Michael Wacha is going to drive me nuts this year.
The St. Louis Cardinals righthander was in serious trouble in the third inning, putting two runners on with two outs, and trouble lurking. The New York Mets had a run in already, but had a taste for more tallies. Wacha tightened instead of folding, denying the Mets another breath. New York wouldn't score again, and the Cardinals responded with nine unanswered runs.
Here are a few takeaways from the 9-1 win that placed a 14-9 on the Birds as the sun rises on St. Louis this morning.
5) Most of the time, hard work gets you some kind of reward. For Tommy Pham in the third inning, a little extra work resulted in a nasty cut on his forehead that took him out of the game. "I've been stabbed," said Pham in the postgame comments. The man wanted to come back in, but Mike Matheny said no. I'll take the laceration and the rest. When Harrison Bader pinch-hit for Pham during a rally, stomachs churned and headaches flared. Was it the groin? Did he pull something? What happened!? It turns out an elastic band turned on Pham during a batting cage session.
4) Marcell Ozuna had seemingly left 105 runners on base during the first 22 games, so when he stroked a two-run single to left field to break open a tight game, a boulder fell off his shoulders. Ozuna hasn't exactly launched out of the 2018 gates. Most of his hits are singles and he's left runners on. A lingering arm issue has limited his defense, but he's slowly coming around. The Cardinals need him to come close to his 2017 self to truly thrive this season.
3) John Brebbia should have pitched on Tuesday. I'll take a moment to complain during a recap of a rout, so sue me. Brebbia pitched three scoreless innings on Wednesday night, emerging from the cocoon that Matheny stuck him in since his return last week. If Brebbia had pitched in the tenth inning on Tuesday instead of Matt Bowman, perhaps the Cardinals are going for a sweep on Thursday. Instead, well, they are not. Nicely done, Brebbia. Getting the save in a 9-1 game.
2) Kolten Wong got angry, I guess. He's hitting baseballs hard again, collecting another two hits in the game and making a couple more dazzling plays in the field. Wong redefines temperamental. When he's feeling good and making great plays, he seems to tilt in a positive direction. When something goes wrong, he spirals. This is a big year for Wong. With emerging talents around him, Wong has to earn every at-bat. The past few games have been encouraging.
1) Wacha struck out eight in six innings, going to 4-1 on the season despite half of those starts lasting less than six innings and triggering the upside down tipping of a bottle of tums. With Wacha, you don't know what's going to happen the next start. He may go 4.2 innings or 6.2 frames. There is the scapula injury that may never go away, and the upcoming arbitration with the team. When it comes to him, nothing is guaranteed, so I'll take a shutdown of the Mets. He did this last year in New York for his only complete game.
Bonus takeaway: Congrats, Jedd Gyorko. Every kid dreams of hitting a home run in the Majors. You've now hit 100. Kudos. The next PBR is on me.
The Cardinals beat the Mets today, and they enter Pittsburgh with a 15-9 record and some swagger. If they lose, it's a series loss to a very good team and crickets entering the Pirates series. It's a good thing Carlos Martinez is taking the hill today for the Birds. He's been ruthless over his past four starts, limiting the opposition to a measly single run.
Thanks for reading,
DLB
