St. Louis Cardinals cause frustration with loss

Writing about the St. Louis Cardinals following a loss is never easy. Writing about the Cardinals following two consecutive losses in extra innings after taking a 3-0 lead in the game is even worse. But it’s what happened this week and that’s not fun, causing frustration for fans as they become arm chair managers on Twitter.
Apr 29, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) hits a three-run home run off of Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Kyle Lohse (not pictured) during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Image Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
With the game going into extra innings, Matt Carpenter suffered a massive drop in his batting average. With six at bats, his average fell from .280 to .264 this season. It’s nothing like the 60 point fall that Jon Jay took–Jay’s average dropped last night with a strikeout in one at-bat.

Meanwhile, with a triple and an RBI, Allen Craig is sitting on a 4-game hitting streak. The first baseman/right fielder might be batting .220 in the last 10 games but in the past four, he has raised his average from .174 to .192, nearly 20 points. It’s still not where he wants to be entering the month of May but it’s as if he is breaking out of the slump.

Left fielder Matt Holliday had an 0-for-4 night at the plate but at least he was able to reach base with a walk.

With two hits last night, shortstop Jhonny Peralta has a five game hitting streak going. He’s gone from a .151 batting average to .204 in just five games. If Peralta keeps it up, he’ll be sitting on .300 in no time.

Yadier Molina‘s 3-run home run may have been one of the few highlights last night. The Cardinals catcher is hitting .350 with two hits last night.

Matt Adams may have struck out three times but the first baseman hit a single and double. He needs to work on not taking bad swings at the plate.

One thing that needs to be addressed is Mark Ellis. The 37-year-old veteran is the defacto starting baseman with Kolten Wong being demoted to the Memphis Redbirds. How is it that Wong gets demoted for not hitting that great and Ellis is hitting just as bad, if not worse? In his last 10 games, Ellis is hitting .133 (4-for-30) and he’s also hitting .133 on the season. So why was Wong sent down again?

Don’t expect to see much production from Daniel Descalso either. He came through last night with an extra-inning single in the 11th inning but that was it. It doesn’t hide the fact that he is hitting only .167 in the last 10 games and .125 in 32 at-bats this season.

It’s pretty sad when one doesn’t have much hope from the Cardinals bench late in the game. If Randal Grichuk starts in center, there’s no power bat coming off the bench.

Down in Memphis on Tuesday, Wong was 2-for-5 (.333) with a double while Oscar Taveras was 1-for-2 (.326) with two walks and an RBI. Stephen Piscotty (.300) came off the bench last night but struck out.