If the Brewers have taught us anything, it's that charisma cannot be transferred between different players, like a McDonald's gift certificate or syphilis. They tried that with an under-the-radar procedure involving Nyjer Morgan and Zack Greinke, and it just made things worse on both sides.

If they've taught us anything else, it's that a team with a good offense can come back in a real hurry. The Brewers were down in this game 5-2 until they exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fifth, hitting all sorts of home runs, both expected (Prince Fielder) and not (Yuniesky Betancourt).

So the Cardinals were right to be a little excited in the top of the seventh inning. Rafael Furcal opened the inning with a solid single, and Jon Jay moved him to third with a single on a beautifully executed hit-and-run. That brought up Albert Pujols with two on and no outs. A pujolsian swing of the bat could tie the game.

A run did come in, but it was on an around-the-horn double play that squashed the rally. It brought the Cards closer, cutting the Brewers' lead to 8-6, but with outs at a premium, St. Louis is probably just a bit disappointed with the outcome of the inning.