The St. Louis Cardinals shine in Game 1

Game 1 of the 2015 season is in the books and the St. Louis Cardinals shined defeating the Cubs 3-0 last night on ESPN2. The Cardinals are a lock to win all of their remaining 161 games to, right??? Well…maybe not! What they do have a chance to do though is be a great team, like they have shown the ability to be for the better part of the past decade and beyond.

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Adam Wainwright got the opening day nod for the Cardinals last night and rightfully so because when healthy there is few in the majors I would rather have on the mound.

Wainwright looked strong and paced himself like the savvy veteran he is, keeping the Cubs guessing the whole night and outside of a few doubles, one in particular that nearly left the yard off the bat of Chris Coghlan in the bottom of the sixth, was his usual, dominant self. He went 6 innings, striking out 6, allowing 5 hits and walking none putting to rest at least for now any concerns about lingering arm issues.

The off-season acquisition of Jason Heyward paid immediate dividends, as he went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and scored a run on a Matt Holliday RBI double in the first, something the Cardinals and their fans hope happens often in 2015.

Heyward showed a disciplined approach against the Cubs $155 million off-season coup John Lester, which makes the Cardinals lineup even more dangerous if he is consistently displaying the ability to make adjustments against lefties and get on base.

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Matt Holliday had a solid spring batting .389 which he carried over into the 2015 regular season opener, as he as went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles while driving in 2 Runs, stealing a base and making a great sliding catch in the sixth, to help the club reserve its lead and kick off the 2015 season in a great fashion.

Beginning his fourth season as the Cardinals manager, Mike Matheny made all the right moves to kick off the season. In fact Matheny was as aggressive as perhaps he has ever been. The Cardinals have not been one of the better teams in terms of stealing bases under Matheny but on Opening Day they swiped 4 bases. Matheny also managed his bullpen the way many fans would like to see it over the course of the season.

The first man out of the bullpen was Carlos Martinez who recently won the fifth spot in the rotation and has several days before making his first start of the season. He pitched an inning, striking out 1 and walking 1, followed by new reliever Jordan Walden, the defunct set-up man formerly of the Braves, who came in firing away, striking out 2 and walking 1 before giving away to closer Trevor Rosenthal, who was throwing nothing but gas in the ninth inning, striking out the side to give the Redbird the 3-0 victory.

This performance shows that if the Cardinals are hitting well, play fundamentally sound, get contributions all around and limit damage, they will be tough to beat. Thanks for reading!