The St. Louis Cardinals dropped a heartbreaker to the Chicago Cubs on Friday. Chris Carpenter’s return and a late lead were both spoiled when the bullpen coughed up a game-tying home run in the 9th inning followed by a walk-off base hit in the 11th inning. The Cards’ four-game winning streak was snapped, and they failed to keep added pressure on the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers before their games even started.

It was a brutal loss. But it is far from the worst Cardinals performance of the 2012 season.

In fact, it wasn’t even the worst loss the Cardinals have endured at Wrigley Field this year. For some reason, the Cubs have absolutely owned the Cards when the two teams play in the Friendly Confines in 2012. The Cardinals are now just 2-5 on the season at Wrigley, and four of those Cubs wins have been of the walk-off variety. Maddening? Yes. Shocking? No, unfortunately, it is not.

Frankly, this type of loss has been the hallmark of the 2012 Cardinals. They have dropped a lot of games in their opponents’ final at bat this season. Plenty of arguments can be made about where the blame lies—ineffective bullpen, impotent offense, iffy managing. Maybe a combination of the three is the best answer. Fortunately, these inadequacies don’t surface in every close game. But they’ve shown up enough that we shouldn’t be surprised when the Cards lay the occasional egg at the end of a tight game. The real gut-punch is that this happened with a week and a half left in a season which finds the Cards being chased by a number of teams for their playoff spot.

Every loss this time of year is magnified by about a million, whether it’s a squeaker or a 10-0 drubbing. But finish off one or two of those previous Cubs walk-offs and Friday doesn’t have nearly as much dread attached to it for the Cardinals. They also got no help later Friday night, as the Brewers beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 and the Dodgers downed the Cincinnnati Reds 3-1 in extra innings. Regardless, a number of “heartbreakers” this year put the Cardinals in the position they’re in…not just the events of Friday.

The best thing they can do is get back up to take care of business in the remaining two games this weekend in Chicago, then do the same in Houston next week. A 10-game winning streak is probably a little much to ask from any team, much less these Cardinals. But winning 9 of 10 is in no way shameful, and could be enough to add a game or two to their Wild Card lead.

The bottom line is there’s no reason to get super worked up about Friday’s loss in Chicago, because it happens to this Cardinals team. A lot. They aren’t going to morph into some close game-winning juggernaut at this point in the season. And that may say something about their chances in the postseason—if they make it.

Chris Reed also writes for InsideSTL Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he feels like it. Follow him on Twitter @birdbrained.

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 9-6 Friday afternoon. It was the Cards’ fourth victory over the Cubs in the last eight days, and their seventh win in eight games. But as far as their position in the National League Central standings is concerned, the Cardinals have gone nowhere.

The Cincinnati Reds have a two game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Central, and the Cards find themselves five and a half games out of first place. In spite of the Cardinals’ stellar week-plus against the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers, the “Last 10 Games” record of the top three teams in the division says it all: The Cards are 7-3, the Pirates are 8-2, and the Reds—in the midst of an eight-game winning streak—are 9-1. Now that’s stiff competition.

It also doesn’t help that while the Cardinals are playing the lowly Cubs this weekend, the Pirates are playing the even more lowly Houston Astros and the Reds are playing the equally lowly Colorado Rockies. So while the Cards do have to find a way to win at Wrigley Field no matter what—which isn’t an easy task, no matter how bad the Cubs are—they can expect little to no help from the teams playing their competition. The Cards are not likely to make up any ground this weekend…they just need to keep pace with the Pirates and Reds and hope for some luck.

But the Cardinals have been making their own luck lately as well. They still lead the National League in team batting, OPS, and runs scored. And the pitching has come back to the party with a vengeance. Lance Lynn’s five innings Friday marked the first time this month a Cardinals started failed to pitch at least six frames. And the bullpen was strong for the remaining four innings, highlighted by the Redbird debut of lefty Brian Fuentes—the newest Cardinal struck out two in his debut. The biggest pieces of the bullpen puzzle this year, however, have to be Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte. Boggs has 15 holds and an ERA under two; Motte has 23 saves and an ERA under three. It would seem the eighth and ninth innings are all but a lock when the Cards have a lead. The trick is, of course, getting there.

So what does all this mean? The Cardinals are playing great baseball but not moving up in the standings, and the non-waiver trade deadline is Tuesday. It’s a rough spot to be in. Winning without gaining ground can be frustrating, and the Cardinals obviously cannot afford to lose many games right now. But they don’t seem to have any glaring needs at the moment either. Players are moving, despite the new draft pick compensation rules. Where would a new acquisition fit? The bullpen is getting stronger…the rotation is getting stronger…the lineup is among the best in the league…and many of the bench players are starters on a lot of teams. The Cardinals could perhaps use a “presence” bat on the bench—someone always lurking should a big pinch hit spot come up late in the game. A team can never have too much pitching…but who gets displaced in the event of a trade? And Jaime Garcia is close to starting rehab; he could be back with the Cards in less than a month. Is that like making a trade?

