As showers and thunderstorms continue to roll across the plains of the Midwest, the only thing not cooling off from the rain is the flaming hot St. Louis Cardinals following a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium on Sunday. The Redbirds have surged through the NL Central in a storm of their own- their record is 16-6 since the beginning of May and 30-23 overall.
For a while, things looked mighty bleak for the Cardinals near the end of April. Close games never seemed to go their way and winning on the road was scarce. But it wasn’t until the start of May until everything started to fit into the place, as the Cardinals went on a 9-game winning streak that shook up the National League. Since then, quality starts from the pitching staff have been abundant, the bats have challenged tough pitching, and winning away from Busch has come easier with a road record of 7-3. The attitude in the locker room has changed completely from a wishy-washy hopeful yearn to win to a confident team looking to do damage.
“We’re excited to come to the ballpark,” third-baseman Nolan Arenado said last week about the Cardinal’s hot streak. “First time in a couple years where it feels like we’re coming to the ballpark ready to win a ballgame instead of coming to the ballpark hoping for something good to happen. It’s a different vibe, for sure.”
Offense: Death by a Thousand Papercuts
The Cardinals have picked up the tools that Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown laid out for them in their ‘time to hit, time to slug’ hitting approach, and are finally piecing together an identity; a problem that had been pushed aside for a while. The Cardinals are beating good pitching through death by a thousand paper cuts: although the Cards are 29th in homeruns this May, they have the 5th least strikeouts this month and are 7th in AVG across the MLB. The young Cardinal lineup continues to be stubborn at the plate for opponent pitching because of their effective two-strike hitting approach and excellent situational hitting.
“I’m very impressed,” Cardinal’s manager Oliver “Oli” Marmol said following the sweep of Arizona. “One through nine they’ll throw an at-bat on you. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound… they continue to do what the game’s calling for. That’s a really good trait to have, especially with young guys. There are different ways of winning, and they continue to show that they know how to play the game the right way.”
The biggest surprise offensively has been the unexpected resurgence of Cardinals DH Ivan Herrera who returned to play on May 9th after being injured over a month on the DL with a left knee bone bruise. Since his return, Herrera has given the Cardinals threat level power as the DH, hitting .400 AVG/ .481OBP with 12 RBI’s in 13 games. Utility man Brendon Donovan continues his consistent season with a .300 AVG through 21 games through May, and both first baseman Willson Contreras and outfielder Alec “Biscuit” “Burleson have flipped over the scorecard and completely turned their seasons around, both players hitting over .300 each with 16 RBI’s this month.
“That’s just our team identity. Not letting go of any at-bats, not letting go of anything on defense,” Cardinals’ centerfielder Victor Scott II said about team identity following game 3 of a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. “We just try to be a safety net out there on defense and try to really punch with our at-bats.”
Pitching: “One Thing Abut Groundballs, They Don’t Go Out of the Ballpark” -Tim McCarver
On Sunday, Cardinals broadcaster Chip Carry dropped some gems about the Cardinals Staff. Since May 4, The Cardinals staff have allowed 2 runs or less in 13 of 16 games played. In May, Cardinals starters own a record of 10-3 with a 3.08 ERA. They are inning eaters (especially RHP Miles Mikolas) and are 8th in the MLB for most innings pitched as a staff, the majority of games pitching deep into the 6th and 7th inning. Erick Fedde went the distance with a complete game shutout against his former team, the Washington Nationals early in the month. This allows for bullpen arms to stay fresh for high leverage situations, which the Cardinals have thrived in.
In April, it was difficult to piece together a formula that worked for the bullpen arms. Some of the pitching moves seemed experimental and at times, random. Now, the Cardinals have a formula that they have stuck to and have found unequivocal success. After veteran RHP Phil Maton pitched the bulk of the work in April, RHP Kyle Leahy has stepped up as the Redbirds set-up man to get to closer Ryan Helsley for the 9th inning. Jojo Romero has turned around a spotty April and has become a reliable situational pitcher to attack lefties in the lineup.
But up and down the bullpen, the boys have stuck close to what makes up an elite bullpen. With a 3.52 ERA in May, the boys have attacked the zone early and have kept the ball on the ground. This month, the Cardinals bullpen are 2nd in BB/9 with 2.85/9, and have only given up .41 homers per 9 innings, which is 2nd in the MLB in that category. How? The bullpen has kept the ball on the ground and given the offense a chance to strike late in games.
The Cardinals begin a roundtrip in the American League starting on Memorial Day for a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles. First pitch is at 3:05 P.M. E.T.
I'm a writer trying to make his mark in the baseball journalism world. I graduated with a journalism degree from Union University where I pitched four years of D2 baseball.
