"That's nothing new for this team,'' said St. Louis infielder Aaron Miles in a surprisingly candid assessment of an 81-76 season. "It's part of an up-and down year.''

Unfortunately for Cardinals fans, the down has come at the worst of times. A time when there's no room left for an up. Or so it would seem.

Certainly St. Louis could still hold on and hit its magic number, but the facts are that since a hot April start the Cards are barely a .500 team. The upside, if there is one, is that they're trying to hold on at home, where they've posted a 47-29 record (34-47 on the road). But hold on for what? A post-season pounding?

Here are the sad facts of the Cardinals' demise: When this week began the team had a club batting average in September of .236 and was hitting .204 with runners in scoring position. Of course, the latter may be an unfair statistic since runners in scoring position was a pretty small sampling of late. Six times they lost one run games this month, in part because one of their big sticks, Jim Edmonds, was on the bench suffering from post-concussive disorder while Scott Rolen simply is wallowing in a slump as deep as the Grand Canyon. No one is talking much about Albert Pujois' chances at the MVP Award any more, either. They're talking about the MIA Award.

So it goes in St. Louis. Going, going, not quite gone ... but does it matter?

Edmunds did come off the bench to blast a three-run homer on Monday in his first at-bat since Aug. 26 but those heroics were wasted. It was a symbolic reminder of the kind of year it has been, a point La Russa made in odd fashion.

"If this was a movie, we would have won the game, but we didn't,'' he said.

That's because it wasn't a movie. It was a rerun.

What La Russa is hoping is the rest of the season won't be a rerun of the Phillies collapse of '64. Of course, if it isn't, what happens to this beaten and battered team when it gets to the playoffs?

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

Well, if you're a positive thinker, you mention Carpenter and the recent resurrection of Jeff Suppan, who was 6-2 with a 2.04 ERA in 13 starts since the All-Star break before being roughed up Monday night by the Padres, lasting only 3 2/3 innings. It was Suppan's shortest appearance since July 5. You'd point out that pitching is what counts in a short series, forgetting that relief pitching is part of that equation and there's no relief in the Cardinals' bullpen. There's a team of arsonists, which is not the same as flame throwers.

If you're not a positive thinker, however, you talk like Cards' pitcher Jason Marquis did when he said with sad resignation this week, "If we get the chance to pop champagne sometime during this week, I think it erases everything that went on. Once the champagne is popped it will erase, sort of, the ups and downs this year.''

Sure it will. If Bud Selig cancels the playoffs.