Is it in the Cards again?

Having not paid a whole lot of attention to the standings besides the AL East, I took a look today to see that the NL Central is becoming a tight race. We wrote on here way back in May about the Milwaukee Brewers and how exciting it is to see a team who hasn't been good for quite some time seriously rebuild the last few years and put together some top young talent. In my midseason review, I stated that the Brewers would be able to hold their own--which is the equivalent of saying they had the division wrapped up. But now it's starting to look like I could be wrong.

For one, the Cubs have made a decent comeback. But the team that has me wondering is the Cardinals--the defending World Series Champions. A look back to the records of Milwaukee, Chicago, and St. Louis on May 31st and how they've done since then will show what I'm talking about:

Milwaukee 30-24, 32-34 since 5/31
Chicago 22-29, 38-30 since 5/31
St. Louis 22-29, 35-31 since 5/31

St. Louis hasn't been as good as the Cubs, but Milwaukee's sub-.500 record currently puts the Cards 3.5 games out of first place. Last year the NL Central followed a similar story where the Cardinals were hot out of the gate and then had a horrendous finish to the season. The caveat to it was the Houston Astros who on this date last year were 57-63 and 6.5 games out, but came within half a game on 9/28/06 of the first place Cardinals.

So my question is, are the Cardinals this years Houston Astros? And could they feasibly make a run at the NL Central title?