What's tripping Cardinals' lineup in monthlong search for runs? 'It comes down to slug.'

For the first full month of the season, a discussion within and around the Cardinals as the team sought to differentiate this year's start to how last year finished was how it's “in every game.” There have been a few real clunkers at Busch Stadium and the pyrotechnics of opening day at Dodger Stadium were reserved for the host Dodgers, but the Cardinals have mostly played tight, hairpin games. Of their first 31, 24 have been decided by three or fewer runs, and in 16, the Cardinals have scored three or fewer runs. As they concluded a six-game road trip that followed their 2006 voyage from Queens to a World Series in Detroit without Adam Wainwright's curveball to close for them, five of the games were decided by three or fewer runs.