The once prolific trio has fallen on hard times in the last two years due to injuries and what not. Sure, you can still say that Pujols has been putting up great numbers, but when you cut two heads off of a three headed monster, the last remaining head has a lot of extra weight to pull. Pujols is always great, but he alone does not make the Cardinals a great team. The great Cardinals teams existed when the whole trio was performing at 100%.

I'm not so naive to believe that the performances from last night will become the norm for the rest of the season, but it is still nice to see the core of the team thump the ball. The Cardinals now sit only 3.5 games back of the Brewers and only 2 games back of the Cubs. Somehow, someway both of these teams are going to screw this up and not make the playoffs. The collapse thus far would be inconceivable if it wasn't for the fact that both clubs are consumate losers and feel more comfortable within this realm.

Not only did the three headed monster perform last night, but the Cards got another solid pitching performance from a starter. Joel Pineiro won his second game for the Cards while going 7 innings. He even made a kick save and it was a beaut. The Cards finish up their series with the Brewers this afternoon and then head to Wrigley for four games. Jack and I will be at the game on Saturday, where somehow the high temp is supposed to be 67????? If things go well, the Cards will be in 1st place on Sunday and Jack will be stuck in Chicago because he won't want to hear my gloating for 4.5 hours on the drive back.