Perhaps the best move is evaluating what happens over the next couple days with not only the Cards but the Reds and Pirates—both on the field and off. Reactionary moves are not necessarily a good idea, but if the other teams make major deals the Cards may have to think about keeping pace. But standing pat would not necessarily be a bad thing either. Continuing to win at a .700 clip will almost certainly get them to the postseason. And with an extra Wild Card berth, the likelihood goes up even more. But the Reds and Pirates don’t seem to be going away anytime soon, so the Cards have their work cut out for them…again.

The 2012 ride is just beginning.

Chris Reed also writes for InsideSTL Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he feels like it. Follow him on Twitter at @birdbrained.

When the New York Giants (57-27) came into St. Louis on July 15, 1954, manager Eddie Stanky knew he had his hands full. The Giants were a very solid team and were playing exceptional baseball. Their pitching was very good, and if the opposition somehow got into the bullpen, they had to contend with the likes of Hoyt Willhem (12-4) and Marv Grissom (10-7), both with ERA’s hovering around 2 runs per game. If that wasn’t enough, manning center field was a young slugger named Willie Mays. Mays would go on to win the first of his two Most Valuable Player awards, the other coming in 1965.

The Cardinals would split the first two of this early summer three game series. They would be shut out in the opener, 4-0, but after nearly blowing a lead late, Ray Jablonski drove in Wally Moon with a 2 out walk off single in the ninth. That set up an exciting rubber game on Saturday.

Royce Lint would get the start for the Cardinals. The rookie left-hander would start the season in the bullpen, and had been shaky at times. He had also been able to work long relief, often 5 innings or more. Thanks to a doubleheader in Chicago on July 4, Lint would make his first major league start and it was a dandy – a complete game shutout at Wrigley Field. That would earn him another start, and he pitched well enough to win, but the Cardinals bats did not cooperate. This game would be his third start, and also the shortest of his brief career, lasting just 1/3 of an inning.

Cot Deal

Three of the first four Giants batters would reach base against Lint. With the score 2-0, Stanky goes to his bullpen for Cot Deal. Deal was a veteran who had been called up several times, but failed to stay with the big club for long. Entering the game in a difficult situation, he gets Willie Mays to hit into a double play, ending the inning without any further damage.

Deal would retire the Giants in order in the second inning, but totally fell apart in the third. Deal would face seven men in that brutal inning, not retiring any of them. A pair of errors by Ray Jablonski, the late inning hero the day before, extended the inning and led to a barrage of subsequent hits and runs.

Ralph Beard would enter the game with runners on the corners and a 7-0 deficit. A pair of fly balls would give the Giants two more runs and a seemingly insurmountable 9-0 lead. Or that’s what the modest crowd at Sportman’s Park thought.

Beard would pitch three more scoreless innings, doing all that he could to give the Cardinals a chance for a comeback. That comeback would start in the sixth inning.

Giants starter, Johnny Antonelli, had been cruising until the Cardinals bats came to life in the sixth inning. And that inning reads like a Who’s Who in Cardinals history: Wally Moon, Stan Musial, Joe Cunningham and Red Schoendienst. The big blow in the inning was a two out double by Red, cutting the Giants lead to 9-5. The Cardinals also managed to chase Atonelli, with Hoyt Willhem taking over in relief.

The Cardinals would pull even closer in the seventh. With Ray Jablonski on first base with two outs, pinch hitter Solly Hemus draws a walk. Pinch hitter Joe Frazier would rip a triple, scoring Jablonski and Hemus. That would be the end of Wilhelm’s appearance, a rare short and ineffective outing. Frazier would not stay on third base for long. A Rip Repulski single brought the Cardinals to within a run at 9-8.

Meanwhile the Cardinals bullpen was just brilliant. The Giants had not been able to mount anything resembling a rally against Ralph Beard, Joe Presko, and the new Cardinals hurler, Al Brazle.

Harry "Peanuts" Lowrey

With the score still 9-8 in favor of the Giants, the Cardinals were about to accomplish the unthinkable. After chasing Hoyt Willhem, they were about to tie the game against the Giants All Star reliever, Marv Grissom. And it was just the kind of run you would expect in a game like this. With runners at first and second base with one out, Joe Cunningham grounded into what looked like an inning ending double play. But the 3-6-3 is one of the hardest to turn, and the Giants failed to do so. Dick Schofield, grandfather of the Washington Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth, scored from second base when a throw went wild, tying the game. Solly Hemus would extend the inning with a single, putting the go-ahead run on third base. Unfortunately, Peanuts Lowrey was unable to drive Cunningham home.

