The Three Matts

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Cardinals have one of the most dangerous offenses in all of baseball. Hands down. There’s no question about this.

A very important part of that offense is named Matt.

The lead-off Matt (Carpenter) has been a table setter all year. You all should have heard his name before, because he’s garnered some MVP interest due to his impressive season. You can take a look at what I have to say about him here.

Last night, he passed Stan Musial on the Cardinals list of single season doubles, just adding to an already impressive resume after his first full season.

But the other two Matts deserve some serious attention and recognition too. We’ll start off with the veteran Matt (Holliday).

Although Holliday isn’t always the most popular player on the Cardinals roster — probably due to his large contract — everyone knows that he can play. Nonetheless, his most recent hot streak is reminding all of us how good he can actually be. He’s hitting .298 on the season with 91 RBIs. With any luck at all, he’ll finish above .300 for the seventh time in his career and with 100 RBIs for the sixth time. To say the least, he’s having a good season.

But here in September when it seems to matter most, Holliday is on fire. He’s hitting .368 with 2 home runs and 20 RBIs. In addition, his defense has improved greatly. I was always very critical of his abilities in left, but his throws have been stronger of late, and he’s been getting good jumps on balls. As a skeptic, impressing me takes some doing, but he has looked good in the outfield over the last couple of games.

If the veteran Matt doesn’t do it for you, then the rookie Matt (Adams) should.

Adams has been the only great bench player that the Cardinals have had this year, and he has been good from that spot boasting a .280 batting average with 5 home runs and 11 RBIs. When Allen Craig suffered an ankle injury, however, Adams got the opportunity to try his hand at starting.

He’s been pretty good, with a .344 batting average, 7 home runs, and 14 RBIs in just 17 games. I can’t lie, I miss Craig, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t a better “back-up” first baseman anywhere.

So this one is to the Matts! My hat is off to three of the finest players on the Cardinals team. May prosperity and playoff victories be ever in your futures!