If there was ever an indicator that the Cardinals are slipping away, it's this: the Mets are now tied for second-place in the Wild Card race with an identical record to us. The Cardinals put up a sorry showing last night in what may be the night we let this whole thing slip away. Adam Wainwright could be our saving grace or the nail in our coffin - that's just the way the season has gone.

To make matters worse, Chris Carpenter "may not be activated for several more weeks," a new announcement after all the encouraging propaganda coming out of the Cards camp several weeks ago. We now know that "his 50-toss session in the Busch outfield Aug. 12 'didn't feel as good as it looked,'" according to the Post-Dispatch. If it's really going to be several weeks and the Cards aren't going to make this race close, then what's the point of re-activating him at all? Give him the rest of the season to recover and get ready for a full season in 2009. Matter of fact, assuming the Cards can't get any closer within reach, let Albert get to his 30 homers, 100 RBI-plateau and then let him get the surgery necessary for his elbow.

On Monday I commented on the amount of wishy-washiness coming from TLR, but now we are finally starting to get some answers. Joel Pineiro will indeed stay in the rotation and so will Adam Wainwright, if only on a day-to-day basis. (Insert sarcastic comment here regarding the notion that you should ever consider an ace to be flip-flopped to the bullpen). It's pretty much a no-brainer after the Carpenter news, and I guess they don't have much more to lose by doing so. It at least sets him up for next year, when he'll be back in the starting 5 with his $7.5m salary.

To make matters worse, Tony is using the "Earned It" principle, based on an integrated theorem of Grit and Leadership statistical measures, to guide his decision-making for his September call-ups. That leaves out Colby Rasmus, who has been injured and didn't have the kind of season he was expecting in Memphis this year. If the Cards can't win tonight and stay on the fence going into next month, where's the harm in getting Colby some major league at-bat time when the pressure isn't on? If Tony can find ways to give Felipe Lopez time in LEFT FIELD, why couldn't he find some at-bats for the future of this organization? How in the world has Felipe freakin' Lopez earned anything over Rasmus? I suppose Tony had his eyes closed when Lopez dogged-it with his nonchalant, double-cluth-and-a-crow-hop throw to first base, allowing the runner to beat him to it. That's what kind of player Felipe is, and I guess that's the kind of player we're going to have to live with for the rest of the year.