In the words of Crash Davis, all the St. Louis Cardinals needed was a natural disaster to awaken their bats. In Friday's case, a sustainable rain shower.
Once 95 minutes passed and 9:00 p.m. started to approach, Michael Wacha threw the first pitch and the Cardinals used a four-run third inning to launch an assault that resulted in three home runs, three doubles, 15 hits, and a 12-4 final which left the Cardinals with a record of 24-18.
A day that started with more bad news with the broken hand of Paul DeJong setting him up for surgery instead of shortstop duty this weekend, the Cardinals were down, but found a way to blow out a good Phillies team.
Here are my five takeaways:
5) Slowly but surely, Matt Carpenter is coming around. He had another multi-hit game on Friday, driving in a run and beating the shift with an RBI single to right field. While he did move up to the #2 spot, Carpenter is proving the luck that evaded him for six weeks may finally be coming back to his bat. The Cardinals need him more than ever right now.
4) Dexter Fowler may have saved a run with his catch right above the right field wall when the game was still relatively close, but he went 0-4 at the plate, lowering his average to .150 and his OPS to .550. While I appreciate the dedication to his craft and his urge to get better, Fowler is still in the depths of struggles at the plate.
3) Tyler O'Neill may be the biggest Cardinal, but his first stint in the Majors resulted in a sacrifice fly and zero hits. He didn't wait long this time. Batting for Michael Wacha in the sixth inning, Redbird Hercules muscled a hit down the left field corner for his first big league knock. Perhaps the kid should get a couple starts.
2) Michael Wacha pitched extremely well, limiting the Phillies to just two runs on five hits over six innings, striking out eight. Wacha was cruising into the fifth when he ran into trouble and allowed Philadelphia to climb back into the game, but worked an efficient final frame to close out his night. Since a rough opening start to his 2018 campaign, Wacha has started eight straight games where he went at least five innings and allowed three runs or less. He notched win #50 on Friday night.
1) Jose Martinez is a machine again. He had a four-hit night, including a 418 foot home run late in the game and a bloop single in the middle innings. He finds ways to get hits, taking what the pitcher gives him and serving it out to all fields. With DeJong down, Martinez's bat has to remain potent, especially with Fowler and Ozuna slowly coming around.
The Cardinals needed Friday night's assault. I'm not one of those guys who shouts at the team during a blowout to save runs. Forget that old adage. Score as many as you can that night and destroy the other team. That's the game. One at a time and collect wins.
Let's hope John Gant can give the bats a chance to repeat tomorrow. Putting up a couple zeroes would be nice.
Thanks for reading,
Dan Buffa
