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5 things we learned from the Cardinals' 7-6 loss to the Phillies

The Cardinals are playing 5-5 ball right now. Win 2, lose 1, win one, lose 2. It's frustrating to watch, but when you are weathering the injuries they are, it's not completely surprising.
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY SPORTS

ST. LOUIS – Twelve hours after Friday night's game concluded, the St. Louis Cardinals got back at it against the Philadelphia Phillies on another muggy afternoon that included some rain showers and thunder. As is the case with any baseball game, there were some good, bad, and ugly moments. I'll cover them here.

Here are five takeaways from a 7-6 loss that kept the Birds in turnaround mode with a 24-19 record.

5) Marcell Ozuna is going to get better, right? The left fielder went 0-3 at the plate, reaching on a throwing error from the Phillies infielder and stranding three runners on the bases, moving his total to 15,000 runners left on for his season. I'm joking, but Ozuna's struggles are not. As I documented in my piece this morning, Ozuna's BABIP isn't unlucky and he's trying to pull everything. There's some credence to the fact that Ozuna doesn't have the protection of Giancarlo Stanton anymore and it's plaguing him, but there's something more to it. Sitting for a couple of games wouldn't hurt. Speaking of which...

4) Hello Tyler O'Neill. The protein shake slurping rookie cranked a 392-foot home run into the left field stands to tie the game midway through, the first round-tripper of his career. There will be more. This kid punishes fastballs and any pitch that doesn't have an attitude at the plate. He's an exciting player. If Harrison Bader can push Dexter Fowler for starts, O'Neill should be able to push Ozuna for some. It makes sense anyway.

3) Matt Carpenter suddenly has ten doubles. The infielder's Saturday included a hit and a walk, with much better at-bats all together. He's got the batting average up to .177, but the guy just looks better. After filling a prescription that included batting seventh for a couple days and taking a few pitches to left, he's back in the saddle. A well Carp goes a long way for this team.

2) Ugly defense reared its head today for the Cardinals. Jedd "Not a Shortstop" Gyorko committed two errors that led to runs and Jose Martinez's footwork at first base continues to confound the senses. The Cards glove work over the past few weeks is nasty and has cost them wins. Today, the price was fairly high.

1) Greg Holland is making my head hurt. After a couple good outings in San Diego, the former closer has experienced turbulence on the mound in his past two outings. He got two quick outs today and then dropped a grenade on a tie game. Should he continue to pitch in late innings? Yes. As Jim Edmonds said on the broadcast a couple weeks ago, it's not easy to work this guy into lower leverage outings and a closer type needs the adrenaline of a close game.

It's a messy situation that the far from equipped Mike Matheny has to try and manage. Holland seems to be coming out of it and then walks a guy and everything goes wrong. If he has another bad outing or two, it may be time to see if he would accept a trip to Memphis. It's just hard for me to cut off what the guy has done the past four seasons. He can't just lose it that quickly.

The Cardinals are playing 5-5 ball right now. Win 2, lose 1, win one, lose 2. It's frustrating to watch, but when you are weathering the injuries they are, it's not completely surprising. One more thing, can John Gant not start another game? He's not 100% bad, but he's nowhere near good either. Stop that. Bring up a kid for the next start.

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading,

DLB

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