The game would go into the ninth inning tied at 9 runs apiece. Marv Grissom and Harvey Haddix were now the pitchers of record. They would still be on the mound when the Giants took the lead in the 11th inning, and it was a beautifully manufactured run, typical of how that Giants team won many of those 58 games. A lead-off single, sacrifice bunt and infield single would put the potential winning run on third base. That run would score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Don Mueller. Haddix limited the damage to just one run, but that would prove to be enough as Windy McCall retires the now disappointed Cardinals in order in the bottom of the 11th.

Marv Grissom failed to earn the save, but a courageous long relief effort was enough to earn him the win. McCall would pick up the save. Harvey Haddix would take the loss for the Cardinals.

Following this series, the Giants would continue steamrolling over opponents in the National League. They would go on to win 97 games, capturing the NL Pennant by 5 games over their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers. In a workman like fashion, they would sweep the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.

Bob Netherton covers Cardinals history for i70baseball.com and writes at On the Outside Corner. You may follow Bob on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

This was one Felipe Lopez home run away from being a very different looking column. Four days after an eight game winning streak came to an end, the Cardinals seemed poised to let the Cubs sweep a three-game set at Wrigley Field in front of a boisterous ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crowd, which would have extended their run of losses to four.

The first game, a 5-0 loss that Albert Pujols admitted was a “flat” performance by the team, marked the ninth shutout of the year, just one fewer than occurred over the entire 2009 campaign. It was also the first time in Tony La Russa’s tenure as manager in Saint Louis that his team had been shutout in consecutive days. The day before the offense had been stifled by lefty Cole Hamels of the Phillies, wasting a quality start by Adam Wainwright.

The adjective used by TLR to describe Game 2 was “frustrating”. The offense was awakened by the brisk, Friendly Confines’ winds, but missed out on several key opportunities to pile on runs. They lost the contest 6-5.

On Sunday, the energy on Chicago’s north side more closely resembled that of baseball in October than it did a game in the middle of July. A noisy contingent of fans clad in red battled the Cubbie faithful for dominion of every chant. In a year thus far constructed largely of disappointments, and on the day Cub’s great Andre Dawson would be entered into the Hall of Fame, you can bet that the entire Cubs organization wanted this win.

The Cardinals would survive a number of gaffes to earn the win in extra innings, but more than the surrendering of bragging rights, the final game of this series held, in my opinion, far more serious ramifications had they lost.

Allow me to shed the façade of alpha-male sports columnist momentarily in order to offer a relevant philosophical point. In sports and in life there are only two underlying motivations…fear and love. Think about that for a moment. At times it may be a blend of both, but at the very root of every single act there are only these two motivating forces. There are no others.

For much of the first half of the season, the Cardinals have looked like a team operating from a position of trepidation and self-doubt. The seed of lofty expectations that was planted in early spring was at first bearing fruit, blossoming into an April record of 15 and 8. However, shortly after, another driving force began to grow in its place. Untimely strikeouts and an inability to plate runners in scoring position, especially in clutch scenarios, seemed to be eroding a foundation that had not yet rooted itself deeply enough for the 162-game grind. A team that initiated the 2010 season enthusiastically and with fervor suddenly appeared tentative and afraid of failure. If at any point you have competed seriously for sport, or played a musical instrument, you have known this phenomenon and the unsavory results it will normally produce. It is because of this that the “underdog” often has upper hand…i.e. the Cincinnati Reds.

Not only would a sweep at the hands of lowly Cubs have erased the intangible gains of winning eight in row, but it would have put in jeopardy the new swagger that the home team had exhibited since its return from the All-Star break. The Cardinals, for the first time in months, looked like a team playing from the same place that it began the year.

Indeed, had the Cardinals been swept in such demoralizing fashion and by such an unworthy opponent, whatever precious confidence had been achieved would have taken a damaging blow. On a team with such temperamental psyches as players such as Brendan Ryan, Colby Rasmus, and Skip “Nobody Feels Worse” Schumaker, a legitimate concern would have to be that correcting the confidence level of the ball club a second time could prove too difficult, if possible at all.

And if you think Walt Jocketty’s legion of spurned formal Cardinals isn’t playing with a purpose that transcends the fear of falling short, you are fooling yourself.

Justin Adams is a freelance writer and staff writer for i70baseball, as well as Cardinals columnist every Thursday for InsideSTL.com. Follow him on Twitter @Intangiball