Following the fast start from first-year manager Mike Matheny and the new-look St. Louis Cardinals, the injury bug has continued to bite but the division title is still in sight through the first-half of June.
The Cardinals defeated the Chicago White Sox 1 to 0 tonight behind a spectacular performance from arguably the teams biggest suprise, Lance Lynn, as he pitched 7 and 1/3 innings of shutout baseball on just three hits.
Lynn, who started the season as a "project" as the teams' fifth starting pitcher, won his tenth game of the season, and has arguably been one of the National League's best starting pitchers through two and a half months of baseball.
Tonight's game was hopefully a big momentum shift that will get this team back on track. The offense got just four hits on the night--and three came off the bat of Carlos Beltran--including his NL-leading 19th home-run that was a solo blast that turned turned out to be the only run scored on the entire night.
Following the 1-0 win tonight, the Cardinals improved there overall record to 32-31 on the season and stayed at just three games out for first place in the Central division after the Reds beat Cleveland 5 to 3 earlier on Wednesday--which is exactly where this team should be very happy to at considering all of the injuries that this team has had to deal with.
In Matheny's first season as the teams skipper, as the team is going for there 12th World Championship, the team has seen the likes of Lance Berkman (Strained left calf/Torn Meniscus), Jon Jay (Right shoulder), Kyle McClellan (Strained right elbow), Allen Craig (Recovery from knee surgery/strained hamstring), Matt Carpenter (Strained right oblique), Skip Schumaker (Strained hamstring), and Jaime Garcia (strained left shoulder) all get put on the 15 day disabled list.
With that making it pretty hard to believe this team can play at the level that many people believe they can play, the young guns and new comers are all making there presence felt--actually, they are all stealing the spotlight thus far through 2012.
Carlos Beltran leads the National League in home runs with 19 and is leading the way for this new revamped offense. He is certainly forming a nice trio with last seasons' World Series hero David Freese and fan-favorite to Cardinal Nation, Matt Holliday. The team is also getting a good showing from newly brought up utility man, Matt Adams. In 63 at-bats, Adams has hit seven bombs while driving in sixteen.
Despite hearing the terrible news that Jaime Garcia would be shelved for the next two months atleast, good news has finally made it to the headlines. Chris Carpenter, who has no timetable for his return at the moment, has finally begun throwing off the mound, which is certainly a big step to seeing him return. As long as this team can continue to get big performances from the current starting rotation, getting Carp back on the mound could make a humongous difference in a playoff race come September. Lynn, who got the win tonight, leads the NL and the Cardinals with ten wins on the season. Kyle Lohse has six wins, Adam Wainwright has five, while Jake Westbrook has four and Jaime Garcia had three before the recent injury. Also, Jason Motte has tallied a total of 12 saves on the season.
Through two months of what has been a huge rollercoaster ride so far this season, the injury bug has hit hard--but this team is sitting perfectly as they are staying in the thick of things. Things will only get better from here on out through the rest of this roller coaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment