It's good to root for the Cardinals

It's easy to be a Cardinals fan right now, and it stinks to be a Cubs fan.

The Cubs are finished. They're beginning to crumble worse than Wrigley Field. The Cardinals turned up the heat on the Cubs last week in Chicago and the boiling point came on Tuesday when Albert Pujols nailed three homers into their hearts, and the Cards hung an 11 spot on the board.

Oh, sure, for a while last week, Cubs fans had a reason to be optimistic after Kerry Wood came off the disabled list and Mark Prior's injuries went from serious to kind-of-serious.

But now it's definitely over.

Cubs fans weren't even offered a glimmer of hope on Friday and Saturday when the Cards dropped consecutive games. In fact it only proved that the Cardinals players are human after all. They get tired just like everyone else.

"We've been on a nice run," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa told The Associated Press after the final Cubs-Cards game of the year. "I've been around long enough to see how fragile the winning advantage is, so you will never see me take it for granted. Just keep respecting the game."

Unfortunately, Tony is right, every team goes through a slump; it's an unwritten rule in the game. Every team has a high and every team has a low.

Sure, the Cards posted just 10 runs in the next four games following their dramatic comeback at Wrigley last Tuesday. And of course that's unheard of for a team that averages 5.3 runs per game. But they were just tired.

The starting pitching has been there all season, it's just the bullpen that was tired.

As long as the Cards stay healthy, they will avoid the "S" word. Because they had one early in the season, it's the Cubs turn now.

I'm not slumping in finding activities for your week ahead, it's just slow:

Tuesday

The St. Louis Rams players report for training camp at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. And as always, it will be held at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill.

Wednesday

The Memphis Redbirds host Edmonton at 1:05 p.m. And once again, the Redbirds and First Tennessee Bank are giving away envelopes containing cash to the first 1,500 fans. The envelopes contain amounts up to $100.

Thursday

The American Legion Zone 4 Tournament begins in Sikeston. You can check your local listings or contact your neighborhood sports writer for the complete schedule.

Down the road

I'm taking next week off for my annual vacation, but when I return the following week it will be my final appearance. I'll say farewell on Aug. 2.

David Wilson is a sportswriter for the Southeast Missourian.