Rookie pitcher Carlos Martinez was asked to do a lot in his first career major league start with the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday night. Martinez needed to pitch well enough to split a series with the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers, save the arms in the bullpen, and give the offense a chance to compete against a successful import from Japan.
Maybe next time, kid.
With their 5-1 loss, the Cardinals have lost 11 of their last 15, and according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, dropped 11 of 15 against teams currently in position to make the playoffs. Is the current slump a sign of regression, or a blip on the radar of a long baseball season?
Going into the July 31 trade deadline, the St. Louis Cardinals were looking to add another pitcher to the starting rotation. Depth is necessary for any team, especially one that uses and depends on numerous unproven prospects. No one was added, and a waiver trade seems unlikely before the end of August.
The starting pitching was excellent in the first half, but received some luck along the way. Starters such as Jake Westbrook were pitching well above their expectations. Westbrook’s ERA, WHIP, and walks have all come back to his career levels. He also has more walks (45) than strikeouts (40). His latest appearance in relief of an injured Shelby Miller was his worst of the season.
While Miller is expected to return without a trip to the disabled list, it may be time to consider trimming some of his workload, as well as the other young arms who have contributed to this point with little backlash.
The offense is in a rut, as well. Losing MVP-caliber play from injured Yadier Molina is near-impossible to replace. Backup catcher Tony Cruz may be a disciple of Molina, but his talent and production will never come close to the gold glove winner’s.
The Cardinals scraped out 12 runs in the four games against L.A. Even after facing great pitching from Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, and Hyun-Jin Ryu, it is expected that one of the best hitting teams in baseball could at least manage a split.
A few stats should raise a few eyebrows. In one-run games, the Cards are 13-13, 9-11 since the All-Star Break, and have still outscored their opponents by 32 runs since July 1. Winning games big and losing close ones is not the way to head into the heat of a playoff race.
A silver lining in all of this is Baseball Reference’s Pythagorean Win-Loss for the Red Birds. B.R. says St. Louis should be 71-42, not 66-47. Some of the Cardinals’ losses have been unlucky as opposed to clear-cut according to this estimate.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are four games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals heading into the weekend. If that lead continues to swell and push to seven or eight, it may be time to worry in the Gateway of America and hope the wild card race does not intensify any more than it is expected to.
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