CARDS FOLDING: ROGER CLEMENS MAY BE AROUND A LITTLE LONGER

Have to admit it's snuck up on yours truly that the Houston Astros have closed within 2½ games of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.

Logically speaking, the Cardinals should hang on. Winning six in a row at this point is a little bit like the runner who closes a huge gap on the lead back, but then gradually drops back. Houston shouldn't be able to keep this up. It doesn't take a phone call to the Elias Sports Bureau to confirm that any team has ever come from 8½ games back in the final two weeks, but that's only logic speaking. It's fun to think (well, not so fun for St. Louis fans) that the Cardinals are on the verge of the worst late-season collapse since the '87 Blue Jays blew a 3½-game lead with seven to play.

Cardinals centre-fielder Jim Edmonds is out with post-concussion syndrome. David Eckstein has tweaked a hammy, so Tony La Russa has to go with Jose Vizcaino at shortstop for the next couple games. At 38, Vizcaino is old enough to be called The Ageless One, but you can't call him that because he wasn't that good when he was young.

Yes, it's fun to think about the Astros coming back even though you know it means Roger Clemens might be pitching in the post-season one more time, and there will be an endless amount of will-he-or-won't-he speculation about his retirement. It's all about Roger.

Houston's last two series are against Pittsburgh and Atlanta, a pair of also-rans. The Cardinals have two games left in a series with playoff-bound San Diego, then host a four-game series against Milwaukee, which for the record, will start Doug Davis, Chris Capuano and Ben Sheets, followed by rookie Carlos Villanueva on Sunday. If necessary, the Cardinals will have to play a makeup game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday.

The Cardinals' chances of avoiding having to play that rescheduled game against San Francisco might come down on whether Jeff Weaver can deliver a good start on Friday. As a general rule, when you're relying on Jeff Weaver to save you from disaster, you're in trouble.

OTHER BASEBALL STUFF

• You've probably heard it elsewhere: Be it as a wild-card or division winner, the Minnesota Twins are going to be the favourites for the American League pennant. Since June 8, they are 68-30. For a baseball geek, that kind of run is mind-bending.
• Coors Field is no longer a launching pad. The Rockies are seventh in the NL in team earned-run average this season. They were never higher than second-last in team ERA in any of their first 13 seasons.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.