The Skitzophrenic Cardinals Season Continues

I've said it several times during the course of this season, but I'm yet to say it in this space. This Cardinals team is the most frustrating I've ever watched. They can play lights out baseball in Cincinnati with first place on the line and then they come home against the Cubs and play like, what's the term I'm looking for? Ah yes, "little bitches." Thanks, Brandon Phillips. The Cards were ignited last Tuesday night by a shoving match with the Reds in the bottom of the first inning. It stemmed from Phillips' comments from Monday that didn't get to the Cards' clubhouse until after they had already delivered Monday's beating. He then had the brilliant idea to tap Yadier Molina on the shinguard before leading off the inning. Yadi told him that they were not friends in so many words and the whole thing just spilled over from there. It was kind of like a hockey fight now that I think about it. Not in the physical sense, as the only real physical contact other than shoving was Johnny Cueto kicking like a girl scout. But as for how it fired up the team, it really took the Cards to a new level and they just dominated the Reds for the rest of the series. Cincinnati never led during the three game set and St. Louis went from two games down to one game up when they left town.

The Cards then came home to face the Cubs after an off day. Chicago jumped on them early and went up 2-0 after a half inning, but the Cards came right back at them with yet another Albert Pujols home run in the bottom of the first. They then managed to keep at it by taking the lead in the third and padding the lead in the fourth and seventh. They gave one back on a Derek Lee home run in the eighth inning, but seeing as Lee was superhuman during this series, clubbing four bombs in three games, that obviously was unavoidable. The Cards put the game away with Ryan Franklin's 21st  save of the year in 23 chances. He's not the shutdown guy that I'd prefer, but he has been getting the job done this year. As long as he doesn't fade down the stretch like he did last season, I'm alright leaving him in that spot, as much as I was clamoring for Jason Motte earlier this season.

On Saturday, the Cardinals just didn't get it done when they had guys on base. They outhit the Cubs 9-7 but only managed to squeeze in two runs. That being said, the Cards had just strung together four consecutive wins and in baseball, losses happen. Good teams lose 60 games a year, often more. What really got to me was Sunday's game. Kyle Lohse did alright for a few innings in his return from the 60-day DL, just giving up a couple of solo shots over three innings to the immortal Lee and the Cards trailed just 2-1 after three. The fourth was tough to watch. The Cubs scored six runs in the inning, getting just one extra-base hit off of Lohse and one walk from him. So it certainly wasn't a merry-go-round of walks and he wasn't giving up rockets all over the outfield either. There was one walk, a ground-rule doubles, and a bunch of bleeders. He was then removed for Mike MacDougal who walked won and gave up a double himself, allowing three other runs to score. I'm not sure why MacDougal is on this team right now and I'm pretty sure he won't be when Motte comes back. He wasn't finding the strike zone often and when he was, the ball was being hit hard into holes. After the top of the fourth was over, which must have lasted a good 30 minutes, it was 8-1 Chicago.

The Cards managed to get a run back in the fifth, but almost as soon as they scored that run, the man who crossed the plate, Colby Rasmus, was lifted from the game as was Yadier Molina. I understand that it was hot. I was sitting in the shade for most of the game and I was hot. But when it's the Cubs, who have a terrible bullpen, the end of the fifth inning is not time to consider the game over. I could see Tony La Russa getting rest for players if they were in a long stretch with no off days, but currently, they have a plethora of off days. They were off on Thursday, they're off tomorrow, and they have another open date this Thursday. That is a lot of time to rest guys without taking them out of games early. As a Cardinals fan, when the rally was going in the bottom of the ninth of today's game, who would you rather see representing the tying run at the plate, Randy Winn or Matt Holliday? Winn did his job by drawing a walk and getting on base against the wild Carlos Marmol, but there was no power threat up there. The team batted around and the Cards didn't send a single power threat to the plate. Sure Allen Craig has pop, but he still only owns one major league home run. Until he produces consistently at this level, he can't be considered much of a threat at the plate. Our last out was made by backup catcher Steve Hill, who led off the inning with his first major-league home run and hit. The likelihood of him cranking out another one was extremely low. When he hit the first, it was 9-2 and there wasn't any real pressure. In his second at-bat, the game was on the line. That's a lot of pressure for a guy in his third major league at-bat, especially when geography was the only reason he was up here instead of AAA catcher Bryan Anderson. So I don't blame him for grounding out to end the game. I blame Tony for putting him in that spot in the first place. A manager's job is to put his players in the best position to succeed and he certainly didn't do that today. Perhaps it's decisions like this that have left the Cardinals with a 15-16 record against the Cubs, Astros, and Brewers this season. The Cards play well with the big boys, but you have to take care of your business against your little brothers too and they haven't been doing that this season.

Speaking of a lack of power threats, Ryan Ludwick is doing quite well in San Diego so far. Through 10 games, he has three home runs and seven RBI with a .271 batting mark. In case you're keeping track, that's three more home runs than John Jay has hit for the Cards since Ludwick was traded. I appreciate what Jay's been doing this year. He plays hard, he's a strong defensive player, and he's batting close to .370. But he's just not a genuine power threat like Ludwick. As far as true threats go, I'd only count us as having two in Pujols and Holliday. Colby Rasmus has 19 homers this year, but he's even streakier than Ludwick is, so he can't really be counted on. I'd love for him to prove me wrong and hit some more game changing bombs like the grand slam he had on his birthday last Wednesday in Cincinnati, but he hasn't done it yet. Jake Westbrook has given us three solid starts since he's arrived in exchange for Ludwick, but since we only have one win in those starts, it's still difficult for me to count the trade as a positive.

The first photo was taken by Tom Uhlman of the AP. Credit for the second photo couldn't be found.