There’s a day game today. Day games (as a teacher) on summer break make me happy. Unfortunately, I’ve become a little disenchanted with the offense the last couple of days. I know what you’re thinking…this girl’s crazy, it’s just been two games of slow offense. I think that about myself, too, sometimes. Let’s look at how the last two games against the Brewers have panned out offensively.
In Monday night’s loss, the Cardinals were 8/34 hitting as a team. That’s a whole team batting average (for one game) of .235. In comparison, in the two wins against the Dodgers, the Redbirds were 8/27 (average of .296) and 10/33 (average of .303). So, not terrible, but not what we have come to expect from the club so far this season. Looking back at the game Monday, Reynolds and Wong each had two hits, and one hit was had by Holliday, Peralta, Molina and Heyward.
In Tuesday night’s win, the whole team went 4/24…an average of .166. Yikes. And that was in a win. Only 3 Cardinal players had hits during the game, with Grichuk having two (a double in the second), Reynolds singling him in during the same inning, and Lynn helping his own cause with a single. Now, we could argue the whole Holliday/Matheny ejection thing, but this is a family place, people! Let’s keep it clean and move on.
Although the offense has been in what we will refer to as…sleeper mode, the pitching has been outstanding. Jaime Garcia is still getting his baseball arm (see that, like sea legs…sigh…nevermind) back, but he did pitch 7 innings Monday night, allowing only 3 hits and one earned run. He also had zero walks and four strike outs.
On Tuesday, Lance Lynn showed that he still has what it takes while pitching 7.2 innings, with zero earned runs, 5 hits, one walk and 5 strike outs.
So, I’m trying to figure this out. Why is it with the offense off, the pitchers are still doing so well? Because this team is resilient. Because they know what it means to play as a team. The bats will come back…hopefully today. And with them already being 6 games ahead of the nearest competitor in the Cubs in the NL Central, with STILL the best record in baseball, without two significant players in Wainwright and Adams, I don’t think these guys are too stinkin’ bad.
So, here’s to blanking out the Brew Crew on a summer (break) day, and taking the series!
As always…Go Cards!
Photo:Â mlbdailydish.com
