Those Plucky Little Redbirds

Some of you may know that I've been a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan all my life, and that I'm always one of those obnoxiously-positive minded fans who always thinks his team will find a way to win no matter what the odds (I just a video of myself from an episode of 'The 5th Quarter,' from my senior year at OU where I literally flipped a coin to decide my pick for the 2005 OU-Texas game... Texas won the game 45-12 and went on to win the national title and be one of the better teams of all time...). Also, baseball is my favorite sport and by February of each year I'm totally jonesing for the National Pastime to get started.

All that being said, come February and March of Ott-8, I was ready for August and OU football without so much as seeing my beloved Cards play a game. Carpenter and Mulder each were recovering from major surgeries and expected to miss half the season. Pujols was hurting and said that even a minor injury would make him choose season ending surgery to his elbow which has hampered him for a few years now. There were guys on the roster with names like Skip, Wellemeyer and Lohse. We replaced a legendary GM by the free-agency era standards. And, unfortunately, Al Hrabowski was still in the broadcast booth.

Now we're in June, and Pujols (the game's best hitter) and Adam Wainwright (our steal we got for JD Drew) are both injured, Carpenter and Mulder have hit snags in their rehabs, guys by the names of Boggs and Pirisi have started games, and Yadier Molina (the most underrated catcher in baseball) got knocked unconscious last weekend and is sitting out a few games). And, yet, entering play today my St. Louis Cardinals, a team picked higher than only the lowly Pirates in the pre-season by most of the baseball minds, is just 3.5 games back of the "mighty" Chicago Cubs team picked by most to go to the World Series for the best record in the National League. And it's not like the NL Central of the past few years (St. Louis won the division in '06 with 83 wins) Only three teams in baseball (the Cubs, Red Sox, and Angels) have better records than the Cards.

Skip Shumaker has become the sparkplug at the leadoff spot that everyone claimed the Cards lost when they didn't re-sign David Eckstein. He's third on the team in hitting and OBP (.309 & .373, respectively), and second in runs scored (43). That's what a lead-off hitter should be doing. Plus, he's been a solid left/center fielder. Rick Ankiel has been a beast in CF, high lighted by his two ungodly throws he made to third base in one game against the Rockies. His hitting has dropped off a little the past 2-3 weeks as he's been hampered with a knee injury, but he's easily the come back player of the year. The platooning middle infielders have been pretty good. No all-stars, but certainly no slouches either (Adam Kennedy, Brenden Ryan, Cesar Isturis and Aaron Miles). And Troy Glaus has everyone forget about the "third-base cancer" otherwise known as Scott Rolen.

Then there's Ryan Ludwick. If he stays this productive all year and the Cardinals stay in the playoff hunt all year and he doesn't get legitimate MVP consideration, I'm asking Arlen Spector to get involved and find out what shady things are going on.

All that being said, this is one of the most compelling baseball seasons I've experienced in a while. If the Cardinals flirt with winning 90 games (which they're totally on pace for), Tony LaRussa should be the unanimous pick for Manager of the Year.

Thats... all I got.