If many of us heard before the season started that Albert Pujols is going to be hitting .225 and Chris Carpenter is going to be winless in April with a 4.59 ERA we certainly wouldn’t guess we would be sitting at first in the division right now. The first month of the Cardinals season can be summed up into one word: Surprising. So many things have happened so far this season that many of us did not expect (good and bad). After the loss of ace starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, things were not looking too good for the Cardinals coming into the 2011 season. Let’s begin with the first big surprise of the season, the starting rotation. Overall, despite Carpenters early struggles, the starting rotation has been outstanding. Jaime Garcia has already thrown two complete game shut outs in which one of them was almost a no-hitter. His ERA is currently at 1.99, which is the lowest in the starting rotation and second lowest in the National League next to Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins. Garcia’s stuff is just nasty and in my opinion the best in the rotation. Kyle McClellan has been a story of his own. This guy came into the season as the Cardinals number 5 starter and he’s pitching like an ace. McClellan’s 5-0 record is currently tied for the best in the National League. I don’t think anyone thought Kyle was going to show us this kind of stuff. Jake Westbrook has had his ups and downs but so far this season I don’t think Cardinal fans can complain. Westbrook has consistently been a .500 pitcher throughout his career, so anything above that from him is great. Jake’s outing against the Marlins was arguably his best start of the season. The Marlins are playing well and it was great to see him go out there and hold his own against the current best pitcher in baseball, Josh Johnson. Thanks to Westbrook’s solid outing the Cardinals were able to take that game and split the series with Florida. Chris Carpenter is off to a slow start but I don’t think it’s anything for fans to worry about. Carp will come around and dominate like he has his entire career. Once Carp gets his stuff back, the starting rotation will be completely dominating. Arguably, the most pleasant surprise out of the starting rotation is Kyle Lohse. This guy having his stuff back is absolutely huge for this team. As I stated previously in my last blog, Kyle needs to step up if we are going to be able to compete this year. So far he has been outstanding and I hope he can stay healthy and continue to dominate. His pitches have so much movement and his location is on point. Overall, the Cardinals starting rotation has proven to be solid in the month of April and let’s hope that it stays that way.
In addition, the Cardinals offense has been a story of its own. For the first week of the season, the team was having a difficult time putting together only two runs a game. That changed very fast when the Cardinals began breaking franchise records by averaging around 14 hits consecutively for multiple games. However, when fans think of Cardinal offense, usually the first player that comes to their mind is Albert Pujols. Surprisely, Albert has had little to do with the Cardinals hot offense as of late. Pujols is currently batting .248 with 7 home runs and 33 RBIs. While the home run and RBI numbers appear to be there, the average for Pujols is uncharacteristically low. It is clear that he is off to the slowest start of his career. Are Cardinals fans worried? I can only speak for myself when I say, no. I think Pujols will eventually start hitting consistently and when he does break out of this slump he is in, it will surely be fun to watch. However, many fans are drawing their own conclusions about Pujols’ struggles on the field. Is it possible that the contract is getting to him? Is Albert feeling the pressure knowing he must perform well during his contract year? Again, speaking for myself only, I would have to say the contract has to be bothering him to a certain degree. It is human nature to feel pressure to perform well, especially when you recently turned down an offer worth approximately $275 million dollars. Not many people throughout their lifetime can say they turned down $275 million dollars or even anything close to it. Of course $275 million is an approximation and the media was never able to release concrete numbers but it was confirmed somewhere near that amount with the possibility of a franchise offer. To sum it up, I’m sure the man is feeling a little bit of pressure but the amount of pressure he is feeling will eventually subside. He is arguably the best player to ever play the game and no matter what kind of numbers he puts up this year, he will be given an MLB record-breaking offer.
