Daily Rant: Cardinals fall to Phillies in offensive battle

facebooktwitterreddit

The Cardinals lost a hard fought offensive show with the Philadelphia Phillies. Starting pitchers Jake Westbrook and Joe Blanton didn’t really factor, but Philadelphia hitters Shane Victorino and Freddy Galvis did with three RBIs a piece. Who performed well for the Cardinals? Find out after the jump.

Box Score

Final123456789RHE
Philadelphia42001201010181
St. Louis0040301109151
WP: R. Valdes (1-0) S: J. Papelbon (13)
LP: F. Salas (0-3)
ABRHRBIHRBBKSBLOBSeason Avg
R. Furcal ss502000101.341
S. Schumaker cf-2b411100001.306
M. Holliday lf311212101.271
C. Beltran rf513100102.302
D. Freese 3b532210003.270
Y. Molina c514310000.314
    A. Chambers pr000000000.333
M. Adams 1b400000302.222
    M. Boggs p000000000.000
    D. Descalso ph100000101.213
T. Greene 2b300000100.239
    F. Salas p000000000.000
    V. Marte p000000000.000
    S. Hill 1b211000001.333
J. Westbrook p111000000.176
    B. Dickson p100000100.000
    S. Robinson cf200000101.231
 Totals4191593210013
IPHRERBBKHRWHIPSeason ERA
J. Westbrook3.28663401.363.21
B. Dickson1.12100101.290.00
F. Salas (L, 0-3)1.04220102.046.32
V. Marte1.23110311.183.98
M. Boggs1.11000001.222.29

The Positives

  • Rafael Furcal just keeps hitting. He’s the best leadoff hitter in the National League. I’m still not one hundred percent convinced that he keeps this up, but I’m totally fine with being wrong.
  • Skip Schumaker picked up a hit and scored a run while also splitting time between center field and second base. Oh the versatility!
  • Matt Holliday hit his tenth home run of the season and raised his batting average to .271. Come on, Matt! My MVP prediction is counting on you!
  • Carlos Beltran. Wow. He is not hitting over .300 after a three hit night. He has been a tremendous pickup for the Cardinals. He needs to provide just under six WAR over this season and next to earn the contract the Cardinals gave him. It might only take him this year.
  • David Freese really didn’t like being in that slump. He hit his tenth home run of the season and is now hitting .270
  • Yadier Molina had a four hit game. He ended the night with three RBIs, but that offensive surge from last season was just because of a contract year, right?

Justin’s Jeers

  • Matt Adams is pulling a Jekyll and Hyde act game to game. He got a hat trick last night with three strike outs. It’s still too small a sample size to declar anything about his performance, but he needs to show more consistency with his plate discipline.
  • Tyler Greene is also showing a lot of inconsistency. There seems to be a divide among the fans as to whether he is just a below average player or if he just needs regular playing time to succeed. With every solid game followed up by a handful of Ofers, team A is winning.
  • Jake Westbrook got rocked. Eleven baserunners and more than half of them scored. We all knew he was due for regression, but I think we were hoping it would be a little bit slower. Unfortunately, I would get used to performances like this before I expected more sub3 ERA pitching.

Three Stars

3) Carlos Beltran – It was hard to keep Matt Holliday out of the three stars, but Beltran’s three hit night overshadowed Holliday’s home run for me.

2) David Freese – Freese picks up his second consecutive second star with a two hit performance. With a home run and three runs, it is fair to say the slump is over.

1) Yadier Molina – A four hit night with three RBIs locks up Yadi’s first star. He also kept a usually speedy crew of Rollins, Pence, and Victorino from even attempting a stolen base.

Standings

CentWLGBSRS
CINF25190.0
STLF25200.50.9
HOUF21234.00.1
PITF20245.0-0.8
MILF18267.0-1.0
CHCF152910.0-1.0

Today’s Game

With the loss against the Phillies, the Cardinals dropped to half a game back of the Reds. They look to avoid another losing streak by sending out 5-1 Kyle Lohse against 0-2 Cliff Lee. Lohse has a 2.91 ERA and has been the Cardinals most consistent pitcher this season. Lee currently has a 2.66 ERA and has been dominant on the mound, but hasn’t gotten much run support from the Phillies. He has a 2.11 ERA in three starts in Busch Stadium. He has picked up two wins in the Cardinals home park. Game time is set for 7:15 and Redbird Rants will have the recap.