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St. Louis Cardinals: A Woeful First Half Needs Improvement
The St. Louis Cardinals first half struggle was real despite quite a few surprises and high marks amongst the players.
The St. Louis Cardinals arrived at the All-Star break and the thought process for me was that it couldn’t have come at a better time as they arrived with a 46-42 record in their first 88 games of the season. Things have not looked good at times for a team that won 100 games and the central division last season.
It’s safe to say that things have not looked good at times for a team that won 100 games and the central division last season.
At the All-Star break, the St. Louis Cardinals trailed the Chicago Cubs by seven games and had a half-game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates for second place. After this weekend’s series loss at the hands of the Miami Marlins, it is now an eight-game lead for the Cubs.
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The frustrating thing about the Cubs lead is that it should be much smaller as the Cardinals have missed plenty of opportunities to shave off a game or two off of the lead, most notably missing out on the opportunity to shave it to at least six games over this past weekend.
One other frustrating thing about this club is the St. Louis Cardinals’ record at home this season. At the All-Star break, the record stood at 19-26 and it now stands at 20-28. This is just not normal for the St. Louis Cardinals as they have been a fantastic home team since the Busch Stadium III was built.
Break-Out Players
I knew that we had a chance to see great things from Aledmys Diaz, but I did not expect us to see him slashing .316/.379/.540 with 37 extra base-hits (22 doubles, 13 homers, 2 triples) at the break. He has absolutely been amazing and has been one of the shining stars for the Cardinals this season.
Stephen Piscotty has been exactly what he showed to be last season, with his first half numbers showing a slash of .293/.369/.481 with 11 homers and 22 doubles. Not only that, Piscotty has looked really good as the St. Louis Cardinals everyday right-fielder after the club lost out on Jason Heyward in the offseason.
It is not just the offense that has impressive players this season, as Carlos Martinez has absolutely shown his worth on the pitching side of things as Martinez carries a 2.85 ERA in his 17 starts so far this season. More impressively, in Martinez’s last seven starts, he has a 1.75 ERA.
Improvement Needed
It has been somewhat of an odd year for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Holliday as while he is on pace for more home runs than he has had since 2012 with his 15 homers so far, before this weekend he was only hitting .241/.317/.452 with a wRC+ of 105. These are not Matt Holliday type numbers and for a three-hole hitter, he is going to have to improve.
Holliday isn’t the only one who needs improvement on this team as Kolten Wong still hasn’t figured it out, Yadier Molina is playing tired and it is showing, and the St. Louis Cardinals’ rotation is going to need to become more consistent in order for this team moving forward.
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It doesn’t take Einstein to notice that the Cardinals have struggled with their defense this season as they lead the league in errors in the first half with 68. Not only that, but Mark Simon of ESPN.com provided on twitter the other day that the Cardinals are only the 14th best team in terms of turning groundballs into outs which isn’t surprising.
With the Cardinals’ pitching staff it is not good to have this infield defense not helping this team
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that if this St. Louis Cardinals’ team is going to make the playoffs via division or the one game wildcard, it is going to need to play better. The defense and the offense are going to have to become more consistent.
The mediocrity is going to have to stop. The bullpen is going to need to finally get back to where they were at the beginning of the season.
Next: Is it time for the Cardinals to become sellers?
The team is going to have to step up during the first part of the second half without Matt Carpenter who is absolutely the team’s best player. Without him at the top of the lineup, it is going to be tough and the Cardinals are going to need to accept the challenge and keep afloat while he is out.