"If they're not healed, they are getting well. If they aren't whole, they at least no longer waste scoring chances by the gross. The Cardinals showed Tuesday night that if they spent the season's first half as being dangerous to themselves, they now increasingly are a threat to the rest of the National League. A 7-1 smothering of the Philadelphia Phillies, before 38,712 at Busch Stadium, exposed the two-time defending NL champion as the scuffling team and the Cardinals as one to be feared. For a second straight start, Chris Carpenter (11-3) exhibited improved command while zooming through five innings in 44 pitches and six innings in 58. And for a second consecutive Carpenter start, the Cardinals took control early and didn't let go as the Phillies' ancient lefthander, Jamie Moyer, left because of a strained elbow after one inning. The Cardinals ran their season-best win streak to seven games and climbed 12 games above .500 (53-41) for the first time this summer. Justly branded underachievers during a listless first half, this team has taken less time to reach its current position than last year's 91-win model, which didn't reach plus-12 until Aug. 10. "It can be contagious and it sure seems like it's gotten contagious," offered shortstop Brendan Ryan. "We know in the first half we never played our 'A' game. We'd like to find out what our ceiling is." A day after battering the third-place Phillies (48-45) with four home runs, the Redbirds constructed their offense Tuesday with center fielder Randy Winn's two-run homer in the third inning and left fielder Matt Holliday's fifth-inning three-jack against reliever Danys Baez. The Cards have managed a .316 average and 37 runs during a 6-0 home stand. They have replaced a hack-and-slash attack with a more disciplined approach. "It's always looked like a dominant lineup," said second baseman Aaron Miles, who contributed two hits to raise his average to .341. "Look at the names. Then you couple that with the pitching this team has and even some of the guys who are hurt, it shouldn't be surprising we can roll wins off like this." The Cardinals have won seven in a row at home and improved to 33-15 there this season. Potentially even more important, what resembled a stop-and-start lineup has achieved rhythm. The win streak is the team's longest since a seven-game tear in July 2006. "When your pitching has performed like it has, we can run off some wins,'' Holliday said. "If we keep hitting the ball like we've been hitting we should have a pretty good record in the second half." The manager no longer speaks about inconsistent at-bats up and down the lineup. Rather, he urges a continuation of what he has seen the last week." http://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...cle_b24fe5fa-52d1-5482-bd90-71651d349aec.html
