The Cardinals are scary good, and more
Remember when the St. Louis Cardinals were going to take a step back in 2015? After Oscar Taveras’ tragic death in the offseason and Adam Wainwright’s season-ending Achilles injury, St. Louis was supposed to be derailed by the up-and-coming Chicago Cubs.
Yeah, a step back. That’s cute.
The Cardinals decided baseball is still something they are pretty good at and stuff, rolling to an incredible 20-6 start heading into Wednesday night’s action. St. Louis is riding an eight-game winning streak and leads the mediocre National League Central by 6.5 games over the Cubs. Chicago is really young and talented, but it has no experience in winning. The Cardinals know nothing but winning.
It may be early, but St. Louis is setting a tone. The Cardinals are 13-2 at Busch Stadium and have a run differential of +44, the best in the senior circuit. Even without Wainwright, St. Louis has only allowed 72 runs, 14 less than any other team. The Cardinals have put together a terrific beginning from its starting rotation, with Michael Wacha, John Lackey, Lance Lynn and Carlos Martinez throwing 14 quality starts in 20 chances.
Wacha has taken the leap from a young prospect to a legitimate front-line starter, sporting a 4-0 record with a miniscule 1.93 ERA. In 32.2 innings, Wacha has a 1.04 WHIP despite only striking out 18 against eight walks. While there are some metrics that suggest Wacha’s ERA will rise sooner rather than later, his stuff says the best is ahead.
Offensively, the engine is started by Matt Carpenter. The third baseman is off to a tremendous start, hitting a team-best .346 with five home runs and 20 RBI. With Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, Jhonny Peralta and Kolten Wong also hitting above .295, the lineup is consistently putting pitchers in a tough spot.
St. Louis will not get the attention of the Washington Nationals or the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cardinals are consistently out of the national spotlight, that is until October. We all know they will be on center stage at that moment.
Rockies still can’t pitch
The Colorado Rockies have absolutely no pitching. This sentence applies for almost any year in the franchise’s history. Somehow, general manager Jeff Bridich hasn’t dealt some of his hitting prowess for a legitimate arm or two. The Rockies are going nowhere without a better starting rotation, which currently has ace Jorge De La Rosa pitching to a 9.00 ERA in three starts. The best of the bunch? Eddie Butler with a 3.81 ERA. Yikes.
Colorado has to go about this whole winning thing differently. It’s time to get ground-ball pitchers and build a solid infield, starting with third baseman Nolan Arenado. The idea that a good pitcher has no chance in Coors Field is a fallacy. Yet, nobody has been given the chance to prove it, because nobody pitching there for the home team is any good.
