ajkeence99

Well, it's been a while, but if I remember correctly, the Bad News Bears won the championship didn't they?

That's why I said IF he comes back :) He pitched a great game today in Springfield for though and has looked great in all of his rehab. Time will tell.

We will see, I happen to think it will be very close between the 3 teams with only a handful of games separating them at the end. I think the Cards and Cubs will be in the playoffs with the Brewers not making it because of their bullpen and horrible manager. Whoever wins the season series between the Cards/Cubs will win the division with the other taking the WC. That is my prediction. In the playoffs, and this is a big if, if the Cardinals get Wainwright and Carpenter back healthy. I think Carp/Waino/Lohse matchup VERY well with Z/Harden/Dempster and it would probably be a 7 game series.

Yeah, that or you don't want to admit when you are wrong. With all due respect, the standings tend to agree with me. And when the regular season ends, that is all that matters. Not who over/underachieved or whatever else you want to call it. I am sure they will, much like they did last year. When the season ends, if the Cardinals are ahead of the Cubs are you still going to say the Cubs are a better team?

Yeah, that or you don't want to admit when you are wrong. With all due respect, the standings tend to agree with me. And when the regular season ends, that is all that matters. Not who over/underachieved or whatever else you want to call it.

Listen, I'm not going to sit here and split hairs with you on the subject. You obviously are biased because you hate the Cards and that is fine, I understand that. I hate the Cubs just the same but at least am willing to give credit where credit is due.

Look at the run differential. The Cubs' pyth. record is 60-38, the Cardinals' is 53-47. By the way.. the "the Cards would be in first if their bullpen was the same as last season" argument is a pretty weak one. What does last year have to do with this year? If the Rockies played the same as they did last year, they'd be in first place. It doesn't work that way. Anyways, you could also pick parts of the Cubs team (Rich Hill comes to mind) that haven't performed like last season and say "well, the if so and so played like last year, the Cubs would have an even bigger lead over the Cardinals". You can say that with pretty much any team, so it's pretty weak, especially considering your bullpen was pretty flukey last season to begin with. My point was that things change in baseball and excuses can be made for any situation, not that the Cardinals necessarily should be in first right now. At this point in the season, you can't legitimately label a team a fluke anymore. As far as the overachievers on the Cards, I wouldn't label Ankiel a fluke. As he was switching to a hitter from a pitcher he hit everywhere he played. He came up last season and hit very well. He has some holes still and makes some bad plays but he is technically a rookie now. At one point Ludwick was highly regarded and injuries derailed his career until now. He played well last year and improved upon that this year. Wellemeyer came out of nowhere that's for sure. I don't think you can call Glaus an overachiever either. His career averages in injury free seasons are pretty similar to what he is doing right now, he is just finally healthy again. Aaron Miles isn't that great, hasn't been this season. He has been opportunistic and has some clutch hits but either he gets a hit or an out pretty much, his OBP is barely above his BA and his defense leaves much to be desired, and Molina has steadily improved each season since he became the starter. Yes, they are doing more than what was expected at the outset of the season so if that is overachieving then I guess they all are. Yeah that would be the definition of overacheiving. Glaus has been on a downward trend since'02. This year after an offseason where he was implicated as buying HGH, he gets better. Ludwick was going to quit, because he was done. His wife talked him out of it and two years later he is an allstar with you. Ankiel went from pitching to hitting. He has more homers than any Cub. I guess I should expect our wash out stud pitcher Prior to start playing centerfield for us any day now. Aaron Miles isn't a big leaguer, but he is hitting walkoff grandslams for you. So how long do they have to put up these numbers to not be considered a fluke?

