The sweep at the hands of the Pirates seems to have a struck a nerve with Cardinals fans. See Reverend Redbird or Deadspin, for example. Even Pip at Fungoes is annoyed, although he manages to direct most of his negative waves (appropriately) at Jason Marquis. I reached a similar conclusion right about the time Adam Wainwright gave up a two-run single on Sunday, or maybe it was when the Pirates telecast showed some shirtless guy wandering around PNC with a broom in hand.

Anyway, I'll frame my similar view a bit differently. I've been struggling with the projection method for a team that's basically the same talent-wise as the group that just won 100 games and yet looked dead in the water (again) in Pittsburgh. There's the old stats-versus-scouts debate or objective-subjective argument, but forget about analysis, statistical or otherwise. This season has been simply ugly. Mulder floating pitches to the Cubs and White Sox, Edmonds' lazy at-bats against left-handed pitchers, any Miles at-bat not involving Brad Lidge, Isringhausen's walks, Taguchi's defense, LaRussa tanking Marquis games to save his precious bullpen, eight relievers against the freaking Pirates, Duncan square-pegging Reyes, Encarnacion jogging after a ball, Molina fidgeting behind home plate as yet another 0-2 advantage turns into a 2-2 count... It's been ugliness all around.

Sure, there's precedent for a significant uptick this late in the season. The 2001 club, for example, also happened to have a 62-55 record. But if things continue the way they are, then this effort should not be celebrated. I've reached the point where'd I rather see the Cardinals play .700 ball the rest of the season and not make the playoffs than see this team go through the backdoor on the lack of merits of their competitors. If they win the NL Central playing this kind of baseball, then they're division champs in name only. A "2006" flag on the outfield wall or dugout roof would be a joke, and a division title would be less legitimate than 2001's infamous co-championship claim.

Other thoughts:

• Fungoes covered the Marquis ground almost to the point of overkill. Assuming Mulder does come back, what really is an argument for Marquis? Terrible ERA, terrible peripherals, as Dan of GUB noted his only decent pitch is now just average, we've been told repeatedly he doesn't listen to his coaches. What's he got going for him? The only thing I can discern is the wins stat. If the Cardinals brass doesn't understand the problem with that argument, then throw that decision in my ugly list above.

I suppose there is an argument against Reyes. Sorta. If the Cardinals are worried about his workload and if they figure this isn't exactly the season to go for it, then (gag) it would make sense to pull Reyes from the rotation. I'd hope some inside source would communicate that logic to the public if such is the case.

• Dave Duncan has announced there will be changes. By the time the Cardinals close the door, the horse is not only out of the barn, he's hitch-hiked halfway to his Uncle Ed's place. With Sterling Hitchcock unavailable, Chris Narveson is the most obvious candidate for immediate promotion.

• This could be one of those "Caption this picture" posts:

Aside from looking like he's not quite out of his Michelin man costume or jokes about his surgically re-attached left arm, this picture reminds me of something that I hadn't realized until my trip to Quad Cities. You can't tell it, or at least I can't tell it, from TV or from the 300s sections at Busch III, but Mulder's a big dude. He's 6'6" with a wide build, which makes him look thinner than he is.