Could things get any worse for the St. Louis Cardinals? The season hasn’t even started yet and already one of their aces is out for the year and the other left a spring training game due to a hamstring injury.

The good news is that Chris Carpenter should be fine after leaving Tuesday’s outing with what is being called a strained hamstring. The bad news is that the Cardinals are clearly cursed and I wouldn’t be surprised if red ants invaded the infield grass at Busch Stadium and started attacking the grounds crew.

All kidding aside, I wonder if this scare with Carpenter will force the Cardinals to reconsidering adding another arm before the season starts. There was some thought that 32-year-old minor league free agent acquisition Raul Valdes would be considered a replacement for Wainwright, but the early camp impressions haven’t been good.

Kevin Millwood is still waiting for some team to call, and the Cards seem like a good fit for the 36-year-old. But St. Louis appears to be set on going with internal options at this point, which is surprising seeing as how they’re built to win now (at least they were before Wainwright was injured).

For now, it appears as though the Cards are going with what they have but the injury to Carpenter may have changed their outlook on the pitching situation.

The search is over for the most bizarre sports story of the month: Jonny Gomes, you win.

After word spread that Cardinals’ starting pitcher Adam Wainwright suffered a serious arm injury that could require Tommy John surgery (it does), reports surfaced that Gomes arrived to Reds’ spring training practice on Wednesday “joyously” singing, “Wainwright’s gone, Wainwright’s gone, Wainwright’s gone.”

Naturally, Cardinal nation wanted Gomes beaten to within an inch of his life but the outfielder denied the report and claims he was merely singing the song “You’re the Best Around” from the “Karate Kid” movie.

Nope, this isn’t a joke. From Mark Sheldon’s blog:

I was present in the clubhouse when Gomes walked in. He was singing — but it was a song from the original Karate Kid movie — “You’re the best around…” As for what he said about Wainwright, Gomes’ account follows:

“I was doing an interview with [Rob] Dibble and Dibble gave me the breaking news that Wainwright was flying back to St. Louis with arm problems. That’s all I heard. I came in and I said ‘is Wainwright gone, is Wainwright gone?’

Gomes went on to say that he came up with Wainwright in the minors and would never wish injury on any player. If it’s any consolation, St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa told the media that, “I happen to know Gomes. I don’t think he meant anything by it. And I haven’t even heard for sure what he said. But I like the way he competes.”

Hal McCoy, the writer who posted the original report, removed the story and said that he “didn’t sleep last night” after what he wrote caused a stir.

Whether the story is true or not, this will certainly ratchet up the rivalry between the Cards and Reds this season. And whether Gomes sang about Wainwright’s injury or not, there’s no doubt that Randy Marsh is proud that the Reds’ outfielder was signing “You’re the Best Around.”

The Albert Pujols contract situation just took a backseat to more depressing news for St. Louis Cardinal fans.

Adam Wainwright suffered what is being called a significant elbow injury in spring training and the early reports are that he’ll need Tommy John surgery.

Make no mistake, this would be a disastrous situation for the Cardinals. As in, hey Milwaukee Brewers, the door is open, why don’t you come in and make yourself at home at the top of the NL Central kind of disastrous situation. Wainwright is one of the game’s best pitchers and has finished in the top three of the NL Cy Young balloting each of the past two seasons. Without him in the rotation, the Cards will certainly struggle to stay afloat in the division.

If he does wind up having surgery, the options are slim for replacements. According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, early speculation is that the Cards will go after Kevin Millwood, which wouldn’t be a bad move. Millwood is 36-years-old and had an ERA of 5.10 last season, but he would benefit from the move to the NL and the pitcher-friendly Busch Stadium. He’s better than a sharp stick in the eye.

But obviously Millwood is no Wainwright. Assuming he’s out for the season, this injury not only hurts the Cardinals but the game of baseball as well. Major League Baseball needs its stars on the field.

After cruising through his first season in the National League, Roy Halladay was given the 2010 National League Cy Young Award.

Halladay was the unanimous choice after posting a 21-10 record with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP over 33 starts. He also struck out 219 batters while walking only 30, and finished with two no-hitters (one of which came in his first ever postseason appearance).

Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals finished second in the voting and the Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenz finished third despite being the unanimous choice early in the year. Tim Lincecum, who won the past two NL Cy Young awards, finished 11th despite beating Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Derek Lowe and Cliff Lee (twice) in the postseason.

While Cardinal fans are still crying about how Wainwright didn’t win the award in 2009, they have nothing to say this year. Halladay was the clear-cut choice while receiving all 32 first-place votes. The award caps off an amazing year.

Before their sweep of the Braves this week, I would have said that the National League Wild Card is a three-team race. But now that the Rockies are putting together a very Rockie-like charge, this is definitely now a four-horse competition in the NL.

Let’s break down the contenders and make a prediction.

(Side Note: I’m fully aware that the Phillies and Cardinals still have a great chance of catching the Braves and Reds in their respective divisions, but I’m going by the standings as of Thursday, August 26. In a couple of weeks, I’ll update this list so for now, let’s just call this Version 1.0.)

Philadelphia Phillies
Games Remaining: 36
Games Back: 0
What I Like About Their Chances: I like the Phillies because quite frankly, they’ve been here before. They know what it takes to play good baseball in the month of September and their roster is chockfull of veteran players. Even though they haven’t shown it of late, the Phils also still have the best lineup 1-8 of any of the four Wild Card contenders and a three-headed monster in Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt (who has been outstanding in the month of August) and Cole Hamels. This is, by far, the most talented team of the four listed…

What I Don’t Like: …that said, this club isn’t playing very good baseball right now. In their last seven games, they’ve won only two and they were just swept at home by the Astros. Also, despite all of their offensive firepower, they’ve managed to score just 16 runs in those seven outings. They also have six more games against the Braves, who they are just 5-7 against this season. This is a club that seemingly can’t put it all together this season and you just get the sense that something’s missing.

