I understand that the Cardinals are currently tied with the Cubs at only one loss behind first-place Milwaukee as today's delayed game starts.  However, having some success in terms of wins and losses does not a watchable team make. 

After seeing the Cubs come from behind twice to win a thrilling game in extra innings, I mused about how few memories I have of thrilling Cardinals wins this season.  In fact, other than watching Franklin get out of some late inning scrapes, I really don't have any.

So I went and crunched the box scores to see how truly pitiful the Cardinals were this year when they weren't playing with the lead.

When the Cardinals fall behind by even a SINGLE run, they are 9-29 (.237).

When they fall behind by TWO OR MORE runs, they are only 4-26 (.133).

They are 28-2 playing the entire game leading or tied (the two losses are the Milwaukee and Florida walk-offs).

Even more distressing is that the majority of those come from behind wins happened in April, when teams hadn't figured out their offense (other than Albert).

If you look at games played from May 1st on:

Falling behind by a run: 3-22 (.120)--88% loss rate!

Falling behing by 2 or more: 2-22 (.083)--92% loss rate!

So what we're faced with is a team that, if they fall behind at any point in a game by only one run, is going to lose that game 9 times out of 10.  You can shut off a game the Cards trail 1-0 in the first inning, and feel 90% confident that you're not going to miss anything after going to sleep for the night (not that I endorse that sort of behavior).

In comparison, let's take a look at the competition:

1st PLACE MILWAUKEE (30 losses)

Trailing by one run: 17-30 (.361)

Trailing by 2+: 13-27 (.325)

20-0 leading/tied entire game

2nd PLACE CHICAGO (31 losses)

Trailing by one run: 13-29 (.310)

Trailing by 2+: 9-26 (.257)

20-2 when leading/tied entire game

So there you have it.  The top two teams in the NL Central at least post fighting chances or better when facing deficits, and that's with the Cubs facing all kinds of offensive woes.  The fact is no team is in more offensive woe than St. Louis as the offense seemingly shuts down when confronted with even the most remedial of deficits, especially since April ended.  Granted the pitching has put them in holes at times, but the majority of deficits they can't make up aren't insurmountable shellackings (the last game of the Detroit series and first KC series come instantly to mind).

Just to see whether the ability to score runs correlates with the ability to come from behind, I charted Houston's season.  They're in last place in the NL Central with 35 losses and have scored the fewest runs with 262--45 less than St. Louis.

HOUSTON:

Trailing by one run: 15-35 (.300)

Trailing by 2+: 7-32 (.179)

Granted, Houston isn't great, but they at least are playing .300 ball when faced with a deficit compared to the .120 ball St. Louis has played since April.

Without the ability to play with any kind of deficit, the 2009 Cardinals are mostly excruciating to watch.  The wins are either over early in games the Cardinals happen to hit or consist of low-scoring contests where the bullpen faces one rally after another with the Cardinals clinging to the slimmest of leads.  The losses thankfully this year aren't largely of the blown save variety like last year, but usually consist of strings of zeroes after the other team posts an initial lead which eventually balloons in the last few innings.

As I finish this post, I see the Redbirds have taken an early 1-0 lead.  It doesn't mean they're going to win this game, though it fits the pattern of games they win.  However, if the tables were turned and it was 1-0 Kansas City, or if KC goes up 2-1 in the bottom of the 3rd, I'm afraid you could essentially pencil this one in as a loss.