the hot new accessory for cardinals fans



okay, so like i said, i want hard eyes and a soft heart.

my hard eyes are telling me that the cardinals are dead in the water without pujols. our cheap-ass, revenue rich republican owners tightened the purse strings this season, leaving without a viable left fielder or second baseman, and our right fielder is average at best. any cardinals fan worth his salt would have agreed with me when i said last year was this incarnation of the team's "last, best shot of winning a ring," but none of us expected the owners to royally screw us during the offseason.

fortunately, albert’s magnificent season was keeping our worst fears at bay…until friday night. in aaron or dustin’s space a couple of weeks ago, i predicted that the cardinals without pujols would probably be about as bad as the cubs without lee. now, after we dropped two of three to the scrubs and have been swept by the reds at home (our first two series losses at the new busch) i’m afraid that my prediction is in the process of coming true.

on the other hand, my soft heart is telling me that i cannot give up on this team. i want to believe that jocketty will find the right players at the break, the owners will use their exorbiant tax refunds on something worthwhile, mulder will show flashes of his former, steroids enhanced self and albert will be back by july. as much as i hate to admit it, i’ve given up on cardinals teams before. this year i’m going to overcome my fears, tie my ass to the couch and see if the boys can work yet another miracle.

here’s to "leaning in" to the rest of the season and hoping my heart doesn’t get shredded.

for more on the cardinal’s precarious situation, read cardinals uber-blogger lboros’ take.