It isn’t always sunny in the Gateway City, and if you ask the St. Louis Cardinals, when it rains, it pours. The ‘Birds lost their 8th straight game on
Tuesday night after falling behind early against the Cleveland
Indians. The 3-1 loss brought no good news to the Cardinals,
whose fans have become extremely restless. The questioning of
upper management has already began, and many are hoping for a
blockbuster trade. Besides the Cardinals’ recent losing ways,
only one thing remains constant:
Albert Pujols’ bat.
There
are several key factors to be pointed out here, one of which is the
fact that St. Louis is 0-6 since Pujols’ return. It’s essential
to address that this is not Pujols’ fault. "El Hombre"
has been very consistent since his return. After a 4-4 night with
a home run, two singles, a double, and a walk, Albert is on a 5-game
hitting streak. While his base hits haven’t piled up much like
his 4-hit night, he has been getting on base quite often. Within
this fact lies the problem: no one is bringing him home.
The
Cardinals have a major problem. Once the opposing pitcher gets
past David Eckstein, whoever the two-hole hitter is, Albert Pujols, and
Scott Rolen, there isn’t a whole lot of threat. Juan Encarnacion
has vastly underperformed after coming off a 14-game hitting
streak. One fan compared his struggles at the plate to "trying to
hit a truck driving down the middle of the strike zone and missing."
While
Albert Pujols continues to put the bat on the ball, it’s easy to say
his timing isn’t completely back. Barring his 4 for 4 game, he
hasn’t shown his home run swing very often. It could be a matter
of Albert not trying to swing for the fences every at-bat, or he just
doesn’t have his timing back. It seems as if he’s trying to get
on base for someone else to bring him to the plate, but barring Scott
Rolen, no one else is getting the job done. It will either take a
move by upper management or a shakeup of the lineup to get this team
moving again. Some have suggested that Pujols move to the cleanup
role and put Rolen back in the three-hole, which would possibly put
more men on for Albert. Rolen does get on base consistently, so
that would give Pujols the opportunity to swing for the fences again…with men on base.
Tonight’s
matchup once again does not favor Pujols, as Jake Westbrook take’s the
mound for the Cleveland Indians. Albert hasn’t had a whole lot
success against Westbrook, yet then again he hasn’t had many at-bats
against the starter, either. Chris Carpenter looks to turn things
around for the Cardinals tonight, hoping to prevent the Cardinals
getting swept for the third straight series.
Written by APC Staff Writer Brady Holzhauer
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