Looks like life made me skip a week, so we'll just put the last 14 days in the old compressor and pretend it's the same damn thing as it's always been.  Agreed?

1. St. Louis Cardinals

   Week 5
   

   Season Record	20-12
   Season RS/RA	148/119
   Week's Record	4-2
   Week's RS/RA	28/23
   Games Back	--
   Change	+2.0

   Week 6
   

   Season Record	23-16
   Season RS/RA	177/154
   Week's Record	3-4
   Week's RS/RA	29/35
   Games Back	--
   Change	-1.5

   They claimed first as their own in Week 5, then opened a 2.5 game lead on the first day of Week 6.  That's all gone now, as they lost 4 of their last 5, winding up with a split of a four-gamer in Colorado, and losing two of three (fourth game of the series to be played tonight) to a Milwaukee team that was on a six game slide before the Cards rolled into town.

   If I had to guess (and, really, what else am I here for if not to completely fabricate reasons for the week's events?), I'd say this looks suspiciously like a relatively easy early schedule coming home to roost - a quick glance at the club's Strength of Schedule puts them 29th out of 30 MLB teams - but there's still time for them to prove otherwise.
   

2. Houston Astros

   Week 5
   

   Season Record	16-16
   Season RS/RA	152/144
   Week's Record	4-2
   Week's RS/RA	37/29
   Games Back	4.0
   Change	+0.5

   Week 6
   

   Season Record	21-17
   Season RS/RA	185/166
   Week's Record	5-1
   Week's RS/RA	33/22
   Games Back	1.5
   Change	+2.5

   Whenever I hear an announcer or some such beast make mention of "the surging insert team names" I can't help but snort a little, and yet here I am confronted with what the Astros have been doing, and nothing else comes to mind but "the surging Astros".

   The thing is, it's not like they're blowing people out of the water.  Those run differentials are solid, but not terribly impressive.  What they are getting, though, is solid pitching from starters and bullpen, the trio of Lee, Pence, and Tejada playing to their very nice expectations, and Lance Berkman blowing up like a bucket o' dynamite.  Offensively, everything but Lance should actually remain about the same, but even when Large Presley comes down from his .500/.574/.891 high of the last 12 games, this team should still be scoring enough to cause problems.  The real worry comes from the pitching staff, where after Roy Oswalt, things are still incredibly murky.  Sure, they'll be getting Wandy Rodriquez back soon, but the fact that his return is a net positive should be concerning. That, and if you think Shawn "No Decision" Chacon is going to be sporting anything like a 3.53 ERA in two months time, then I'd very much like to order what you're having.
   

3. Milwaukee Brewers

   Week 5
   

   Season Record	16-15
   Season RS/RA	142/152
   Week's Record	2-4
   Week's RS/RA	31/50
   Games Back	3.5
   Change	-1.5

   Week 6
   

   Season Record	18-19
   Season RS/RA	158/179
   Week's Record	2-4
   Week's RS/RA	16/29
   Games Back	4.0
   Change	-0.5

   In today's issue of "You Know Things Aren't Going Well When...", we'll be talking about the juxtaposition of two weeks of one team's work, both of which resulted in 2-4 records, both achieved (if that's the word) in different ways.  First, there's Week 5, where the pitching staff got whupped and good, but the offense still managed to be respectable.  Then there's Week 6, where the pitchers made a comeback, but now the offense disappeared.  Not being able to put the good together in one package isn't necessarily a sign of anything other than bad luck, but it is one of those odd looking things that's fun to note. Also fun to note, is the fact that all four of their wins in the last two weeks have come against the teams directly on top of them in the standings, so at least there's that bit of good for Crew fans to hang their hats on.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates

   Week 5
   

   Season Record	12-19
   Season RS/RA	151/181
   Week's Record	2-4
   Week's RS/RA	40/27
   Games Back	7.5
   Change	-1.5

   Week 6
   

   Season Record	17-19
   Season RS/RA	179/196
   Week's Record	5-0
   Week's RS/RA	28/15
   Games Back	4.5
   Change	+3.0

   Lose 3 of 4 to the Nationals, then do what you're supposed to against the Giants.  There's no predicting what's going to happen in baseball, but I do know this:  the Pirates are near their ceiling in winning percentage and in the standings, and one would think that impending road series with the Cubs and Cards next week would be likely to disabuse them of any contrary notions.

5. Cincinnati Reds

   Week 5
   

   Season Record	12-20
   Season RS/RA	132/164
   Week's Record	1-5
   Week's RS/RA	16/40
   Games Back	8.0
   Change	-0.5

   Week 6
   

   Season Record	15-23
   Season RS/RA	162/191
   Week's Record	3-3
   Week's RS/RA	30/27
   Games Back	7.5
   Change	+0.5

   I made some statements early in the year about how I was concerned with the Reds as a potential contender in the NL Central.  I am, officially, not very bright.