Lets now move on to Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday. Holliday is currently batting .398 with 4 home runs and 24 RBIs. His .398 average is currently the highest in Major League Baseball as Holiday continues to dominate at the plate. I honestly think this guy could get a base hit with one arm and one leg because at this point there is nothing stopping him. Want to take a stab at whose BA is second in Major League Baseball? If you guessed Lance Berkman, you would be correct! I don’t think anyone expected this guy to come to this team and hit like he is doing right now. Hitting from the right and the left side of the plate, Berkman is crushing the ball. One of the best series he has had so far was at Miller Park in Houston in front of the fans he played in front of for 11 years. Berkman dominated in Houston with eight hits and seven RBIs in just three games. Out of all of the players on our club this year, this is the guy I am the most excited about. This 8 million dollar investment has turned out to be a great one for the Cardinals so far. However, Holiday and Berkman aren’t the only Cardinals producing. It seems as though all of the players have been contributing to this hot offense. Rasmus is another Cardinal that is going to be fun to watch this year. Rasmus is hitting .303 with already 40 hits on the season. Overall, I think this offense is going to be one of the best in baseball this season.
Even though this team is currently one of the hottest in baseball, they do have their downfalls. The team has a strong starting rotation and a hot offense, however, the defense and the bullpen are another story. The Cardinals currently lead the majors in errors. Ryan Theriot alone has contributed to the error column more than other player on the team this season. However, I do not think Cardinal fans need to worry about Theriot due to the fact that he has never made more than 15 errors in a season throughout his Major League career. It is apparent that Theriot is going through a rough time right now defensively. I think eventually the defense will buckle down and the errors will decrease significantly. However, it can’t be ignored that while our outfield is great offensively, defensively they are well below average. Holliday and Berkman have been around long enough to demonstrate their defensive skills in the outfield. Rasmus is still young, so only time will tell how well he will adjust to centerfield. There have already been a couple of plays in centerfield this season that I believe Rasmus should have made but failed to do so. The main one that stands out in my mind was the fly ball he missed in San Fransisco. Franklin was only one out away from closing out it in the 9th inning when Colby failed to hang on to a fly ball in center off the bat of Miguel Tajeda. If Colby could have held on to that ball, the Cardinals would have walked away with a 2-1 victory. However, in Colby’s defense, he was not dealing with a lazy fly ball out there. Tajeda scorched that ball to Center and Colby just couldn’t handle it. Should he have come up with it? I would have to say yes and I’m sure many fans would agree.
Since Ryan Franklin’s name was brought up I think it’s time to move on to the Cardinals bullpen. The Cardinals have added many new additions to their bullpen this year, including Bautista, Salas, Tallet, and Sanchez. Tallet is currently serving time on the DL so we haven’t been able to see much of him yet. Bautista has already been sent out to the mound many times by Tony LaRussa this year. He is able to pitch at least a couple of innings and so far has been a good “innings eater” for the Cardinals. Even though opponents are averaging .276 against him, his ERA is considerably low at .64. Salas has been another positive asset to the Cardinals this year, along with Sanchez. I think Cardinal fans (including myself) are very excited about Sanchez. His pitches are absolutely nasty and he has been able to close out a couple of games so far for the Cardinals this year. Could Sanchez be the Cardinals future closer? I’m sure many have been around baseball long enough to know that it takes more than just having good stuff to be a closer. A closer must be mentally strong out there on the mound and I think 22 year old Sanchez may need to mature a bit before Tony offers him that job in the future. Overall, I think the Cardinals bullpen is decent with the exception of Ryan Franklin’s struggles. It blows my mind how a guy that went 27/29 in save opportunities last year has blown 4/5 save opportunities already this season. There is no question that Franklin is having a hard time out there on the mound. However, I’m sure many can also agree that he hasn’t run into the best luck either. The Cardinals poor defense has hurt Franklin multiple times already this season. Would Franklin have as many blown saves as he does now if he had a solid defense behind him to back him up? He would certainly have blown saves but not nearly as many as he has already acquired this season. I think it was a good move by Tony LaRussa to take Franklin out of the closing role and into less pressure situations. There is a possibility that Franklin will improve as the season goes on, but the question is, will his old spot already be filled? Many guys in the bullpen have proven that they can go out and close games successfully.
After reviewing the starting rotation, offense, defense, and bullpen, I don’t think Cardinal fans can complain too much about where the club currently stands, especially after starting out 2-6 on the season. I will end this blog by asking the million-dollar question that has been puzzling many fans out there. Will our strong offense be enough to offset our poor defense?
