The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals are feeling as if it is September. The Cardinals blistered the Pirates 12-6 in the series opener Monday, inching themselves closer to a playoff spot, while Pittsburgh lost for a season-worst seventh game in a row and might be seeing the possibility of the postseason slipping away. Pittsburgh is 4 1/2 games behind St. Louis, which sits in the second National League wild-card spot and has a chance to overtake the San Francisco Giants for home-field advantage in the wild-card game.