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One day after reports surfaced that the Phillies were on the verge of acquiring Roy Oswalt via a trade, Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports hears that the Cardinals are now the front-runners for the Astros’ ace.

In fact, the Astros have been talking with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak for several days now, and Oswalt is quite amenable to go to St. Louis if the teams can agree on what players will head back to Houston. For their part, the Cardinals are convinced that matching Roy Oswalt up with Dave Duncan would take a guy who is already an ace and turn him back into the Cy Young candidate he was a few years ago. I’ll stop believing stuff like that when Dave Duncan actually fails for once. Which I wouldn’t bet on, frankly.

Of course, the big issue everyone has been talking about today has been Oswalt’s desire that his 2012 option be picked up. That’s $16 million, and that ain’t hay. My source tells me, however, that Oswalt would be willing to work with the Cardinals to make the option more palatable, possibly in terms of deferring some money. The sides aren’t quite that far yet.

The other issue is that the Cardinals’ farm system is tapped out, outside of top prospect Shelby Miller, who was the club’s first round pick in 2009.

Would St. Louis be willing to give up Miller and take on Oswalt’s salary? That’s a reach, especially considering Oswalt and Albert Pujols are each due to make $16 million in 2011, Matt Holliday is set to make $17 million, Chris Carpenter $15 million, Adam Wainwright $6.5 million and Kyle Lohse $11.9 million. That’s a lot of dough for six players and that doesn’t even include Ryan Ludwick, who is due a raise soon.

Speaking purely from a baseball standpoint, Oswalt makes every bit of sense for the Cardinals. But it’s a whole other story from a financial perspective.

Down 1-0 heading into the seventh inning, you got the sense of “here we go again” for the National League in the All-Star Game. The pitching was excellent (the one run that the AL scored was unearned), but nobody was hitting and it appeared that the NL was destined to spend the rest of its existence in All-Star Game hell.

Then Braves’ catcher Brian McCann came to the plate with bases loaded and promptly unloaded them with a double to give the NL a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, the Giants’ Brian Wilson and the Dodgers’ Jonathan Broxton followed with scoreless innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth to give the NL its first ASG victory in 13 years.

The pitching in most All-Star Games is usually good, but the NL’s staff was excellent on Tuesday night. They allowed just six hits and one earned run, while walking three batters and striking out eight. Roy Halladay had the most trouble in his 0.2 innings of work by allowing two hits, although neither run crossed home plate.

The pitching for the AL was also solid outside of the Yankees’ Phil Hughes, who had decent stuff but was smacked around in the fatal seventh inning. In just 0.1 innings of work, he gave up two runs on two hits, including McCann’s double.

Also noteworthy was how base running came into play late in the game for both sides. Down 1-0 in the seventh, Scott Rolen (who had reached on a single) took second and third on only a single by the Cardinals Matt Holliday because he read the ball off the bat perfectly. While he eventually scored on McCann’s double, Rolen’s savvy base running play was potentially huge because it put a runner at third with less then two outs and the NL down by one run.

On the flip side, the AL was threatening in the bottom of the ninth when David Ortiz singled to right to start the inning and John Buck hit what looked to be another single two batters later. But Ortiz didn’t read the play well enough and while the ball dropped in front of outfielder Marlon Byrd, he still had enough time to pick it up and make a good throw to second to nail Ortiz for the force out.

While it was a tough play for Ortiz to read, the gaff killed any momentum that the AL had built in the ninth and Broxton was able to retire Ian Kinsler to give the NL its first victory in over a decade.

Nursing a 2-1 lead with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals looked like they had Game 2 of the NLDS wrapped up, especially when Ryan Franklin got Dodgers first baseman James Loney to hit a routine line drive to left field.

Then Matt Holliday forgot which way to turn his glove.

Holliday muffed the line drive, which turned into a double and put the tying run in scoring position. Two walks and a Ronnie Belliard RBI single later and pinch-hitter Mark Loretta became a hero by driving in Casey Blake with a single up the middle.

The Dodgers took Game 2 of the series and the Cardinals’ hopes along with them.

From MLB.com:

What the loss did to the Cardinals’ psyche will be determined later. Manager Tony La Russa tried to put it into words.

“I think it’s about as tough a loss as you can have,” said La Russa, although he noted that at least his club hadn’t been eliminated. “Right now we’re feeling disappointed. But we’re not discouraged. There’s a big difference in the two.”

People are going to pin this loss squarely on Holliday, which is fair given that he should have caught the ball and had he, the game would have been over and the Cards would be going back to St. Louis tied 1-1 in the series.

But Holliday wasn’t the only one to make a mistake for the Cards in this game. The biggest (well, the second biggest after Holliday’s plunder) was probably La Russa not allowing Adam Wainwright to come out in the ninth. Wainwright had thrown more pitches in more outings this year than he did last night and came out for the ninth before. So unless Wainwright told La Russa that he was done, the skipper should have allowed his horse to continue throwing his gem.

Colby Rasmus also made a base running error during the game and was thrown out at third by Loney. Rasmus was hung up in no man’s land on the play and cost his team a runner in scoring position.

But give credit to the Dodgers – they’ve found a way to make Albert Pujols a non factor and the Cardinals haven’t found a way to make them pay. That said, St. Louis should have won this game and it’ll be interesting to see how La Russa’s club bounces back. (If they can, that is.)