The Cardinals have returned home to face the New York Mets after a ho-hum road trip in which they went 5-4 against the Royals, Tigers, and Red Sox. With Interleague play in the books for the '08 season, the Cardinals have what could become a very important week ahead of them as they play 4 games against the Mets and a 3 game set against the Cubs this weekend (...possibly the most anticipated weekend of the year thus far). Should be top times at Busch!

The Cubbies were swept this weekend by the White Sox, allowing the Cardinals to creep back within 2.5 games...possibly 2 games pending the result of Chicago's late game last night in San Francisco. The Cubs
have been less than impressive this year on the road. Their road record dropped to 16-23 after losing three to the White sox. Lets hope this poor road play continues this weekend at Busch. A prediction: Cards in first by Sunday...anybody gotta a problem with that?

An Evening of Positives

Kyle Loshe

The Cardinals opened the series against the Mets in impressive fashion, winning by the score of 7-1. Kyle Loshe continued his surprising season by winning his 10th game of the year by limiting the Mets to only one run on a meager five hits. Tony Larusaa described Kyle's start as "high quality" in the postgame interview, so he's got that going for him...which is nice (shameless Caddyshack quote...I'm really sorry). Kyle Loshe should be, at least in my opinion, a shoe- in for the All-Star game later this month, but we'll have to wait and see.

Chris Duncan

Holy Shit! Duncan goes deep to left. Chris hit his first homerun in over a month (87 at bats) last night. A sky high shot to left field that barely made its way over the fence and glove of Ryan Church all but put away this game for the Birds. Although Chris is still struggling a bit at the plate, it seems that he is swinging the stick with more confidence and only good things can come from that. Keep in mind, however, a one armed banjo player with confidence is still a one armed bajo player. Duncan needs to continue to show signs of improvement in the coming days/weeks to keep his place on the team.

Mark Mulder

Mark Mulder returned to the mound last night to...what else...a standing ovation. Its been a good two weeks or so since the last standing "O" at Busch, so I guess I'll let it slide. Nonetheless, Mulder looked rather sharp only allowing two bloop singles in his one inning (9th) of work. With a lead Eric Gagne would have trouble blowing, Mark Mulder was able to close out the game and preserve the Cardinals 48th win

of the season. A good first step for Mark. It will be interresting to see in what capacity Mulder will be used by Tony in the coming weeks as Mark is most

likely not ready to return to his roles as a starter.

#300

This could be a memorable week at Busch. Albert Pujols has 299 home runs and will most likely hit his 300th sometime this week in St. Louis. Just another milestone in a Hall of Fame bound career for Fat Albert.