Albert Pujols and I are like Brothers

I finally have something in common with AP. Unfortunately, it's not the ability to hit a 95 MPH fastball 450 feet. It's Plantar Fasciitis. Lucky me. The treatement for this is orthodics, stretching, and copious amounts of Motrin.

The good thing about the orthodics is they are shoe inserts, so I can move them from shoe to shoe - and play softball in them. We'll see how that goes.

Cardinals dropped yesterday's rubber game against Chicago 7-1. In retrospect, they are lucky to have taken 1 of the 3 games, as they only really showed any offense in 2 of the 27 innings played. At least both of those innings were in the same game.

The Cardinals are off today before starting a road trip that will take them to the All-Star Break. First stop: Philadelphia.

A couple of things to catch up on:

- If you need another reason to hate the Players Union, here's one.

- Mark Mulder is starting Wednesday at Philadelphia. Grrreat. I am second to none in my admiration for the effort Mark's put in trying to make it back to the majors, but he can't get anyone out consistently anymore. And starting him in that little bitty ballpark, against the Utleys, Burrells, and Howards of the world... well it's a recipe for disaster. I don't understand why LaRussa is willing to give that game away in a pennant race.

- I don't know how Rick Ankiel didn't make the All Star team, but I can't argue with the reserve outfielders selected. However, I can't believe Rick isn't one of the 5 'vote them in' players from the NL.

- The Cardinals lead the majors in wins from their starting rotation (38). How is there no Cardinal starter on the All-Star roster? Isn't Kyle Lohse a better option than Ryan Dempster? or Brian Wilson?