The St. Louis Cardinals continue to suffer from nagging injuries—Matt Holliday is expected to miss a few games, Skip Schumaker returned only to see Mitchell Boggs sent down to AAA—and Albert Pujols's general ineffectiveness, but you wouldn't know it from their strong performance in the NL Central standings, where they've gone to 10 games over .500 and taken a three-and-a-half game lead over the Cincinnati Reds. They're just the third team to get that far over .500 across the MLB standings—the Cleveland Indians and the Philadelphia Phillies are already at the milestone.
The Reds seemed to have righted the ship after their slow end to April, winning 11 out of 13 and sweeping the Cardinals to regain control over the central division, but after that they proceeded to lose six consecutive games, first to the Pittsburgh Pirates and then to those other two way-over-.500 clubs. The Brewers also remain well within range of the Cardinals, thanks to strong performances from Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and—Jonathan Lucroy.
For a full set of NL Central standings and daily dispatches on the Cardinals and the rest of the NL Central, visit Viva El Birdos.