Brendan Ryan came into this season as the starting shortstop based on his solid season he turned in for the Cardinals in 2009. But, he’s lucky that Felipe Lopez hurt himself recently or he might have gotten benched due to his awful hitting. Ryan has played in 18 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 9 for 57 (.158 avg, .472 OPS) with 4 runs scored and 4 RBIs. He is still a good defensive shortstop but the Cardinals won’t continue to carry him if he isn’t hitting.

The Big Three of the Cardinals starting rotation (Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Joel Piniero) are going to cause huge matchup problems for opposing teams in the playoffs. After all, these three guys have combined to start 93 games for the Cardinals this season in which they are 51-24 with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Carpenter will start the first game for the Cardinals and he has been fantastic this year for the Cardinals. He has started 28 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. Adam Wainwright is a awesome #2 starter. He has started 34 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 19-8 with a 2.63 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Wainwright was the stopper when the Cardinals won the World Series a few years ago but he has been converted into a dominating starting pitcher. Joel Piniero is another one of the reclamation project of Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan. He has always had great stuff but now he is using it to the best of his ability. He has started 31 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 15-12 with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. No team can match the Cardinals’ top three starters so we will find out shortly if they can lead them to the World Series.

The Cardinals need Mark DeRosa to start hitting the baseball. After all they did give up both Chris Perez and Jess Todd to acquire him. DeRosa has played in 54 games for the Cardinals this season and he is 43 for 187 (.230 avg, .697 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers and 20 RBIs. The Cardinals thought that DeRosa would be able to protect Albert Pujols in the lineup. But when he failed at that job the Cardinals went out and traded for Matt Holliday. Still, the Cardinals need DeRosa to pick it up with the bat.

Scott Rolen really needs to find his power stroke in the 2nd half or the Cardinals are going to be in trouble.  Rolen is hitting .267 with 35 runs scored, 4 homers and 38 RBIs.  Just important to the Cardinals will be reviving the bat of Jim Edmonds when he returns from the DL.  He is hitting just .238 with 20 runs scored, 7 homers and 24 RBIs this season.  Without the support of Rolen and Edmonds in the lineup teams will probably start pitching around Albert Pujols and that would be big trouble for the Cardinals.  The Cardinals were expecting much more from Adam Kennedy on offense but he has disappointed them big time.  He is only hitting .210 this season with 18 runs scored and 14 RBIs.  It’s possible that Kennedy will lose his starting job to Aaron Miles if he doesn’t get his season turned around soon.

Adam Kennedy is lucky that his pal David Eckstein got injured or Aaron Miles was going to start taking his playing time away at 2B.  Kennedy has been awful with a bat in his hands this season.  In 52 games, Kennedy is only 37 for 175 (.211 avg, .544 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 12 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.  Kennedy better get it together before Eckstein comes off of the disabled list or he will be watching a lot of games from the dugout.