3 ways the St. Louis Cardinals keep breaking your heart

The Cardinals just keeping finding new ways to lose and break the heart of their fanbase.

At 27-42, the Cardinals keep finding new and shocking ways to lose and further disappoint a fan base clamoring for them to break out of the worst start this team has experienced in decades.

The Cardinals were swept by the Giants this week. Each game presented an astonishing, gut-punch way to lose a ball game.

The Cardinals have a three-game set against the Mets this weekend. Could their terrible stretch of play lately serve as a boost for them to play with some urgency? Time will tell, but the Cardinals have had such terrible luck on the field that it's enough to make a Cardinals fan nervous.

The Excuses

Manager Oli Marmol said Wednesday's loss was "unacceptable." And it certainly was unacceptable. The Cardinals were a strike and an out away from preventing a sweep to the Giants. With a two-two count, Giovanny Gallegos served Mike Yastrzemski a pitch he took deep to right field, tying the game at five. The Cardinals went on to lose in extra innings.

While Marmol has quickly called out players such as Tyler O'Neill for lacking hustle or Willson Contreras maintaining the Cardinals' Way of catching and communicating with the staff, the manager called out the entire team for not punching back when they've been punched in the mouth. The question remains who should hit or be hit, and why.

Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado said Marmol and the coaching staff are doing well, but the team is not executing. It would seem Marmol and the coaching staff are entrusted with ensuring the team is prepared and ready to complete the game plan. When you look at how the team is losing, there is a lack of effective pitching to avoid giving up game-tying home runs. There is a lack of preparing the hitters for situations that prevent them from leaving runners in scoring positions and not moving hitters. Defenders aren't trained, as they seemingly create disasters trying to get outs while trying to make simple players.

Those are huge issues. Marmol tries to simplify the problem to make it seem the Cardinals aren't being punchy in their efforts to win. Arenado takes the burden off the manager and coaches and blames players for not getting the job done.

There is a lot of blaming but not enough fixing of the issue. It seems changes need to be made.

Whether it's finally making good on getting the starting pitching help the team needs or getting an adequate veteran outfielder to help with the injuries and inconsistencies seen there, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak needs to step up and do his part to help stop the losses. The team needs help, and he is the decision-maker. He must act like it.