May Is Nearly Over. It Might Be Time To Panic.

Cardinals Baseball means different things to different people.  Some St. Louisans just want to be able to be seen at the stadium or at Hrabosky's Saloon.  These are your socialite fans. Going to a game is more of a social outing with red, white and navy blue coordinated outfits.  They don't care how Carp's pitching, how Yadi is hitting, or what the record is as long as there's a game to dress up for...

Some of us slightly rabid fans that simply want the Cardinals to win because Cardinals Baseball is an endearing part of your childhood, and you admire the history and prestige of the franchise, the abundance of great ball players that have graced this city, the skill it takes to play the game, and the bragging rights over every other so-called "baseball town" in America.  The way the game is played now is much different from the days of Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman and Willie McGee (who deserves to have his #51 retired, by the way), and you've come to accept it.

Today's game is more about power, and less about speed and base-running prowess.  This shift is the reason that Matt Holliday was re-signed (and overpaid) for seven years and $120 million.  Let's look at this year's numbers for Holliday:

	G	AB	R	H	TB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB		SO	SB		AVG
	45	172	25	48	76	13	0	5	18	14		30	3		.279

These numbers aren't totally rotten... if you don't make $17 million a year... with the St. Louis Cardinals.  I realize that these guys are human, with human tendencies and lives outside of baseball.  However, contracts of that size, from this franchise come with tremendous expectations.  One home run every nine games is not the production that this lineup requires for success.  But it's not all his fault.

We've all gotten used to Albert Pujols being Albert Pujols. His numbers don't stink either, but over the past 10 games, Phat Albert has 0 home runs and 0 RBIs in 34 at-bats.  He has been the picture of consistency over the past nine or 10 seasons, so he's allowed to slump a bit.  My concern is that there's an injury that he's hiding while playing through pain and discomfort.

We're about to reach June.  Most of the time, I don't panic about where our team is at this time of the season... most of the time.  This season is different.  Given the aforementioned Holliday contract, and the fact that we've got a starting pitcher going on the DL and the fact that Pujols's contract will be an issue at the season's end, and the fact that the team is under-performing concerns me.  In fact, if the Cardinals don't win the series this weekend against the Cubs, I'll be in full-blown panic.

My fear is that this team will fall far-short of its own goals and the expectations of its fans, and have to endure a bidding war for a possibly-injured, possibly-declining Pujols while over-paying for a possibly-declining Holliday.  


And lost in all of this mess is the fact that Mark McGuire has re-joined the organization in a coaching capacity. I'm not sure how good of a hitting coach he is, but he seems to be a good scapegoat at this point.


Regardless of who's at fault, or what needs to be fixed, or tweaked, or whatever, they'd better start winning.  Now.