St. Louis ? Woody Williams can’t wait to pitch in his first All-Star Game and Matt Morris couldn’t wait to get away, period.

That’s how it’s gone in a roller coaster first-half for the St. Louis Cardinals, who enter the break with five All-Stars for the first time since 1985 and the National League’s best offense, but with a so-so 49-45 record.

At 12-3, Williams is tied for the NL lead in victories with Russ Ortiz of the Braves, and is only three wins shy of his career best with the Padres and Cardinals in 2001.

“You don’t even think about things like that at the start of the season,” Williams said. “Everything has just worked out so nice, step by step.”

There have been several other high notes. Albert Pujols, the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game, is putting up Triple Crown-caliber numbers. Jim Edmonds has 28 home runs to rank among the major-league leaders, Pujols and Edgar Renteria are tied for the NL lead with 39 multihit games and Scott Rolen has excelled on offense and defense. The Cardinals lead the NL with a .287 average.

Rookie Bo Hart has been an unexpected find, filling in for the injured Fernando Vina and Miguel Cairo at second base. He’s off to a scintillating start with a .368 average and 11 multihit efforts in the first 24 games of his career, along with being a plus defensively.

“Hopefully, I’ll stick around,” Hart said.

The pitching, though, has dragged the team down.

Morris is the most visible example. After throwing consecutive shutouts in mid-May he was 6-3 with a 2.26 ERA. Since then he’s been bothered by a sore shoulder that affected his mechanics, and has allowed 41 earned runs in 38 innings, hiking his ERA to 4.19.

St. Louis' Albert Pujols, the leading vote-getter for tonight's major-league All-Star game, put up Triple Crown numbers during the season's first half. The Cardinals, however, have yet to hit their stride.

The Cardinals’ ace won’t pitch again until Monday, giving him 10 days of rest between starts.

“It’ll be good for me and hopefully rejuvenate me,” Morris said. “Sleeping at night has been tough, knowing I’m not doing my job. I’m not worth anything right now.”

The only consistent starter thus far has been Williams, an All-Star for the first time in his career at age 36. Brett Tomko has a 5.80 ERA and is winless at Busch Stadium, Garrett Stephenson is a mostly hard-luck 4-9 who’s been pitching just well enough to lose and Jason Simontacchi was recently banished from the rotation with an ERA above 6.

Rookie Dan Haren, a second-round pick in the 2001 draft, was plugged into the fifth spot for the last three starts before the break and will stay in the rotation after an impressive outing Sunday.

Those guys will need to pick it up for the Cardinals to reach the postseason for the fourth straight season.

“Our pitching situation is so not settled,” manager Tony La Russa said. “The rotation is probably the No. 1 thing that has to really come together.

“We’ve got to get Tomko to pitch good at home and Garrett to get some wins — they have to happen.”

Stephenson, who’ll start the first game after the break Thursday at Los Angeles, is 0-4 in his last five starts. Part of his problem is the Cardinals are averaging 4.5 runs in his starts, a staff low, but he’s also dug early holes.

“It’s going to turn around,” Stephenson said. “We’ve got 21/2 months left and I’m going to put together a good winning streak. We’ve got too good of a team not to.”

The bullpen was the chief culprit in the team’s slow start, rudderless without rehabbing closer Jason Isringhausen before Cal Eldred filled the gap. Eldred is 8-for-12 and Isringhausen is 4-for-5, but overall the team has blown 20 of 41 save opportunities.

The offense isn’t blameless, putting up huge numbers at times and nothing at all others. In one recent schizoid stretch, in all 17 victories they scored eight or more runs and in all 17 losses they scored four or fewer.

Still, La Russa knows if the Cardinals make any noise, it’ll have to start on the mound.

“To put a streak together, you’ve got to pitch,” La Russa said. “You can score a bunch of runs for a few games but you’ve got to pitch to really run off a big string.”

Another trade-deadline acquisition wouldn’t hurt. General manager Walt Jocketty has been adept at midseason moves in recent years, picking up the likes of Williams, Rolen, Will Clark and Chuck Finley for the stretch drive.

This year, it may not be so easy because ownership does not want to add money to an $83 million payroll. La Russa doesn’t want players to expect help.

“They’ve got to believe what we’ve got is enough,” La Russa said.

“We’re good enough.”