IT'S JUST A GAME: UPON FURTHER REVIEW: PRICE RIGHT FOR DEAL WITH OAKLAND

Sure the Cardinals didn't need Mark McGwire, but it doesn't hurt to have him around.

I'll never forget where I was the moment I heard the St. Louis Cardinals picked up Oakland muscle-man Mark McGwire.

I was in a dugout preparing to play a softball game when the news came about McGwire's impending move to St. Louis.

A kid, about 13-years-old, told me the Cardinals gave up T.J. Mathews and two minor league pitchers for the second coming of Jack Clark.

I was devastated. Visions of Wayne Gretzky in a St. Louis Blues' sweater flashed through my brain. I figured the Cards gave up prized pitchers Manny Aybar and Braden Looper in another St. Louis rent-a-wreck transaction.

Washing away my blues in frothy beverages after the softball game, I didn't figure out the particulars of the deal until the next morning -- and in all honesty -- I like the trade.

I was relieved to find out the Cards didn't give away two future aces (Aybar and Looper), but two kids that won't be missed in the near future, and possibly never heard from again.

Losing set-up man Mathews hurts a little, mainly because now Dennis Eckersley will have to come back for another season until Looper's ready to be a Major League closer, but the Cards certainly didn't turn this into another Gretzky fiasco.

Two marginal minor leaguers and a top-quality reliever for the most powerful bat in the universe -- I can live with that deal.

Sure, I said earlier in the week that the Cards didn't need McGwire to win the National League Central. Not that I wasn't a little bit excited about having a "Big Mac" sandwiched between Ray Lankford and either Ron Gant or Gary Gaetti in the middle of the batting order.

I just didn't want to see the Cardinals give up their prized minor league prospects for a player that will likely be back in California -- and in an Anaheim Angels' uniform -- next year.

I'm not saying the Cards have no chance to sign McGwire after this season, but a lot of things will have to go right for the Redbirds to keep him in the Midwest.

The big thing will be winning. The Cards have to make a run at the Houston Astros and finally break above the .500 mark.

It also wouldn't hurt for McGwire to have success in his new home in the National League. If McGwire goes homerless for two weeks, or constantly gets intentionally walked because of the light bats behind him, don't expect him to sign-up for a few more years in the NL.

But all that stuff can wait for now. The Cardinals have this era's Babe Ruth in their clean-up spot for the next two months.

If McGwire does what he's supposed to, and gets the Birds into the playoffs, the Cardinals would get him for the bonus month of October.

The green flag has been waved for the Cardinals' pennant run. With McGwire in the line-up, it should certainly be more interesting for Cardinals' fans.

If Lankford's newly-injured hamstring holds up, I think the Cards have a legitimate chance at catching Houston. If not, McGwire will be nothing more than an exciting batting practice show at Busch Stadium.

Rus Baer is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.