St. Louis Cardinals end ugly first half with decent series

The St. Louis Cardinals ended the first half of a tumultuous 2021 season splitting a two-game set with the Chicago Cubs.

The two games against the Chicago Cubs in which the St. Louis Cardinals ended the first half of the 2021 season perfectly matched just how crazy the season has been thus far. A bad loss 10-5 on Friday, a solid win on Saturday 6-0 and a postponement of the rubber game of the series to Sept. 24.

Let’s discuss the good, bad, and ugly of it all.

The Good

Saturday’s 6-0 win was very good. The scoring got under way for the Cardinals in the first inning as Matt Carpenter singled to right to score Paul Goldschmidt. In the fifth inning, Goldschmidt hit his 13th home run of the season to left center. The 112.2 mph blast went 441 feet out of Wrigley Field to Waveland Avenue. Take a look here:

Tommy Edman hit his fifth home run of the season on a 422-foot shot to left center, scoring Tyler O’Neill. Take a look at the homer here. Paul DeJong hit his 12th homer of the season to center field, scoring Harrison Bader. Take a look at the 402-foot blast here:

Kwang Hyun Kim earned his second consecutive victory to go 4-5 on the season. He was all smiles as he pitched six innings of shutout ball, giving up five hits and one walk. He struck out seven batters, allowing 14 to swing and miss.

The Bad

We have to wait until Sept. 24 to have the conclusion of this series. Depending on what happens over the course of the next few weeks, the make-up game will certainly have a different meaning by then. Hopefully, we see some relief for the many issues the Cardinals have faced. And it’s possible the Cubs will have an entirely new look by that time. It will be interesting to see, for sure!

The Ugly

Friday’s 10-5 loss to the Cubs was so ugly. It was a true reflection of the ugly the team has seen throughout the season.

A potential scoring opportunity was thwarted with a flyout by Goldschmidt due to fan interference. A fan reached his glove out over the wall in foul territory in right field. Nabbing the catch resulted in Goldschmidt being out. The Cardinals did challenge the play. Somehow, some way the call out on the field was upheld. Pretty mind-blowing.

The scoring started early for the Cubs with a double from Joc Pederson scoring Willson Contreras, Patrick Wisdom, and Javier Baez. The Cardinals got on the board in the third with a single from Tyler O’Neill to score Dylan Carlson. Yadier Molina singled to score Nolan Arenado.

In the fourth, Ian Happ singled to score Wisdom. In the seventh, Kris Bryant doubled to score Happ, Pederson and Jason Hayward. Wisdom knocked a homer off Junior Fernandez to score Sergio Alcantara. In the eighth inning, Heyward singled to score Pederson. In the ninth, Goldschmidt singled to score Carlson. DeJong homered to score Goldschmidt.

Wade LeBlanc, a noted strike-thrower, did not have a good start. He pitched three innings giving up five hits, three earned runs and three walks. He struck out one. While he is 0-2, he is courageous in his attempt to slow the bleed of struggles for the Cardinals. Luis Garcia was signed prior to Friday’s game. He pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up two hits, one earned run and he did strike out one.

It was ugly. Just know that!

Despite the many ugly moments of the first half of the season, the team can have brilliant moments that make those ugly moments worse because you know they are capable of more. Several disastrous injuries have created glaring issues the team will look to improve over the coming weeks before the July 31 trade deadline. Here’s hoping to a greatly improved second half.