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St. Louis Cardinals: Takeaways From Atlanta Series
It was just about four days ago that the sky was falling after the St. Louis Cardinals’ opening series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. How did the Birds fare in Atlanta?
Things did not look good in Pittsburgh, the offense was scuffling and the rotation couldn’t quite gain momentum. The St. Louis Cardinals looked like the team we saw in Spring Training instead of the team we had hoped that would be.
They didn’t look like a team ready to contend for a division championship, but a team that could very well see a step back from what we have experienced the last few seasons.
The Cardinals got a break from the second best team in the National League a year ago and got to play the rebuilding Atlanta Braves. This was much needed for a team trying to find its way and get going. With a combined 31 runs in three games, with a total of six homers, it is safe to say that the offense has gotten on track.
This was the perfect series rebound for fans after the debacle in Pittsburgh. We saw a lot of things improve, but some not so much.
For the most part, there were some specifics that we can take away from this series, so let’s get into it.
Next: Rookies Stepping Up
Aledmys Diaz Needs to Start
In the three games this series, we saw Aledmys Diaz show exactly why he needs to be in the lineup every day. Diaz went 4-7 with every kind of hit, collecting a pinch-hit homer in Friday’s game, a single and a triple last night, and a two-run double in today’s game.
While Diaz does have two errors on the season, he is the better shortstop of the three options, meaning he is the best possible play as the everyday shortstop. You have seen me advocate for Diaz plenty of times this past offseason, and with no better option available it is time to hand the starting job to Diaz.
Hazelbaker is the Hot Hand
The OF who surprised everyone through Spring Training continues to do so here in the first week of the regular season. In Atlanta, Jeremy Hazelbaker went 4-10 with two RBI, giving Randal Grichuk a breather in two of the three games, also chipping in a pinch-hit homer during Friday’s game.
While I am not sold that this will continue, it is nice to see. I am a proponent of using him in the role Tommy Pham was meant to play (playing in the OF to let Matt Holliday play first).
Next: Matheny not Learning From Mistakes
Matheny Still Has Issues
Mike Matheny still has lineup construction issues, as he continues to put Yadier Molina too high in the lineup and then introduced a lineup that Diaz and Holliday on the bench. While I realize that Greg Garcia didn’t get his “attaboy” start after his pinch-hit homer the other night, but it doesn’t make sense that one “hot hand” got a start while the other didn’t.
Hopefully, this is not something we continue to see. On the other side of things, today was yet another perfect example of Matheny trusting his starter for way too long. Wainwright clearly didn’t have it after the Drew Stubbs home run and Matheny left him in about three to four batters too long and it nearly cost the Cardinals the game.
Matheny has struggled with this issue for some time and for whatever reason he seems to be the last one to know that his pitcher cannot go any further. This is just not good and it needs to change and he has got to learn from his mistakes.
Thankfully, the Braves bullpen isn’t good and let the Cardinals back in the game and eventually gave it away, but this isn’t always going to happen (like we saw in Pittsburgh).
Next: This Team is Still Good
This Team is Still Good
I have seen fans describe this team as a “75-80 win team at best”, and I simply just shake my head and laugh, because as we saw at times during the Pittsburgh series and during this series, this is still a very good team. The offense showed during this series that it has what it takes to put a game away and to pounce on other team’s mistakes.
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This team will compete and play their hearts out every night, and we have seen that in just about every game so far this season, this combined with the good players on this team is why I have been so optimistic about this team.
While the starting rotation may be a bit shaky, it was nice to see Jaime Garcia and Carlos Martinez get through six last night and the night before, as once the team gets through six this bullpen will get into shutdown mode.
With six more games remaining against sub-par teams, the Cardinals will have ample time to get into shape before the first series against the Chicago Cubs in a week and a half.
Tomorrow is the home opener at Busch Stadium and I am sure that you are just as excited as I am. However, with the current forecast, maybe the Home Opener will be pushed to Tuesday (my day off). I am excited to see the team play at home, and likely will pick up some tickets to the Friday game to see them in person for the first time this year.