Cardinals in a nose dive.

On a slightly less dour topic, the Cardinals are reeling and appear headed for a painful knockdown. I haven't had a good feeling about this team from the start. The bullpen is weak, our closer is more of a glorified walk machine and our outfield is anemic, even with Edomonds in the lineup. Unless something major happens, we have no chance of winning the world series and I'll say a 50/50 chance of even making the playoffs.

Oh, and I have to get two things off my chest.
First, stop with the stupid curtain calls. When a juiced up behemoth hits 70 home runs, that deserves a curtain call. When Yadier Molina hits his 3rd home run of the year to give us two run cushion in a game that we eventually lose, that does not deserve a curtain call. A curtain call is for a spectacular achievement when the pressure is at its greatest, not to encourage a guy who is struggling. We have cheapened it, and, frankly, it's embarrassing. Soon we'll be demanding curtain calls when Jason Marquis doesn't walk six people in a game.
Second, we have to get rid of the kids singing every single song at the ball game. It was cute for awhile, now it just looks like we are pining away for some faux 1950's wholesomeness. And by the time that we get to the 7th inning and they sing "take me out to the ballgame" and "God bless America", I'm ready to kill myself. The national anthem is a powerful, nearly bombastic song which should be sung by an adult not by a bunch of kids because it's cute. The song deserves our respect, and having some caterwaulling brats who sound vaguely like two cats having sex is not a way to respect it. Have we run out of singers in St. Louis who can do a proper job with it? It can be a moving experience to hear the song before the game and quite frankly, the kids ruin it. The other songs sound cheapened as well by hearing it from the their nasally, whining, pre-pubescent voices, and if you can ruin such a trite (but fun) song as "TMOTTB" then you have really accomplished something. It's not their fault, they are just not up to the job, much like they are not up to fighting our wars. Please, remove the kids and have some Harry Carey impersonator sing "TMOTTB."