Well, any hope of a meaningful White Sox season has pretty much been thrown out the window. In fact, I think we’re now mathamatically eliminated from playoff contention. That being said, there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played and for me to write about. (Don’t worry, I won’t go away this time.)

The game I’m really excited about tonight is the Cardinals @ Phillies game. Since the Braves have sort of been slowing down in the Wild Card and the Brewers are kinda running away with the NL Central the Cards have been creeping into that NL Wild Card spot. Right now they sit 4.5 games behind the Braves and slowly gaining momentum for a huge playoff push. The Braves are in a series with the Mets right now so if New York can play spoiler and the Cardinals can somehow bring down the Powerhouse Phillies, the Wild Card could get interesting.

I basically just told you what you already knew.

Rookie sensation Vance Worley will go for the Phillies tonight against the Cardinals’ ace (since Wainwright went down) Jaime Garcia. This game, and every game from now on for St. Louis, has serious playoff implications. The Phils have already clinched a spot in the playoffs so this is just another game for them. The Cards are looking real good lately so they might be able to pull this off.

If they do that brings up the Pujols contract issue. Do the Cards bring him back for big money should the playoffs be a success? Is making the playoffs big enough success in itself to justify possibly overpaying Pujols? In my mind Albert will always be a Cardinal. He’s one of those players you just can’t picture in a different uniform. Among other players are Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter (Yankees), Paul Konerko (White Sox), David Ortiz (Red Sox), Michael Young (Rangers), and Ichiro (Mariners). We’ll see how this goes – should get exciting for the Redbird faithful.