St. Louis Cardinals: Opening Day Game Grades

Let me just summarize what the past week of health (or lack thereof) has looked like for the Cards, in case anybody has been living under a rock or something.

3/31: Replacement shortstop Ruben Tejada pops a quad, 15-day DL

4/1: Jordan Walden to undergo MRI on right shoulder. Announced that he will miss “several months” with a grade 2 lat strain.

4/2: Backup catcher Brayan Pena needs surgery to remove loose bodies that have been in his knee since the middle of spring training. Two to four weeks of missed game action expected.

4/3: Tommy Pham leaves opening day match up with the Pirates with an oblique issue. He’s headed to the DL.

I mean, our training staff has some sort of injury prevention plan in place, right?

I assume they work with players to properly warm up and cool down from games and workouts on a fairly routine basis.

You know, the basics you learn when you’re playing Little League at the age of 10.

Obviously, I’m speaking sarcastically, and it wouldn’t necessarily be fair to say that the training staff is the problem here.

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But this is getting so frustrating. I need somebody to blame, and the training staff is the only place to turn on this one.

I understand Waino popping an achilles last year was a freak thing. There’s not much they could have done to prevent Lance Lynn‘s Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) from going all mushy in his elbow.

But holy cow, how many muscle strains do guys have to suffer before the training staff starts to be questioned?

Matt Holliday and Matt Adams last year. Ruben Tejada and Tommy Pham so far this year. What the heck is going on?

You can only suffer so many muscle-related issues in a given time period before you have to seriously question your injury prevention efforts.

With that, why was Brayan Pena allowed to run around on a damaged knee for a week and a half, only to undergo surgery right when the real games start?

He could have gotten a real head start on the rehab process. Now he looks like he will miss most of (if not all of) the month of April.

It’s a long season Cardinal fans. I still think that this group has the leadership in place to weather the storm. They are going to be there at the end of the season.

Next: Has Jamaal Charles Lost a Step?

But I’m not sure if you could have drawn up a worse start to a season.

Knock on wood.