[Starscream]

Originally Posted by chippewastud79

We concur on the sports discussion most of the time. Seems to be you and I are the only ones who discuss the actual issues/team/prospects/future. I am glad you are a realist, it makes discussing sports much easier.

The reality is, this is the same team as last year, in which the division was absolutely garbage and they found a way to sneak out wins against bad teams. This year they played a tougher schedule (albeit not much) and will likely end up where they should have last season. Overachieving got them to the playoffs and the Phillies exposed them to be the team they should have been all year.

.500 is a lofty goal now considering those in the area (and even some nationally) had them as the sexy favorite to win the division again, despite not making an upgrade in the off season like the Brewer did and still didn't have a better team than the Cardinals. The Cards lost their ace before the season and as of yet, they still can't pass them.

Until they can put a team on the field that is superior to the Cards and Brewers, the luck factor can only win them so many games. Heck there have been 10+ games they were lucky to win this season that they should have lost.

I'll agree in part. We were pretty much the exact same team for the first half of this year. Since the AS break, we've been a relatively young team. The first half can be blamed on Jocketty for not making moves vs. Cards and Brewers making moves. The moves worked out for the Brew Crew, as they've turned into the Phillies of the Central, but the moves haven't worked out for STL at all, except for Berkman. If Milwaukee kept their same team as last year, then we would have made another run at it, but unfortunately, they improved, where Walt did nothing but bring in some losers/has beens with Renteria and Lewis. I can't knock him for the extensions, bc they've all worked out somewhat (even Arroyo b/c he's provided rest for the bullpen).

But the second half has been Heisey, Frazier, Sappelt, and Alonso. These guys haven't been much, but we've won games with them and have worked back to above .500. Really, other than Cozart and Alonso, the prospects haven't shown much (with Alonso still to be determined), but we've made do with them and it has been a completely different dynamic the second half. We can actually win two games in a row at this point.