It’s true what they say about great pitching. It can power a team to victories during the season and carry them to a world championship. When a team is in need of a spark, the pitching is at the root of the comeback. As we all hold our breath over the Adam Wainwright MRI that took place today, let’s look up at a team starting to come together.
Right at the moment when the Cards were on the brink of dropping below .500 and sinking further into the abyss of Cardinal fan forum and radio torture, the pitching rescued them and put the team back on the map. For all the abuse the Cards lineup has taken for not producing, the starting rotation didn’t have the greatest entrance to June. Outside of a Michael Wacha shutout of the San Francisco Giants, the rotation posted a 5.68 ERA in a seven game stretch to open the month. Lance Lynn offered a gritty performance on Friday night in holding down the mighty Toronto Blue Jays bats to 2 runs in a 3-1 loss. It turns out Lance’s decent 5 inning performance started something very special. A streak of dominance from the pitching staff highlighted by a slow revival from the offense.
For the last three games, the Cardinals have shut teams out on the road. That’s right. Three games, 27 innings and three wins in a row. Shelby Miller threw a five hit 5-0 shutout on Saturday and Jaime Garcia pitched 7 strong innings on Sunday to propel the team to a 5-0 win. Wainwright did his usual dominant display of power on Tuesday night after an off day and put a struggling Tampa Bay Rays lineup to sleep for 7 efficient innings. The Rays scattered a few hits, loaded the bases twice and hit some baseballs hard, but Waino had an answer every time. In critical innings on Saturday and Sunday, Miller and Garcia stifled the Blue Jays. When the pitching is great and provides innings to back it up, a team goes on a winning streak.
Matt Holliday answered the call of a wild fan base and launched a game deciding home run and did it without the help of a spatula or power from the Gods. Holliday probably didn’t read my column on his struggles yesterday but I am sure he woke up easier today knowing his bat was the difference in a 1-0 game played on turf.
If we know one thing about the 2014 Cardinals, it’s that the lineup won’t blow out opponents that often. The pitching on this team is sacred, and that means every starter must contribute. If it’s Shelby Miller, he has to continue to develop his secondary pitches and work them into his outings in order to be effective and keep his four seam fastball extra sneaky. Jaime Garcia has to calm his emotions on the mound and just let his arm go to work without overthinking the situation. Lance Lynn is the ultimate innings guy and while his outings aren’t always pretty, he is a quality arm to have when the end of the season nears. Waino and Michael Wacha are on a separate planet it seems when it comes to being a consistent force of nature on this team.
It’s not a secret that when they take the mound, the wind slows, the temperatures drop around the mound, and the chances of a hitter doing damage literally gets cut in half. Every rotation needs an ace. The Cardinals seemingly have two of them in their house right now. When the W’s are pitching, it’s a good time to change over a load of laundry, finish the dishes or get dinner rolling. They got this! Wacha takes the mound tonight against the worst team in baseball and that’s unfortunately Joe Maddon’s group in Tampa. Feast on the famine when it’s possible.
There have been rumors of a trade for David Price taking place in July if the team is still struggling. What is my reaction? Price won’t be needed if this rotation continues to come together a force that it has over the past few days and like it did in late May for 5 straight outings of 7 innings or more. Sure, a three arm tandem of Waino, Wacha and Price would be devastating and change the outlook of this team. It would also be nice to acquire Evan Longoria, Giancarlo Stanton and Elvis Andrus in the meantime.
If you ask me, the Cardinals rotation is the last thing you have to worry about this team. At least right now. The more they produce, the less pressure the bullpen feels. Looking at the fine work of Trevor Rosenthal and Sam Freeman last night, one can see the rotation’s sharpness will only make the bullpen even better.
The Cards will be fine if they let the strengths of this team simply take over. If the arms run free and the bats find a way to score runs and put up 3-6 runs a game, all will be well in Cardinal Nation. The bats need to be carried by speed and timely hits, and the power needs to make the occasional appearance to even out the attack. Of course, there are no guarantees in this game.
I am glad to be writing positive things about this team again after what seemed like weeks of depressing commentary. If I wasn’t being threatened by a potential stoning or called illogical for questioning the season of Holliday, the past week’s commentary brought down some fire on me and while it was fun, I was ready to switch the tone to positive.
So chin up Cardinal Nation, because as the legendary fictional Cleveland Indians manager Lou Brown said in a baseball classic, this team is starting to come together.