That is what I am getting at, thank you. I am not one of those Cards fans coming here waving the whole "The Cubs Are Going To Collapse" deal. I think the Cubs are a good, maybe great, team this season. On paper they look really good, then again, the Yankees usually look good on paper and that doesn't always mean much. What matters is what happens on the field and to this point the Cubs, Cards, and Brewers have been basically equals. I'm not going to lie, I think the Cards are going to win the division. I'm a Cardinals fan, born and raised in St. Louis (USMC, stationed at Camp Pendleton but in Iraq currently), so I will say every year that we are going to win the division and I love to see the Cubs lose. I'm looking forward to going to some games when I return and seeing the Cards in the race for the division.

Look at the run differential. The Cubs' pyth. record is 60-38, the Cardinals' is 53-47. By the way.. the "the Cards would be in first if their bullpen was the same as last season" argument is a pretty weak one. What does last year have to do with this year? If the Rockies played the same as they did last year, they'd be in first place. It doesn't work that way. Anyways, you could also pick parts of the Cubs team (Rich Hill comes to mind) that haven't performed like last season and say "well, the if so and so played like last year, the Cubs would have an even bigger lead over the Cardinals". You can say that with pretty much any team, so it's pretty weak, especially considering your bullpen was pretty flukey last season to begin with. My point was that things change in baseball and excuses can be made for any situation, not that the Cardinals necessarily should be in first right now. At this point in the season, you can't legitimately label a team a fluke anymore. As far as the overachievers on the Cards, I wouldn't label Ankiel a fluke. As he was switching to a hitter from a pitcher he hit everywhere he played. He came up last season and hit very well. He has some holes still and makes some bad plays but he is technically a rookie now. At one point Ludwick was highly regarded and injuries derailed his career until now. He played well last year and improved upon that this year. Wellemeyer came out of nowhere that's for sure. I don't think you can call Glaus an overachiever either. His career averages in injury free seasons are pretty similar to what he is doing right now, he is just finally healthy again. Aaron Miles isn't that great, hasn't been this season. He has been opportunistic and has some clutch hits but either he gets a hit or an out pretty much, his OBP is barely above his BA and his defense leaves much to be desired, and Molina has steadily improved each season since he became the starter. Yes, they are doing more than what was expected at the outset of the season so if that is overachieving then I guess they all are.

You know you are right. Aaron Miles should get way better after he hits the age of 34. Ryan Ludwick should come up after being a career minor leaguer and be an All-Star. Yadier Molina should hit 50 points higher than he ever has. Also did you ever stop to think maybe your bullpen was lucky last year? There is no one in that pen I would want on our team. Not a one. They should suck ass. So should your lineup. Hell so should your rotation. But, per usual your team is overacheiving. So you're saying that no one on the Cubs is overachieving? Edmonds? Theriot? Lilly? DeRosa? No offense, but I already knew the kettle was black. Jokes aside, obviously you are set in your thinking and that's fine, I'm not trying to convince you otherwise.

Every team, every year, has guys who exceed their expectations. The Cubs have them, the Brewers have them, and the Cardinals do. You also have the Cards bullpen, which was very solid last year playing horribly and blowing a lot of games, Chris Duncan (who is finally turning it around) who are underachieving. That's just baseball. While luck is a part of the game, you can't put 14 games over .500 in late July all on luck. If the bullpen had been as solid as it was last season it would be the Cubs looking up at the Cards in the standings right now. All I am saying is, it's far enough into the season that you have to accept a team for what it is and stop making excuses for their success, or lack thereof.

Hey everyone. Cardinals fan here. Just wanted to say that both teams are having a great season so far, heck, include the Brewers in that as well. While the Cubs are the favorites I don't think it is anywhere near a given that the Cubs are going to win the division at this point. With ~60 games left for each team, each of us are one series win, or loss, away from being out of a playoff spot at the point. It's going to be fun the rest of the season but I don't think it's fair to say the Cardinals are lucky or it's some form of pixie dust that is the key to our success. We had a lot of "ifs" coming into the season and luckily a good portion of those have panned out. Carp has a rehab start going on as we speak and has looked good so far and Wainwright should be back soon as well so there is a certain level of optimism in St. Louis. It's anyone's game right now, good luck to all three teams, (But mostly the Cards :hello: )