it's about 7:15... let's go get us a pennant!