Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Not to seem overly pessimistic, but with high expectations often comes excruciating pain. At the beginning of the year, my hopes for the Cardinals were somewhat optimistic with a certain amount of understandable trepidation. All of a sudden, we start looking pretty good and I assume we should win every damned game we play. It’s easy to complain, much harder to be realistic.

The Cardinals are still hanging in there. The pitching has remained pretty decent to almost great and the hitting has been just good enough to win more than a few ballgames. I would have been much happier if they could have managed to put a hurting on the lowly Giants, but they took two of three from the Astros, so that will suffice. It’s at least better to play tough within your own division. The team still doesn’t seem that great on paper, but since that isn’t where the games are played, I suppose that’s just fine. I’ve been frustrated quite a lot with the managing so far this year, so I feel I should write about that this week.

I’m just going to admit it. Tony LaRussa is smarter than me about baseball.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m very happy and somewhat surprised by the Cardinals so far this season.

Sure, we’re towards the top of the standings, but that’s not why I’m happy necessarily. We’ve had great pitching thus far, and though that gives me a nervous thrill, that’s not even why I’m happy. Our hitting looks functional and our defense looks vastly improved, but even those things aren’t really why I’m so happy with the redbirds.

I’m happy because they are once again fun to watch.

It’s hard to know what to think of the St. Louis Cardinals this coming year. Like a first trip to a Thai restaurant, I’m both excited and fearful. Actually, it may be more comparable to taking home an insanely drunk girl after last call. I’m fairly sure it will be sloppy, with a few exciting moments, eventually leaving me with a sort of unclean feeling. In reality, it will probably be most like a cancer patient: good days and bad days with an ending I had dreaded yet totally anticipated. The Cardinals may end up being just fine, but I really have my doubts.