INSIDE PITCH
After six games, five of them
without cleanup man Matt Holliday, who is recovering from an appendectomy, the
Cardinals have scored only 15 runs, ranking them last in the National League at
2.5 per game.
St. Louis has eight extra-base hits (five
doubles, one triple, two home runs), also last in the league, and were batting
.182 with runners in scoring position.
All these items are "not
conducive to winning baseball," as Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog used to
say.
While manager Tony La
Russa lashed out at questions concerning the offense after Wednesday's 3-1 loss
to the Pittsburgh Pirates, veteran outfielder Lance Berkman spoke in more
measured tones.
Berkman said he could see
the fans wondering, "Is that going to be a trend?" But he then said, "As a
veteran you just have to look at the track record and say we have the
personnel.
"We're not off to a good
start. I think it's just plain and simple. We're not clicking right now. It's
going to click. It just hasn't yet."
Berkman said the
Cardinals "need some breaks. You've got to have something good happen to ease
the tension that builds."
La Russa already sought a
way to do that by storming out of his post-game press conference on
Wednesday.
Next
game: Fri.,
Apr. 8 at GIANTS: Jake Westbrook (0-1, 16.62) vs. Jonathan Sanchez (0-1, 3.18)
3:35 p.m. CDT (FOX Sports Midwest, KMOX Radio and Cardinals Radio
Network)
NOTES,
QUOTES
OF Allen Craig has been a
bright spot in a dreary first week. Craig, mostly filling in for LF Matt
Holliday, leads the team not only in runs batted in at four but in stolen bases
at two.
Attendance for the recent
three-game series with Pittsburgh was only 100,638, the smallest for a
three-game set in the six-season history of new Busch Stadium. Bad weather and
the NCAA final on television on Monday contributed to the lowest paid crowd in
the stadium's history, 32,007.
1B Albert Pujols, who has
said April is his toughest month, is batting .182 with one home run and three
runs batted in for the first week. He has one hit with men in scoring
position.
LH reliever Brian Tallet
has been something of a surprise, given that he finished camp with a groin
injury. Tallet has retired all eight hitters he has faced.
LF Matt Holliday, if he
is medically cleared after undergoing an appendectomy, is expected to be able to
pinch hit during the Cardinals; series in San Francisco, which will begin on Friday. He
could play in Arizona in a three-game series which starts on
Monday.
BY THE NUMBERS: .297 - Cardinals'
slugging percentage, last in the National League.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Nobody is up there
just flailing away, but we're just not getting it done." - OF Lance Berkman, on
the Cardinals' first-week offensive problems.
ROSTER
REPORT
MEDICAL
WATCH:
LF Matt Holliday
(appendectomy) underwent the procedure April 1. He played catch and ran sprints
April 5, and the next day he hit indoors for the first time since the surgery.
He was be re-examined on April 7 before the team headed to San Francisco and hopes to
be cleared to pinch hit in the series that starts April 8. He might then start
in Arizona
three days later.
RHP Adam Wainwright
(Tommy John surgery in February 2011) went on the 60-day disabled list March 25.
He will miss the entire 2011 season.
INF Nick Punto (hernia
surgery in February 2011) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March
22. He hopes to return in late April.