Life and work have been a bit busy for game wraps the last few days, so why don’t we take a look at the standings since the weekend?

The Cubbies continue reside in first place, although they have definitely cooled off from the awesome hot streak that swept them into first. I mean, they lost a series to the Nationals. That’s gotta hurt. And all that without the hoppy Alfonso Soriano. He’ll be coming off the DL soon, so it should be interesting to see if he helps or hurts the team. If he continues to insist on his ridiculous idea of leading off, it’ll hurt.

The Cardinals are holding onto second place, despite losing to the Reds last night. (Even a blind squirrel like Bronson Arroyo can find a nut once in a while.) They did take a series from Houston over the weekend to continue their surprising start. Odds are good they’re winning ways will continue against the Reds, despite the opening game’s result. The Cardinals just win, and the Reds, and Dusty Baker, don’t.

In third place are the Brewers. They’re struggling along right now, losing their weekend series to the Marlins. However, Mike Cameron’s back from his drug suspension, so things should be looking up. Plus, they play the Cubs starting today, which provides ample opportunity to change their fortune.

The Astros and the Reds are tied for fourth place. The Astros got their thanks to a 6-game winning streak last week, including a sweep of the Reds, although they faltered against the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks. The Reds have a modest 3-game winning streak that’s lifted them from last place. Way to ride that general manager firing!

Bringing up the rear, of course, are the Pirates. They made big news by releasing former Cardinal Matt Morris at the end of last week. The team continues to lose a lot and abuse the good pitchers they do have. There really aren’t any better options than Morris in the minors for Pittsburgh, so I don’t know that the move will actually improve things. It’s looking like a 100-loss year is possible.

Boxscore

The Cardinals (14-9) stopped their losing streak thanks to the Pirates (9-13) sending out an obviously injured Tom Gorzelanny (1-3). The team is without Dave Littlefield, but they don’t seem to have gained much knowledge about how to deal with pitchers if the response from Pirates bloggers is any indication.

Joel Pineiro (1-2) pitched his first good game since returning from the DL, going 7 innings and allowing only 1 run. Of course, it was against the lowly Pirates, but I bet he can use it as a confidence booster nonetheless.

The Cardinals return home to host the Astros tonight at 8:15pm EDT sending Braden Looper against Shawn Chacon. The Pirates host the Phillies in a matchup that sees Adam Eaton against Zach Duke at 7:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Cardinals (13-9) have now lost two straight and fallen a game and a half back. Is this the end for them? Maybe they need to change General Managers to stop the losing.

Ian Snell pitched better than expected for the Pirates (9-12). He started things off with a bang, allowing four runs in the first, but settled down after that. In fact, the Cardinals never scored another run. Damaso Marte (1-0) gets the win, while Matt Capps (S 6) picks up the save.

Anthony Reyes (1-1) was tagged with the loss, and I can totally picture Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan talking to John Mozeliak, saying, “See!” Their dislike of the hurler is odd.

At any rate, the Pirates go for a series win today, sending out Tom Gorzelanny against Joel Pineiro at 7:05pm EDT.

The end of the Kriv-dawg era is upon us. The Reds replaced Wayne Krivsky with Walt Jocketty today. Jocketty, former St. Louis Cardinals GM and personal friend of owner Bob Castellini, was hired by the team as a special adviser before the season.

I’m in a day of meeting hell and can’t take the time to do the proper research on this to form an educated opinion. But, HOLY CRAP! I’d say that does more to demonstrate the team’s desire for change than eating Castro’s contract.

Here’s the article on Reds.com.

Boxscore

So pitching wasn’t exactly a strong suit in the game between the Cardinals (13-8) and the Brewers (12-8).

Kyle Lohse had his first bad outing of the year for the Cardinals–the first of many, I’m sure–and lasted only four innings. Needless to say, he didn’t really factor in the outcome of the game thanks to the Brewers bullpen, which couldn’t hold an 8-3 lead.

The hero of the game is Gabe Kapler, who drove in the winning run in the 12th off Jason Isringhausen (1-1) to give Seth McClung (1-0) the award of last bullpener standing.

The Cardinals move to Pittsburgh where Todd Wellemeyer faces Ian Snell at 7:05pm EDT. The Brewers next host the Phillies and Cole Hamels, sending out Dave Bush at 8:05pm EDT.