Have The Cardinals Bounced?

Friday (6-3 loss)

Hero: Albert Pujols.  2-4 with a home run on a night where there wasn't a whole lot of offense.

Goat: Matt Holliday.  One hit, but a late DP and grounding out as the tying run in the ninth doesn't help matters.

Note: Again with the late inning, get-your-hopes-up-then-dash-them rallies.  Sometimes, it's just better to go out 1-2-3 if you can't get the job done.

Saturday (5-1 win)

Hero: Pedro Feliz.  For all the talk about his acquisition (more on that in a bit), he did have a pretty solid weekend.  It's a tiny sample size, but again, for one day a 2-4, 2 RBI game isn't bad at all.

Goat: Skip Schumaker.  Not a good day from the leadoff slot, as he went 0-4.

Notes: Chris Carpenter stepped up when he needed to.  After Pujols said there was "no tomorrow", the team looked better and Carpenter was a big reason why.

Sunday (9-0 win)

Hero: Jaime Garcia.  Wow, just wow.  When I saw that Garcia was still in at the end of Sunday's game, I was pretty impressed.  When I saw that it took just 89 pitches, I was blown away.  A guy that has had trouble with his command, who has struggled to get into the seventh at times, just cruised to his first career shutout.  If he's back to this level, the Cards might be able to do something.  Also, I think he was ticked that on Baseball Tonight Saturday, the panel mentioned Buster Posey and Jason Heyward (really? Heyward?  Talk about hype vs. results....) but completely overlooked him.  No longer.

Goat: Matt Holliday.  Not one of the more serious Goats, but since every starter got a hit and Garcia was the only pitcher, someone had to do it.  Holliday did only have one hit in five at-bats and did not draw a walk.

Notes: Another strong day for Jon Jay with three hits.  He's done well at other spots in the lineup, but he really thrives in the two slot.  Nice to see Allen Craig get another home run and Brendan Ryan do well in a rare start in the leadoff role.  That increased confidence is really working for Ryan, who has finally become, if not someone you want to see at the plate, at least not an automatic out anymore.

As always, you can read more about the last week, including this weekend's games, in my weekly column over at Baseball Digest.

So, again, we reach the point in our reflections where we try to take some sort of meaning or significance out of the last few games.  This Cardinals team is ridiculously mercurial.  They win eight in a row, we're sure they've found a gear and will take off, then they lose four in a row.  They take over first place, then lose five in a row.  You can never guess where this team is going.

You'd like to say that they've reached their low point and are on their way up.  Getting 4 1/2 games out of the divisional race had to be some sort of wakeup call for this team, as evidenced by Pujols's comments about having to win games because it is getting late.  With a week of games against Pittsburgh and Washington, you'd think that they'd be able to pile up some wins if that's the case.  However, I think by now we've all come to the conclusion that you don't predict what this team is going to do, because that's about the time they'll do the opposite.

A brief note on Pedro Feliz.  I was with the majority that really didn't care for this move.  I mean, Feliz wasn't even starting for Houston, so that should give you some indication of how bad things had gotten for him.  He's had some brief flashes of offense in his career, but nothing major.  While I don't expect David Carpenter will ever be a major star, he still was showing some potential in the minors.  It just didn't seem like a move that needed to be made, especially with Tyler Greene playing the position in Memphis.  I realize that the glove work would be an improvement over what the Cards have now, but adding another black hole to the already inconsistent offense just didn't seem to make sense.

At least the Redbirds got one good weekend out of Feliz, though, which is more than most thought would happen.  If there's some small adjustment that gets him to league average over the next six weeks, maybe it'll pan out.  I still don't think I'd have done it, but it's done, so we have to hope for the best.

Speaking of hoping for the best, Kyle Lohse goes for St. Louis tonight against Pittsburgh and Ross Ohlendorf.  Lohse is trying to put the last start behind him and not do too much in this outing.  Going against Pittsburgh does tend to make that an easier proposition.  Ohlendorf's record (1-10) is disastrous, but he's posted a sub-4 ERA, so as always wins and losses don't tell the entire story.  He actually hasn't faced St. Louis this year, but he's been strong against them in the past, fashioning a 2.77 ERA in 26 innings over the last three years.

With Cincinnati out in San Francisco and facing that solid pitching staff, this is the time for the Cards to make up ground.  (Plus, with Pujols going to Pittsburgh and Joey Votto going to San Francisco, it's at least possible AP to make up the seven points in batting average that separates him from the Triple Crown.  Wouldn't that be an interesting thing....)  A week of 6 PM starts begins tonight!