With 2 1/2 months and 76 games complete for the St. Louis Cardinals, there’s been plenty of good so far — and also some bad and ugly, especially in June.

So here are 50 things about the 2013 Cardinals, following yesterday’s (perhaps much needed) day off.

1. The Cardinals are 47-29 and have the best record in the major leagues.

2. They have a 1 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central. The two teams play 14 more times, including 5 games in 4 days from July 29-Aug. 1 at PNC Park.

3. So far the Cards are 2-3 against the Pirates. (I was there for two of the losses — sorry. It hopefully won’t be bad news that I’m also going to the 3-game Labor Day weekend series in Pittsburgh.)

4. The Cards have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and still have 10 games left against them.

5. They’ve won 6 and lost 3 against the Reds so far.

6. In June, the Cardinals are 12-11.

7. We know this is their worst month thus far, following a 15-11 April and 20-7 May.

8. They are 22-16 at Busch Stadium.

9. The road record is 25-13.

10. They are 8-8 in one-run games.

11. Three of those 1-run losses have been in June (including, of course, Sunday night).

12. The Cards are 3-4 in interleague play.

13. Tonight they start an 8-game interleague road trip: 2 in Houston, 3 in Oakland and 3 in Anaheim (because, despite the Los Angeles in the team’s official name, the ballpark really is in Anaheim — I’ve been by it before).

14. After this trip, they’ll still have 5 more interleague games at Busch: 2 at against the Astros in July and 3 against the Mariners in September.

15. Yadier Molina leads the National League in batting average at .353, ahead of Troy Tulowitzki in second at .347.

16. Matt Carpenter is 7th at .322, while Allen Craig is 10th at .312.

17. Yadi also leads the NL in doubles with 25.

18. There have only been 5 Cardinals to ever hit 50 doubles in a season, as Mark Tomasik at RetroSimba wrote about yesterday. Yadi also is approaching the season-best doubles total for a Cards catcher, which Mark details as well.

19. Yadi is currently the leading NL vote-getter for the All-Star Game. If you haven’t yet, vote now and make sure he stays there.

20. Carlos Beltran is leading all NL outfielders in All-Star voting, while Matt Holliday is 6th and Jon Jay is 12th.

21. Matt Carpenter is third in voting at second base, behind Brandon Phillips and Marco Scutaro.

22. David Freese is third in voting for third baseman.

23. Allen Craig also is third for first baseman.

24. Pete Kozma is fourth for shortstops.

25. In her Inbox column yesterday, Jenifer Langosch wrote that she expects Yadi, Beltran and Carpenter all will be All-Stars along with Adam Wainwright and Edward Mujica. She also said “Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Lynn could all make arguments for inclusion, though there has to be a cutoff somewhere.”

26. Speaking of Wainwright and Lynn, they lead National League pitchers (along with Jordan Zimmermann) with 10 wins each.

27. Wainwright is sixth in ERA at 2.31, with Miller just behind him at 2.35.

28. In WHIP, Miller is tied with several others for fifth at 1.00, while Waino is right behind at 1.01.

29. Wainwright is fourth in strikeouts with 106 and Shelby is seventh with 101.

30. Wainwright has walked 10 batters in 116 2/3 innings this season. By contrast, Jason Marquis has allowed an NL-high 48 walks in 90 1/3 innings.

31. Waino’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is 10.600, not surprisingly the best in the NL. Cliff Lee is second — at 5.833.

32. In addition, Waino is the only NL pitcher with 2 shutouts this season. He and Zimmermann lead with 3 complete games each.

33. Lynn is second in the NL in win percentage at .909.

34. Mujica is tied for second in saves with Craig Kimbrel — each has 21. Kimbrel, however, has three blown saves, and Grilli has one. Mujica has none.

35. The Chief has allowed 7 earned runs in 32 innings this season.

36. We won’t feel any more angst over Maikel Cleto.

36. Allen Craig is third in the NL with 58 RBI.

37. Carlos Beltran is fourth in homers with 17.

38. Matt Carpenter is fourth in on-base percentage at .403.

39. Batting leadoff, Carpenter is hitting .333/.420/.469 in  53 games.

40. Did you know he weighed 240 pounds in college — and had Tommy John surgery?

41. Even with the up-and-down June, the Cardinals have the best team batting average in the NL at .274 and on-base percentage at .335.

42. They’ve hit the fourth-fewest homers, 64. The Braves have hit 96, which is the most.

43. Speaking of the Braves, the Cards are tied with them for best team ERA in the majors at 3.21. The Pirates are right behind at 3.22.

44. Cardinals starters have the most wins in the majors, 41.

45. Cards starters also still lead the majors in ERA at 2.99.

46. The starters also have the most strikeouts in the NL, 410, and lead in WHIP at 1.14.

47. The relievers ERA has steadily improved and is now in the middle of the pack for the NL — their 3.75 ERA is eighth.

48. Cards relievers are tied with the Reds for second in the NL in saves with 23. The Pirates, not surprisingly, are first with 29.

49. The Cardinals are 8-3 on Tuesdays with a .279 batting average and a 2.18 ERA. They’ve hit 17 homers.

50. Tonight’s game is, coincidentally, on Tuesday, in Houston — the first time the Cards will face the Astros as an American League team. Game time is 7:10 p.m. with Jake Westbrook and Lucas Harrell as the starters.

(Yes, I originally was going to have 76 items on this list.)



Christine Coleman is the senior St. Louis Cardinals reporter for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. Follow her on Twitter, @CColeman802, or email aaronmilesfastball@gmail.com. Also follow @AMilesFastball for the latest updates.