"He barely classified it as a speech and dared not call it inspirational. However, in the moments after the Cardinals suffered a late-night body blow against the San Francisco Giants, Lance Berkman thought it a good time to remind his teammates of their ability, their cohesiveness and the team's place in the season.

The Cardinals stood 2-6 after center fielder Colby Rasmus failed to hold on to Miguel Tejada's two-out drive to the AT&T Park warning track on April 9. The blast was scored a double and gave Ryan Franklin his second blown save in as many days.

After only eight games a repetitive story was developing that led to familiar questions and occasionally testy responses. Berkman lived it with the Houston Astros in recent years. He wished to avoid a repeat with a more gifted team.

"I do think more than anything else I just didn't want anybody to be shellshocked," he recalled Sunday. "That was the feeling I got. That can happen when things don't go well, particularly when crazy things start happening and you're getting 'walked-off.' I just wanted guys to know this was a fluky thing. It wasn't to keep happening. There was no reason to get that deer-in-the-headlights look. We've still got a job to do."

Others in the room listened. Several also noticed that Berkman stood in front of reporters for about 10 minutes when the clubhouse opened.

The next day, left fielder Matt Holliday returned to the lineup. The Cardinals won convincingly and the tenor of the month changed abruptly. They open a six-game home stand tonight against the Washington Nationals back at .500, concerned about Franklin but hardly panicked.

"We go 6-4 on the trip and we easily could have won three more," Holliday said. "I think we're playing well. I like our team. It's still early."

"We won a series twice," manager Tony La Russa said. "We almost won a third one. We really competed well. (Sunday) was a tough loss. But any time you win a series you're not totally unhappy."

Through eight games the Cardinals appeared little more than offensively inept. They hit .216 while scoring 21 runs, producing 11 extra-base hits, batting .185 with runners in scoring position and amassing a .581 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. A measly eight two-out RBIs reinforced their dead appearance.

Even with Sunday's 2-1 disappointment against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cardinals pick up their schedule tonight having produced a .353 average in their last eight games. They amassed 182 total bases during a run that featured six home runs from Berkman and seven RBIs from Holliday, who has scored in eight of his nine starts this season. While scoring 67 runs the last eight games the Cardinals have produced 33 two-out RBIs. If they were offensive weaklings before Berkman took the floor — and Holliday returned to the lineup — the Cardinals have been the league's most dynamic team since, amassing a .985 OPS.

"A lot of guys almost started this trip from scratch," third baseman David Freese said last week. "I think what's happened along the way has picked everybody up."

First baseman Albert Pujols remains a bit of an enigma, drawing analysis from former teammate Eduardo Perez, among others, over his set-up. Pujols cranked three home runs last Friday and Saturday but has yet to regain the powerful rhythm that accompanied his brilliant first 10 seasons. He has walked five times — none intentionally despite enforcer Holliday's seven-game absence — in 73 plate appearances."