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.

Continue reading "Magic Number Keeps Shrinking, Brendan Ryan's Mustache Keeps Growing"

The Cardinals continued their dominance of the National League Central this week, going 5-1 on a road trip with a blown save on Sunday, meaning it could've been a 6-0 trip. Last night the Cards got a boost from John Smoltz who was rocky early, giving up three runs in the first two innings, but he stuck with it and shut out the Brewers over the next three innings before turning it over to the bullpen. The Brewers had their chances for a knock out blow, but they couldn't capitalize, just as the Cards couldn't do so with runners in scoring position. When a team goes 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and can still grind out a win, that's the make of a championship caliber team. Even when they don't play that well, they win.

Continue reading "Cards Continue September Tear and Recent Sports Oddities"

It's time to make predictions for the NFL season. It should be a bit easier since most of the games from Week 1 are already out of the way. Also, my picks for the week were submitted before the games began, just not here.

Steelers over Titans (was submitted here prior to the game)

Seahawks over Rams

Falcons over Dolphins

Bengals over Broncos (Brandon Stokely, are you flipping kidding me?)

Vikings over Browns

Colts over Jaguars

Saints over Lions

Bucs over Cowboys (Tampa's definitely rebuilding now)

Eagles over Panthers

Ravens over Chiefs (Survivor/Lock of the week)

Texans over JetsContinue reading "NFL Opening Weekend and US Open"