Is This Rock Bottom?

It is amazing how much difference a month can make.  It seemed like so recently when the Cardinals were cruising through the National League while winning series after series.  Now, the Cardinals find themselves in a tie with the Pittsburg Pirates.  St. Louis seems to have a solid recipe for how to lose games with the combination of a starting rotation that runs out of gas and a leaky bullpen that seems to have developed the motto that “no lead is safe.”  This is not to say that they are not versatile, though.  I mean look at the series with the Mets where the team managed to score only one run over the course of three games including a no hitter thrown by Santana.  How much worse could it get?  Oh, yeah, a pitching staff that is already lacking in consistent pitching could lose its number three starting pitcher.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask that question again.

The Cardinals are now looking at either Brandon Dickson or Joe Kelly, both minor leaguers in the Cardinals’ system although neither really a part of the Cardinals plans over the next few years.  Maybe this is exactly why one of them will find success.  The motivation of a try-out for a future job could be a powerful motivator and just what one of these guys need.  Although this sounds good and either of these guys are worthy of a shot given their time put in and success in the minor leagues, the Cardinals would not be looking at the bargain bin of pitchers where names such as Jeff Francis and Jamie Moyer look for minor league deals from a team somewhere if anyone truly believed in either of these guys.  How much do the Cardinals miss Dave Duncan now with veteran names like these out there?

While starting pitching has become the biggest Cardinal issue over the last few weeks, it is far from their only problem.  I am not a mind or even lip reader so I cannot be certain, but I imagine a conversation between Molina and Matheny going something like this as he goes out to the mound to make a pitching change after the pitcher is out of earshot:

Molina: “Who we bringing in, Skip?”

Matheny: “Don’t even joke about that, I’m tempted.  No, I’m bringing in Schoemaker to play second as a part of a double switch.  What do you think about Rzepcynski?”

Molina:  “We’re only up by 4, Coach.”  Molina shakes his head.

Matheny: “Well there is only one lefty coming up so depending on how he looks, I can always take him back out after that.”

Molina: “Just make sure you have somebody warming up down there.  There is only so much I can do when he keeps throwing balls right over the middle of the plate.  How did Freeman look today?  We may need another lefty when Votto comes next inning?”

Matheny:  “I asked McClellan to spy on him today, and he said that he only threw 10 out of 20 of his flat ground pitches to the back wall of the bullpen so he is getting better at least.”

Molina: “Well we’re not looking for him to work miracles.  Just a strike or two will be something we can work with.”

Matheny: “I’m planning on Boggs in the 8^th.  How’s that wrist.”

Molina: “It’s ok.  Did anyone work with him on the signs again?  How the hell can someone not know what the difference between one finger and two are?  Ever since he decided to try to throw that shitty changeup of his, he’s been lost.”

Matheny: “We will get him to figure it out.  At least with Motte you don’t even have to worry about giving signs.”

Molina:  “I don’t have to worry about moving my glove either.  At least he is wild enough that when I give him a target down the middle he will occasionally throw a pitch on a corner.”

Matheny: “You should have been here the year Jocketty brought in Esteban Yan and tried to tell us he was a closer.  Hang in there, maybe someday we can get a pitcher who actually throws to corners of the plate.”

Molina:  “That would be awesome.  I’d just settle for 50% strikes.  Oh, well.  Maybe today we can hold a lead.”

Matheny:  “Good luck…”

As if the pitching struggles were not enough to depress a Cardinal’s fan, the lineup that had been carrying the team at the beginning of the season has had more than one bout of maddening inconsistency.  As a team, they are striking out more than any Cardinal team in recent memory, and although a combination of Chambers and Robinson has been passable in center field for the Cardinals lineup, the second base position is another story.  Without Schumaker in the lineup, the Cardinals second basemen are hitting .218.  This is a non-issue for this team when the rest of the batters are hitting, but when the middle of the order guys are not picking up the slack, this hole in the order becomes less easy to hide.

I am cautiously optimistic about the lineup now that Allen Craig is back from the disabled list.  The hitter that he has turned himself into at this point in his career is nothing short of remarkable, but then again, I remember thinking the same thing about David Freese right before his batting average dipped closer to .250 than .300.  Any thoughts of Beltran playing center field in order to get an extra bat into the lineup seem to have died also.  Watching Beltran move around on those old knees of his is painful for me to watch in right field, but the thought of him covering more ground in the outfield is all but unbearable. 

If I have learned anything over the past year and a half, it has been to not count this Cardinals team out of anything.  We have all seen that even the most improbable scenarios can find their way into reality with the current group of Cardinals.  I am in no way suggesting that because of a period of struggle, the Cardinals are somehow more likely to have success this year.  Unfortunately, I am pretty confident that seasons like last year do not have a tendency to repeat themselves.  The Cardinals need to turn this season around, and they will probably need some help from someone outside of the organization to do that.