St. Louis Cardinals: New season begins with more runs

With one St. Louis Cardinals game in the books, it looks like the club is shifting in the right direction.

It may be just one game, but it was certainly nice to see the St. Louis Cardinals win 11-6 Thursday in the season opener against the Cincinnati Reds. It may have looked like a hit parade against Reds starter Luis Castillo, but it was more of an effort by the team to do what they could to get on base and keep moving.

That was all we wanted on a consistent basis after last season’s frustrations.

Now, it may be one game, but it is nice to see this team get off on the right foot offensively.

It all started in the first inning, with Paul Goldschmidt on base after a

home run

ground-rule double, Nolan Arenado hit a single to get Goldschmidt to third. Paul DeJong singled to right field allowing Goldschmidt to score the first run of the day and move Arenado to third.

Tyler O’Neill was hit by a pitch, moving DeJong to second. Yadier Molina – who made his 17th straight opening day start for the Cardinals – reached base on a fielding error by Eugenio Suarez. Arenado and DeJong scored, moving O’Neill to second.

With Molina and O’Neill on base, Dylan Carlson came up to bat. And this happened:

What a gorgeous swing from the rookie outfielder. Per Baseball Savant, Carlson’s shot off Castillo went 355 feet with an exit velocity of 106.4 mph. I am so excited for Carlson and can not wait to see what more he does this season.

Moving on to the second inning, Goldschmidt scored again on a single from Arenado.

In the fourth inning, Jack Flaherty got on board with a walk. He moved to second on a single from Tommy Edman. Goldschmidt then singled scoring Flaherty. Luis Castillo threw a wild pitch allowing Edman to score. Goldschmidt moved to second. Arenado lined out and DeJong struck out. With O’Neill at the plate, this happened:

Beautiful shot from O’Neill off Cam Bedrosian to make it 11-3. According to Baseball Savant, that shot went 391 feet with an exit velocity of 110.2 mph.

While the scoring opportunities ended for the Cardinals after the fourth, they still made things interesting and were able to keep things under control to end the first contest of the year with a score of 11-6.

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Goldschmidt was 4 for 5 at the plate. It was great to see how much Goldschmidt was able to do with Arenado behind him in the order.

The team might benefit from experimenting more with the line up by having Dylan Carlson hit clean up. Carlson and DeJong may end up trading spots or even have DeJong hit second. There had also been a lot of talk of having Carlson hit in the second spot. If he keeps showing off his power, Carlson could be a lock after Goldschmidt and Arenado.

Yes, it’s just one game in the books for our beloved Cardinals. But it sure brings a sense of hope and relief for a team we were very concerned about three months ago. The team is off Friday and will have time to warm up and get rid of those first-game jitters.

It will be fun to see how the Cards do this weekend and beyond. I am so glad meaningful baseball is back!