Cards Take the Field Tonight Behind Waino, in a Must Win Situation
After last night’s 15-2 embarrassment, of the Cardinals, they find themselves a full game out of the second wild card spot, and desperately in need of a win. Thankfully, the Mets did not show up either, losing to the Marlins, and the Giants did not play, holding the lost ground to just half a game, but we all know September has been a struggle, and so has playing at Busch. Brandon Moss is hitting less than .100 since the last week of October, Jedd Gyorko has disappeared, and so have Matt Carpenter, and Stephen Piscotty. The only player batting above the .300 mark this month is Yadier Molina, and the next closest is Randal Grichuk, who is having a solid month, at .290, with four home runs.
If the Cardinal players were not looking at games as must win up to this point, they need to be now, because these next three are must win games. If they are unable to beat the worst team in the division, at home, three times in a row, they will likely be on the outside of the postseason picture, looking in.
Adam Wainwright (12-9, 4.57 ERA) will take the hill tonight against Robert Stephenson (2-2, 5.59 ERA). Waino has pitched in a lot of meaningful games throughout his illustrious career, and this is one to be added to that list. With the team’s playoff hopes slipping, Adam will need to step up, and shut down a bad team, something that, really, should not be a problem. Unfortunately, at some point or another, everything has been a problem for this year’s Cardinal team. On the bright side, Wainwright has pitched well at home this season, going 6-4, with a 2.92 ERA, at Busch. However, he has had his struggles against the Reds. He is a career 8-10, with a 4.41 ERA, when facing Cincinnati. Regardless, look for him to have a good start tonight, as he rises to the occasion more times than not.
Yadier Molina has been on fire this September, hitting .370, and it has been invaluable to this scuffling Cardinals team.
As I mentioned before, Yadier Molina, has been the bright spot in this Cardinal lineup. He has brought his average up to .301, by hitting a massive .370 this month, and .356 in the second half. Yadi has also hit 35 doubles this season, and shows no signs of slowing down. He is quickly becoming this team’s MVP.
The Cardinals will take the field behind Adam Wainwright tonight, at 7:15 CT tonight. I look for Waino to look like vintage Waino, and I also look for the offense to struggle again. I do, however, think they will scratch across two, maybe three runs, and that will be enough to get the win. That said, it would be nice to do to the Reds, what they did to us last night. As for the two teams we are chasing, San Francisco will take on Colorado tonight, at home. Their starting pitcher, Matt Moore, has struggled against the Rockies this season, but that does not mean the Cardinals can take another night off, and expect them to get beat. The New York Mets are in Miami again tonight, behind their ace, Noah Syndergaard. The Mets currently hold the top wild card spot, a full game and a half ahead of St. Louis. Though they do need one of these teams to lose some games this week, the most important thing for the Cardinals, is to focus on the task at hand, and win every game they can.
