Regardless of the branding — you say “transition,” they say “runway” — the turbulence of youth and that mix of inconsistent play and shrinking attendance the Cardinals braced themselves for this season arrived like a summer storm, fast and flooding, over the past week.

A homestand that began with a series victory against the archrival Cubs unraveled into five consecutive losses, the last three of which came with a thinned lineup and mishaps against the New York Yankees. The Cardinals erased a three-run deficit Sunday, took a lead into the seventh and then watched it all come apart with two errors by Thomas Saggese in the ninth inning. The Yankees completed the weekend series sweep at Busch Stadium with an 8-4 victory in front of a tickets-sold crowd of 25,365, or 3,500 below the Cardinals

See Full Page