It's a long season, everyone knows it and says it at some point during the 162 games. Each team has its ups and downs over the summer and what is nice about 162 games is that typically the cream rises to the top and the true good teams make it to the playoffs.
Let's just say this is one of the "down" times for the Cardinals. Over the past week the Cards have been dealt an interesting hand. First there was last Friday night. Against the Angels the teams were trading runs early, then Brad Penny launches a Grand Slam off ex-Cardinal, Joel Piniero to open the game up...Penny is the lifted due to injury that he may have aggravated with his monster swing. The next day Kyle Lohse takes the hill and just cannot control his stuff. While watching on TV you can tell that he has no control of what his pitches are going to do. He was never too wild, just right off the plate with a fastball that had some odd movement at the end. It reminded me of throwing a wiffle ball in the backyard and trying to throw a straight pitch - too hard to predict what made it straight.
The Angels were patient and hit the few that didn't move to chase Lohse from the game, to the medical specialist on Monday and then to another on Wed in CA. Lohse is found to have a condition that is unusual to baseball players. They say he can either go for surgery and miss a minimum of 2 months or become a right-handed relief specialist. How many right-handed specialists do you know of that are not called closers? And I think we can agree that Lohse is not closer material.
The Cardinals were able to score runs over the weekend though many times they were doing so in a catch-up fashion. The worry began to set in that the strong starting pitching for the Cards may be the trouble spot, and soon. Then comes this years' two aces; Waiwright and Garcia. They take the mound in back to back starts in SD and allow one run combined over 13 innings. In that span the high-priced hitters score 0. The Cards are forced to use their bullpen to the tune of 8 innings over 2 games. Weakening their pen for the upcoming 3-game stretch when they will need to march out two new comers to the rotation.
PJ Walters will get the start on Thursday and just last week he was being touted as the #6 starter in the Post-Dispatch, little did they know how soon he would fill that roll. He has earned the start with his spring training and minor league performance this year. But who will start in Chicago on Saturday? Though the season is long, this stretch that is coming up is important. As important to the final wins and loses as any 9-game stretch will be. The Cards go to Chicago for 3, then Cincinnati and Milwaukee come to town for 3 each. An off day is sprinkled in, which might save the Cards from needing a 5th starter once, but it will be a tough stretch for the team.
So, who gets the nod on Sat? Or beyond if Lohse is out for 2+ months? Here's a Free Agent list from mlbtraderumors.com. I am sure discussions are already going on with the Braden Looper camp. What about Smoltz? He never officially retired...though he is in the broadcast booth now for Atlanta. Can the Cards find lightening in a bottle again at Memphis and have the rookies perform similar to Garcia? I think the name of the game is finding an "innings guy" who won't hurt you. Get a good 6 a game from this slot and you are in good shape.
But none of that even touches on the real issue in St. Louis, and that is the lack of hitting. This team is under-achieving up and down the order. The only guy who you could say is over-achieving would be Freese and that's not good. When will Pujols and Holliday find a clutch hit? When will Yadi cut down on his strikeouts? When will Rasmus develop into a solid hitter? When will Ryan find his .290 stroke again? I hate to point to McGwire as the culprit, but I am leaning that way. If it was one or two guys I would say it was on them, when it is the team it sounds more like a system - set up by the hitting coaches. I believe that McGwire can teach more than just how to hit HR. But does he know how to hit behind runners? How to hit with a runner on first? How to get a rally going and put crooked numbers on the board? I am not convinced he does.
So, keep an eye on the NL Central over the next 11 days. There is a chance this could get interesting. The Cards have the talent to prevail on top on June 6 and again on Oct 3, but can they string it all together when the going is tough? It's time to find out. It's been a rough week for the Redbirds, let's see how they respond.
