While they are hard to trust, the St. Louis Cardinals are proving to be an interesting ride to follow.
The Cardinals won 6-1 in Milwaukee on Tuesday night behind Michael Wacha, who improved to 6-1 with another solid outing that adds strength to the notion that he's a reliable starter in the rotation.
The win put the season record at 29-23, which leaves questions to be answered, but some hope restored at the same time. Let's pop the hood on game #52 and see what we learned.
5) Way to be, Francisco Pena. The backup catcher recorded his third game in May with three hits, including his second home run. When Yadier Molina goes down in these parts, a panic settles in, and for good reason. Molina is the captain, but Pena is making good on the promise to not let the bar drop too low. He won't anchor 150 games for a team in the near future, but the 28-year-old late bloomer is proving that opportunity comes before the reward.
4) Harrison Bader's bat may not be as sexy as Tyler O'Neill's lumberjack stick, but he's still a fine commodity to have. Bader collected three hits, played right field like no other, and deserves more time with Dexter Fowler on the make believe disabled list. How about this? Bader's four home runs outdoes Marcell Ozuna's total of three.
3) Kolten Wong may not have a bat anywhere near (the average dropped to .175), but he can make dazzling run-saving plays at second base. Yairo Munoz and Jedd Gyorko will push him for time, especially when Paul DeJong returns next month, but for now, Wong is making up for a weak bat with superb defense.
2) Matt Carpenter continues to climb back in the saddle. It doesn't matter where he's hitting, Carp produces. Back in the familiar leadoff spot, Carpenter drew a couple walks and hit his seventh home run of the season. Suddenly, his OPS is nearing .800. The Cardinals didn't abandon him and he has responded.
1) Wacha silences the doubters one start at a time. Tuesday's outing marked the tenth straight start where Wacha went at least five innings and allowed three earned runs or less. Check out the 2.71 ERA. Sure, Wacha is receiving some good luck on batted balls put in play and may run into a wall at some point, but if you drew expectations for Wacha on June 1, he should have exceeded them easily. You take what you can get with this guy.
The Cardinals are all over the place. They win, lose, win, and lose some more. For the past three weeks, they have tread water, going 5-5 in their recent ten. Just wait for them to get healthy. Alex Reyes returns tomorrow, and Carlos Martinez isn't far behind.
In a month, Yadier Molina will be back behind homeplate and DeJong will be back at shortstop. Perhaps Ozuna will find his slugging tools and Fowler participates. More than a few things have gone wrong for the Cards, but they are hanging in. They aren't making excuses like Joe Maddon at least.
What I'm saying is the best is yet to come. Stay tuned and keep the beer close.
Thanks for reading,
DLB
