The Cardinals shouldn't be in the World Series. by Joe 10/20/06    (verse 1) They shouldn't have beaten the Padres.  No way they even have a chance at getting through the first round.  (verse 2)They were lucky the Mets didn't sweep them, let alone take it to 7.  Now here comes verse 3.  Sounds a lot like 1 and 2.  The fact is, St. 'Louis is a pretty good team.  They had a bad second half of the season, but most of that was caused by a rash of injuries that took Rolen, Pujols, Edmonds and Isringhausen out at different times.  A lot of baseball spectators thought the collapse of the Cardinals was signaling the end of the run that LaRussa has had.  What they missed was the Cards didn't collapse.  They won the Central, and the first two rounds of the playoffs.  They did it with replacements to their star players, who can now contribute by stepping into a lineup that everyone is comfortable with because of all of the injuries.  We all know Tony LaRussa likes to shuffle his lineup based around the opponents pitching.  Spezio can step in for Edmonds with confidence now.  Spezio got enough at bats with Edmonds out that Pujols won't worry about his support.  And most as importantly, Wainwright has settled in as the closer for this team.  He’s not as good as Isringhausen yet, but he knows he’s better than he was.  He feels strong enough to throw three straight strikes to Beltran with bases loaded in the 9th.  He’s ready for the Tigers.  And so is the rest of his team. Cardinals is six games.