The Cardinals' magic number has dipped all the way to 21. The Cardinals have 29 games remaining, 14 of which are at home. The 15 road contests left consist of games in each NL Central city except for Chicago and three in Denver with the Rockies. The Cardinals should probably win eight or nine of those, as the Rockies are the only decent team between them. St. Louis could be tested a bit in their next home stand when the Marlins, Braves, and Cubs come to town, but they're on such a roll right now that it may not matter. The Brewers got spotted a 3-0 lead in the first inning of last night's game, but after that Joel Pineiro kept them in check for just one more run over the next six innings. The offense came to life for the second time in three games, scoring in three separate innings including a couple of crooked numbers in the fourth and seventh. Last night's game showcased the reality of the Cardinals' revamped lineup. Albert Pujols is clearly starting to heat up again, as he hit his second bomb in four games. But Matt Holliday has remained hot for the birds. He took out the "A" in Big Mac Land during batting practice, tying the score between him and Pujols in letters for the year.
In the seventh inning with the go ahead run on second, first base open, and Pujols at the plate, the Brewers decided to hand Pujols the IBB. Seeing as he is 10-19 in his career against current pitcher David Weathers, that probably wasn't a bad move. But Milwaukee then removed Weathers in favor of Todd Coffey to face Holliday, even though Holliday was just 1-of-5 with a stirkeout in his career against Weathers. Coffey's first pitch traveled 416 feet after hitting Holliday's bat, putting the Cards up 7-4. 
The Brewers got to Ryan Franklin for a couple of runs in the ninth, but Holliday's shot held up for the win. With Chris Carpenter going tonight, there's a good chance that we won't see the picture on the right tonight either.
The Cardinals now have a shot at getting homefield throughout the National League playoffs. The Dodgers have slowed down quite a bit over the last month the Cards are now just one game back of La and only three percentage points behind the Phillies for the second best record. The Cardinals should make sure that they allow players like Yadier Molina who's played a lot of innings this year and Mark DeRosa who's battling a wrist injury are fresh for the postseason. But if you can avoid a trip or two to the west coast, it could really benefit the team's postseason chances.
Speaking of the postseason, the Cardinals started to pick up the pace after sprouting some facial hair, specifically on the upper lip. It took Brendan Ryan nearly a month of trying to get one going, but his might be the best on the team now. Once the Cards clinch the division, I'm going to begin growing mine as well. I'll probably be in the same boat as Ryan, struggling at first, but playoff facial hair isn't about looks, it's about winning. In 2006, I grew a Chris Carpenter soul patch and that worked out well, so I figure why not. It should only itch me for about a month and a half.
Keywords: Brendan Ryan, Chris Carpenter, Matt Holliday, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals
