St. Louis Cardinals: Starters Need to Pitch Better In Atlanta

The St. Louis Cardinals rotation got off to a rough start in Pittsburgh, but lefty Jaime Garcia has a chance to turn that around tonight against the Atlanta Braves.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ opening series against the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t have gone any worse than it did. Not only were the Cardinals bats pretty much silenced, but this team’s bread and butter, the starting pitching, was burnt toast against the Buccos.

It’s not good Cardinals fans. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Ben Frederickson wrote yesterday that an 0-3 start historically is a terrible position to be in.

I’m actually not as surprised by how bad the offense stumbled out of the gate. It’s the stale start for the rotation that has me confused.

This Cardinals’ rotation is predicted to do great things, but so far all it’s done is throw a ton of pitches and give up plenty of runs. Ace Adam Wainwright was just okay on Opening Day. Michael Wacha, while I thought he spotted his fastball much better than he did in spring training, let the game get away from him in the fifth inning — albeit a booted groundball double play didn’t help his cause. And Mike Leake, who looked great in March, needed almost 40 pitches to get out of the first inning in the final game of the series, and it was all downhill from there.

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You may be surprised to know that as of right now the Cardinals, Dodgers and Mets are the only rotations that have yet to give up a homer in the MLB. Shocked? Me too, because the Cardinals currently rank 24th with a 6.75 starters ERA despite not having given up any dingers yet. The Dodgers and the Mets are ranked first and second respectively in the National League in the early goings of the season.

So, the Redbirds need to get a W in the win column, and they need to make it happen tonight.

The Cardinals start a three-game set today against the Braves in Atlanta. Left-hander Jaime Garcia will be on the mound for St. Louis. Garcia needs to be the stopper and set the tone for the rest of the rotation in this series.

The 29-year old has only pitched two games in his career at Turner Field, with mediocre results. Garcia holds a 0-1 record in Atlanta with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. But it’s a small sample size and it’s been a while since Garcia has pitched there. So, hopefully, the lefty can get this rotation back on track tonight. The Cardinals need it.

St. Louis will be opposed by Braves’ starter Matt Wisler. The right-hander finished 8-8 last season with a 4.71 ERA. The bad news is this 23-year old took the mound twice against the Cardinals in 2015 and won both games, giving up just two runs in 15.2 innings against St. Louis. The Cardinals offense will have to wake up and figure this righty out.

But just maybe these Cardinals bats will heat up with warmer weather in Atlanta. Game time temperature is set to be around 60 degrees, which is a far cry from the damp, cold weather they played in against the Pirates.

My “pick to click” if you will for tonight is Matt Carpenter. Carpenter struggled mightily in Pittsburgh going just 1-for-11 against the Pirates. Still, the 30-year old hit .292 with 20 homers last season against right-handed pitching. I’d bet on Carpenter to figure it out before I’d bet against him. The Cardinals need their leadoff man to set the tone for the offense.

Next: Cardinals: The Good, Bad and Ugly From Pittsburgh

But it all starts with the pitching for this team, and if Garcia can get this rotation back on track then the Cardinals will be in good shape. I’m predicting the lefty to go seven strong tonight yielding just one run, and this Cardinals offense scraping across three runs for its first win of the year.