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Well, what do we have here?

Crisp Cardinal baseball?

In the most important weekend of the season, the Mike Shildt Cardinals have played as if they were the Mike Schmidt Phillies — mashing baseballs, fielding impeccably and locking down games with a bullish bullpen.

“It’s a crucial point of the year,� infielder Matt Carpenter said Saturday after a 6-2 win over the Cubs. “And we’re trying to send a message to our division, league, fans and everybody involved that we’re still in this — and we feel like we have the group to make a late run.�

It’s funny, right? If the Cards had lost either of the first two games to the Cubs, it would’ve been deflating. But winning both — and the way they won both — seems to have jolted the whole structure on Clark Avenue. A sweep Sunday and the Cards would be 54-51 and a wild-card contender, not masquerading as one.

So as ºüÀêÊÓƵ approaches Tuesday’s trade deadline, it makes sense to be sensibly proactive. If the Cards can acquire Tampa Bay starter Chris Archer for a small haul of pitching prospects not named Jordan or Jack, it could boost the franchise in both 2018 and beyond. The idea is to maximize, maximize, maximize — assets and pitching roles and controlled contractual years.

The former All-Star Archer, an extremely likable personality, could bolster the rotation and slot others down (to maximize spots). He’s under a pretty friendly contract until 2021. And it would also provide a chance to deal closer Bud Norris for a prospect, since the Cardinals have Jordan Hicks, who can close, and have an influx of young arms for the bullpen, in the style of 2013.

(Late Saturday update: The Cardinals acquired lefty reliever Chasen Shreve  and minor-league reliever Giovanny Gallegos from the Yankees in exchange for first baseman and native ºüÀêÊÓƵan Luke Voit.) 

The ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals are not back to being the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals yet. That will be a team that competes with the Cubs for the division title, not just for a July series (in which Chicago doesn’t have Kris Bryant). But interim skipper Shildt and his lieutenants have infused positivity into this team. Shildt’s smart move of Marcell Ozuna to the fifth spot has, in a small sample size, relaxed the slugger, who, for a change of pace Saturday, actually slugged. His grand slam was his first home run since, and I’ll need to check this, 1973.

Meanwhile, Dexter Fowler is hitting baseballs harder, drawing walks and making Harrison Bader-like throws from right field. The 1-2-3 of Carp, Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong seems to be working, as does the bullpen in innings 7-8-9. Again, a crazy-small sample size. But it’s all we can point to, since Shildt has been the manager for only 11 games (6-5, but winners of three of the past four).

These wins, Shildt shared, are “important for obvious reasons. Clearly we’re in the process of chasing people, so games are important. And these particular games, really, it’s not necessarily about who we’re playing, it’s about how we’re playing.

“For me, it’s about seeing these guys process and start to deliver the result that they want. We saw a lot of process take place today, including that first inning that went well and guys executed their game plans. A well-played baseball game, again.�

And the Cards have plenty of remaining games against other wild-card contenders, be it Colorado (four this very next week at Busch, seven total), Washington (seven), Pittsburgh (nine) and Milwaukee (six), which just made a move to bolster its offense with Mike Moustakas. But did they? He’s got 20 homers, sure, but the former Royal has a batting line since May 12 (60 games) of .213/.292/.400.

As for ºüÀêÊÓƵ, trading the closer Norris isn’t one of those moves fans root for. Bud, man — he’s been brilliant. But he’s a free agent and is actually good enough to possibly garner a prospect. Our old friend Seunghwan Oh was traded from the Blue Jays’ bullpen to Colorado’s 'pen, and the trade got Toronto two prospects, including Granite City native Chad Spanberger. He was hitting .315 while leading his Class A league in home runs (22) and OPS (.942). Could be a budding Blue Jay in the future.

When the Cards fired manager Mike Matheny, the brass made it clear — this team can still compete for the postseason. Again, it’s not as fun to chase the wild card as the division. But moves to maximize roles could benefit a team deemed under-performing.

A lot has to go right in a larger sample size. This team has let ºüÀêÊÓƵ down often this summer. But the past two days have been bigger than just two games on the schedule.

“It’s exciting to watch guys swing the bat like they’ve been swinging them and watching guys get hot,� said starting pitcher Miles Mikolas. (Incidentally, who would’ve thought that he, not Yu Darvish, would be the best ex-Japanese pitcher in the division?)

“This is when we’ve got to turn it around, we’ve got to start winning these games, and there’s no one better to take these games from than the Cubs, especially with all the changes that just got made. To come out with a couple of new faces and a little bit of a new team and kind of stick it to them feels really good.