"As an unseasonably pleasant breeze whipped through Busch Stadium on Monday night, at long last the sprawling ballpark stopped feeling like a brick oven. The triple-digit temperatures of another typically treacherous mid-July heat wave were gone and Busch was transformed into this remarkably pleasant baseball oasis, complete with a reborn ballclub that has rediscovered its potent offensive rhythms. "There's nothing wrong with the talent level on our club," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. Well, that is what we all have been saying throughout the first half of this frustrating season as the Redbirds teased us one minute and caused apoplexy the next. We all knew there was some serious offensive juice in the Cardinals' clubhouse, but it kept coming out in unpredictable doses. Now we are seeing the devastating effects of what can happen when the Cards perform exactly the way we thought they would. A week ago, the Cardinals stumbled into the All-Star break with the most maddening stretch in a season full of frustrating moments (such as blowing leads of five and six runs on consecutive nights against Colorado). Now in the week after the break, things are starting to look transformative. The Cards are now baseball's hottest team, capable on any given night of beating up on some of the better teams in the National League. With a coolly efficient offensive attack Monday night — eight runs on eight hits, including four home runs — that thumped the defending NL champion Philadelphia Phillies 8-4, the Cards are on a six-game winning streak that has taken them from being an uncertain second-place team to a confident first-place team. After sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game series that was highlighted by multiple come-from-behind rallies, the Cards did it again against the Phillies. Falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning and 4-2 after four innings used to be a recipe for failure for the Cardinals' offense. Now it is a call to arms, or bats. A five-run explosion in the fifth, with homers by Albert Pujols, rookie Allen Craig and veteran Skip Schumaker, followed by another solo blast by Randy Winn in the sixth, lit up the cool night air and reminded us why so many preseason prognosticators had the Cards winning the NL Central. The Cards (52-41) are 11 games over .500 for the first time all year, and they're doing it with timely hitting and explosive production not only from the usual suspects such as Pujols and Matt Holliday, but also the mixed bag of surprising young talent that keeps playing well as emergency stand-ins for injured regulars like Ryan Ludwick and David Freese. This is why you have to feel good about what has been transpiring lately. The Cards are getting it done with young batters such as Jon Jay and Craig, and platooning vets such as Felipe Lopez and Winn. They're getting it done with rejuvenated old reliables such as Schumaker and Yadier Molina, and steady input from green-but-growing guys such as Colby Rasmus, too." http://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...cle_7182f668-34e4-5d20-948b-e958cfb1ea7a.html
