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St. Louis Cardinals Preview Week of 8/07/16

St. Louis Cardinals Preview Week of 8/07/16: Check out who's hot and who's not for the Cards as we head into the second week of August.

Including today’s loss, the St. Louis Cardinals have gone an abysmal 2-5 in their last seven games. This team just can’t seem to figure it out. All of the talent is there, but their constant inconsistency in every facet of the game has made them a team that sits just five games above .500 and now 11.5 games back of the first place Chicago Cubs in the division.

The past week looked particularly bad, and the pitching was especially horrendous. Keep in mind, this team’s starting pitching last year was unbelievable; however, they did lose John Lackey and Lance Lynn from that rotation. Michael Wacha had the highest ERA of the starters in 2015 at 3.38.

So, the question is, what happened? They have Adam Wainwright (who many think to be the team’s ace) back from injury this year. They still have Jaime Garcia, Carlos Martinez, and Wacha. How did their performance cave so badly in just one season? There’s no clear answer, but if they don’t start performing better, the Cardinals can kiss the playoffs goodbye.

St. Louis Cardinals Preview Week of 8/07/16

The Cardinals will start a three-game series at Busch Stadium against the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow night, then finish the week in a four-game series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. If the Cardinals had been playing better, they’d still have a shot at the division. Unfortunately, they’ve kept losing games while the Cubs won games, and it looks like it will now take a miracle to capture the division. However, the games are obviously still very important; especially for the Cardinals. As it stands right now, the Cards are still just a game out of the second Wild Card spot despite their horrid recent play. As all baseball fans know, as long as you can get into the playoffs, you have just about as good a shot at a World Series title as anyone.

Let’s take a look at who’s hot and who’s not for the Redbirds.

Hot:

1. Jaime Garcia.

Garcia pitched on Friday against the Atlanta Braves and did a phenomenal job. Not only did Jaime throw eight shutout innings (giving up only three hits and striking out eleven), he also drove in the only run of the game.

2. Brandon Moss.

Since returning from the DL, Moss has done a great job. The Cardinals especially need Moss to step it up after the unfortunate loss of Aledmys Diaz (Diaz was hit in the hand by an Andrew Cashner fastball last week). Moss is 8-25 with a home run, four doubles, and four RBI since returning this past Tuesday.

Who’s Not:

1. Starting pitching.

You knew this was coming. During the past week, every starter, with the exception of Garcia, has gotten rocked, especially Mike Leake. Leake gave up seven runs in his start last week. There’s no way around it; Leake has looked awful this year (along with the almost all the other starters).

2. Jonathan Broxton.

According to social media, the Cardinal fans are getting extremely frustrated with Broxton, and for good reason. Broxton made two appearances this week, pitching only a third of an inning and giving up four earned runs. His ERA for the past week settled at 108.00. Woah.

3. Jedd Gyorko.

Gyorko continues to struggle after having his hot streak against the San Diego Padres. In the past eight games, Gyorko is just 4-24.

If the Cardinals want a shot at the playoffs, they have to start playing more consistently in every aspect.

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