Let’s get this out of the way, following a fun, sunny Sunday at the park — there’s no question that Adam Wainwright’s performance in the Cardinals’ win was a great success.
But with where the Cardinals are in the standings, there’s no question that this homestand has been a great failure.
The Cards lost two of three to Milwaukee.
The Cards lost two of three to Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh.
Back home, the Cards’ offensive urgency and efficiency has been spotty and shoddy.
You hoped the team could go from good to great? The Cardinals are still trying to prove they’re good — and they’re running out of time to make a run toward great.
And to think the Cards are finally getting a string of quality starts.
In late June, the last time the Pirates were in town, the visitors won three of four games. It was terrible, but the Cards had a caveat. Manager Mike Shildt shared that his club had just altered its hitting approach. They would now try to hit to all fields and take pitches to walk more. Situational hitting wouldn’t be occasional. And to their credit, since June 24th — the start of that series — the Cards are ninth-best in baseball in batting average (.256) and fourth in hitting with runners in scoring position (.293).
But with Pittsburgh back in town, it’s as if the Pirates plundered their prowess.
Again. Pittsburgh.
The 44-80 Pirates.
In these three games, the Cardinals were 4 for 25 with runners in scoring position.
A glaring example was in Sunday’s fourth. The Cards had runners on first and second … and no outs … and a 3-0 count on the hitter … and failed to score in the inning.
“We don’t want to underreact, we don’t overreact,” said Shildt, whose Cardinals (63-60) are 12 back in the division and 4 ½ back in the wild card. “First of all, it was a real positive — 29 hits in three games (against Pittsburgh) — traffic all over the place. Super-frustration we weren’t able to cash in — if we do, we win all three. I don’t think it’s any secret about that, because we pitched and played well enough to do that. Some balls get hit at people. Some guys make some pitches. I feel like the approach is there. We’ve been fourth in baseball with runners in scoring position since the 24th of June. So you’re looking at it coming on two months. So it’s not necessarily doing anything different.”
But time and again during this crucial homestand, the guys batting with runners in scoring position looked like “June 23” Cardinals, if you will.
This homestand was the pendulum-swinger (still is, with two more against Detroit). The Birds were on a six-game win streak when they flew home to St. Louis. They proceeded to get four quality starts. But two total wins out of six. I wrote an obituary for their division-winning chances in last Thursday’s paper. If they don’t rediscover their swing and swag, the wild-card deficit could drop to six or more — and their chances could drop the metaphorical six feet.
“We’re into that spot to where we’re almost through August here,” Wainwright said. “We’ve got some very, very tough series coming up ahead of us, both on the road and at home. We’re just going have to come out and play with our hair on fire, honestly. We’ve got nothing to lose now. We’re a little bit down and we are playing catch up. But every single day is the most important day of the year.”
Earlier this month, much was made about the stars finally aligning — both Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado were hitting well during the same stretch. And the Cards, sure enough, won their share of games. But since the club returned to St. Louis, Arenado has appeared to be pressing. Maybe it had to do with the pressure of impressing the home fans. Maybe it had to do with Milwaukee’s star pitchers. But it was perhaps his worst week in a Cardinal uniform. In the six home games — three against Milwaukee, three against Pittsburgh — Arenado got three hits.
He struck out 11 times in 26 at-bats.
He arrived home with an .835 OPS, and he’s now at .810. Goldschmidt, who trailed him all year due to a dismal April, has surpassed Arenado with an .811 OPS.
The Cards have other issues, too. Despite Bader’s better at-bat in Sunday’s eighth, which led to a rare RBI with a runner in scoring position, he’s hitting .175 in the past 15 games. That’s also his slugging percentage during that stretch. And in his last seven appearances, closer Alex Reyes has allowed seven hits, 10 runs, five earned runs — and made an extra-inning throwing error that led to some of the unearned runs. In those appearances, he also had the infamous four-walk, no-out outing against Atlanta.
On Sunday, Reyes indeed got the save to preserve Wainwright’s win. But with the Cards up 3-0 in the ninth, Reyes allowed two hits and then, with two outs, allowed a 101.6-mph screamer to the wall. But right fielder Lars Nootbaar made a reaching catch to save the guy who made the save.
If you thought this column’s tone was negative, imagine what might’ve unfurled if that ball had hit the wall.
