[MVB]

One week ago the St. Loius Cardinals were cruising to their third (?) straight NL Central Division title. On September 20th, they led the Houston Astros by 8.5 games.

Today, September 27th, the Astros are only 1.5 games back. Houston has won 7 straight and the Cards have lost 7 straight.

MLB.com-

All eyes were glued to the televisions in the visitors' clubhouse Tuesday night as the Houston Astros waited to see if their 7-4 win over the Pirates that night was going to move them up in the standings.


The players were, for the most part subdued -- until the Padres scored a run in the eighth to give them a two-run lead over the Cardinals. At that point, a set of cheers erupted as the Astros watched St. Louis' lead in the National League Central shrink to a mere 1 1/2 games.
One week ago, the Astros were 8 1/2 behind and seemingly out of postseason contention. That was before they strung together a still active seven-game winning streak, their longest of the season, while the Cards have now dropped seven straight.

This whole thing started when the Houston Astros swept a 4-game series against the Cards several days ago.

[JackAigner]

The Astros certainly seemed poised to take over the division lead. I think tonight is a huge game with rookie Jason Hirsch on the mound. We've killed Chacon several times this season, so hopefully we can do that again and get a decent outing from Hirsch. St. Louis is trying to give it up. We just have to do our part and take it over. There's no question that when both teams are firing on all cyllinders that Houston is the superior club. If we had lived up to our potential, we'd have run away with this division. Heck, the difference between us and the Cards right now amounts to two leads Brad Lidge blew with two outs and two strikes in the 9th. We're just finally putting it all together this season. We finally have a semi-regular lineup. St. Louis pitching is terrible...they're all clowns except for Carpenter, who served it up last night. San Diego should play well again tonight, since they're trying to stave off the surging Dodgers. We'll see. St. Louis is still in the driver's seat, but not for long unless they turn it around immediately.

[EmpireWF]

Both the Cardinals and Astros won last night so the NL Central is still just 1.5 Games in favor of St. Louis.

Astros play the early game with Pitt today, so for about 8 hours, they could be just a single game behind the Cardinals.

[MJHMarc]

Will the winner of this divison come down to the final game of the season?

[ThePundit]

Astros win, Cardinals get blown out.....This is going to be the biggest choke ever in the history of sports -even bigger than the Yankees choke to the Sox in '03.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by MJHMarc

Will the winner of this divison come down to the final game of the season?

Starting to look that way, isn't it. And yes, it is starting to look like the Cards are going to blow this one and the Astros will win the NL Central. Everyone always goes on and on about what a great manager LaRussa is. Personally, I feel he's WAY overrated, but whatever. The point is, if he is a great manager, now's the time for him to prove it. He has GOT to get this team straightened out and winning again.

[MJHMarc]

Which team do you think has the better pitching staff?