Time could be ripe for Cardinals to make their move, at long last

12:50 PM ET

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals continue to maintain that it’s early, that there’s no reason to get anxious about a deficit in the NL Central that has, at times, approached double digits already.

Asked about the three-game series with the first-place Chicago Cubs that begins Monday night at Busch Stadium, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said what he usually says when someone asks about the rivalry: It starts with the fans and, sometimes, spreads to the dugouts.

“It’s a fun atmosphere,” Matheny said. “There seems to be an extra little edge buzzing through the stadium when the Cubs come into town.”

If the 120,000 or so fans who show up over the next three days can impart an edge to the Cardinals, it’s about time the team learns how to use it. The timing is ripe for the Cardinals to make a move, but they have shown scant signs of making one. It might be early, but it’s not that early. More than one-quarter of the season has passed and the one-third mark arrives by the middle of next week.

The Cubs, who looked infallible for six weeks, have been fallible for a week. They have lost five of their past seven games, but the Cardinals managed to gain just one game in that time. The Cardinals remain stuck in a two-steps-forward, two-steps-back tango to nowhere. Their longest winning streak is four games, and that was six weeks ago. Their longest losing streak is four games.

The Cardinals don’t need a sweep to stay in the race, but they can scarcely afford to lose their fourth series in four tries to the other two …

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