The St. Louis Cardinals Need To Figure Out How To Overcome This One GLARING Problem!

The St. Louis Cardinals Need To Figure Out How To Overcome This One GLARING Problem!

the St louis Cardinals hit the snooze button offensively for the final two games against the Cubs and one glaring weakness was at the forefront this is Locked on Cardinals you are Locked on Cardinals your daily St louis Cardinals podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day hey there Cardinal fans i’m JD Haford and I’m your host for Lockdown Cardinals part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day you can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio as well as the podcast at l_cardinals we’re on YouTube make sure you like subscribe and comment if you are a Cardinals fan and this is the kind of content you want come on by each and every day when we uh drop new episodes we also put shorts out there for you as well we’re on Tik Tok Instagram Lock Cardinals this is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball all of the info about the birds on the bat and I wish I had happier things to say about the final two games of this series between the Cubs and Cardinals but after getting blasted eight to nothing on Wednesday and then shut out three to nothing on Thursday the happy thoughts they’re kind of at a minimum uh great defensive plays by Alec Berles in these final two games you know you got to see him really showing off the glove i don’t know what John J’s been doing with him but it’s working keep it up man um but there just wasn’t a whole lot to be that excited about in the last two games um a wide disparity between the vibes that we felt after the first two games and how most of Cardinal Nation is feeling right now after the last two games uh before we dive into things let me please say that the Cardinals didn’t lose this series all right and I know that sounds pretty weak you know you expect to win every series and I get that i’m not trying to say like oh 500’s okay cuz it’s not it’s not they did come away with a series split which before it all began I actually did say that that would feel kind of like a win for the Cardinals considering the struggles that they’d had recently leading up to that series against the Chicago White Socks and then the Cincinnati Reds you know remember the the birds before they went to Chicago to face the White Sox were spiraling things were really really really bad the losses were mounting momentum was shifting into a bad way and things were just going in the wrong direction alto together but they sweep the socks then they take two of three from the Cincinnati Reds and you start to feel genuinely a little bit better about yourself right you start to build that confidence back up heading into the series against the Cubs and it didn’t appear that they they didn’t come out flat against Chicago in those first two games but um getting a split before it started seemed like a good thing now I feel a little bit different after taking the first two games you’re like “All right now you got a chance to win this series right you could take three or four from them.” You get those two big wins in games one and two you outmash the Cubs in both of those games coming from behind in exciting fashion in that game too you get the plays by Burley and Natto in that game and now you’re like standing on top of the world you’re like “We can do this we can overtake them this is not so difficult right?” But then the Cubs pitching staff locked down and pushed us off this pedestal that we had jumped on top of with the shutout wins in the next two games and honestly things really started to take a turn in the game two victory although the Cardinals won that game the Cardinals had put up a four spot in the fourth inning uh of game two and since that point nobody has touched home plate to score a run nobody 22 straight innings the Cardinals have not scored a run that’s bad 22 innings two and a half games the Cardinals have done nothing offensively which is a little bit shocking you know how does a team that boasts the offensive numbers that the Cardinals have for most of this year get blanked like this and the answer is left-handed pitching after Jameus and Tyion got ravaged by the Cardinals Craig Councel turned to left-hander Lever Caleb Theelbar who calmed things down through a shutout inning then they went to the righty Chris Flexon for an inning then back to a lefty and Drew Pomerance for another inning and then they went to Ryan Presley at the end now I didn’t realize how good Pomeran and Chris Flex had done i was doing the research for this i’m like hold on a second so Drew Pomearan’s 36 years old hasn’t given up an earned run yet this year he’s only given up one run altogether in 24 appearances where did that come from and then you got Chris Flaxton age 30 only giving up two runs in 14 appearances so talk about finding a couple of hidden gems for that Cubs bullpen right now the Fountain of Youth must be in Chicago right now because those two are drinking from it um but then in Wednesday’s game the Cubs roll with Matthew Boyd left-hander who again is having an outstanding season already i don’t just want to blame the Cardinals for not doing good things because the other team as I try to remind people they’re trying to win as well they’re not just laying it out there and trying to make things easy for the Cardinals so uh Matthew Boyd’s been very good for Chicago and he comes out and baffles the Cardinals for six shutout innings council uses three right-handers to end it but the uh the game was in the bag already at that point after they beat the hell out of Eric Fetty who was awful uh then on Thursday it’s left-hander Shot Emmanaga returning from the injured list and he ends up puzzling the Cardinals for another five innings then they go to fieldbar again left-hander then they switch it to the righty killer you got to remember they’re doing matchups as well council’s matching up with the right-hand right-handers in the Cardinals lineup but then he goes back to Pomerance for another inning and that’s before and then they bring in Daniel Palencia to close it out so the Cardinals didn’t score a single run off of a left-handed pitcher in this series none 15 shutout innings by Cubs left-handers so I went back further i’m like “Okay how long has it been since the Cardinals have scored off a lefty let’s keep going back.” So we go to the loss to the Reds on Sunday again I want to give credit to Andrew Abbott who is having an incredible year for the Cincinnati Reds kind of out of nowhere dominating numbers so it’s not just the Cardinals that he’s doing well against but he’s another lefty and guess what he blanked the Cardinals for seven innings taylor Rogers another left-hander from the bullpen came in that game through two-thirds of an inning no runs so then I have to go to the next game and the journey finally ended there Saturday when they beat the Reds they scored two runs off of the Reds starter in what was a bullpin game for the Reds so it wasn’t like the real starter but it you know still left-handed pitcher Brent Sudter uh they scored two runs off of him in the first inning and then it was all righties for the rest of the game for uh for Cincinnati but 22 and 2/3 of shutout baseball thrown just by left-handers against the Cardinals and right now we’re at 22 just in general shutout innings against the Cardinals on the year the team is batting 261 against right-handed pitchers which is the third best batting average in the league that’s awesome right against lefties they’re hitting 236 which is 16th in the league um quite a drop though right uh mathematically there we’re looking at what four five 25 points in your batting average it’s pretty bad it’s pretty bad uh against the lefties they’re hitting 236 now I will say this missing Ivon Herrera obviously didn’t help the cause and hasn’t helped the cause since he uh went down and got hurt because he’s been their best hitter against left-handed pitching 333 five home runs and 13 RBI’s against them so that bat has certainly missed when the left-handers come into games i understand that and you have to acknowledge that that the injury to him is going to be a big problem for this uh Victor Scott hitting just 182 against lefties this year uh with that and not having Jordan Walker who who was out right now and Lars Nupar who wasn’t available meant that you had to go to Garrett Hamson in center field and is I don’t want to rip the dude as much as he can help you out clearly on the mound because he pitched well in his three pitches uh in that game um but defensively base running speed that’s his game again he’s the right-handed Michael Ciani but not going to help you offensively right that’s the reason why the guy’s on his third team so far this year because he’s not much of a hitter you were hoping having Thomas and Jaci up could could help things out usually hits pretty good against lefties he goes 0 for seven gorbin has always had a tough time with lefties so you weren’t looking for all that much out of him there um although he looked he’s looked better against lefties um but even as good as Brennan Donovan you know let’s not give Donnie a pass here he’s had this fantastic year uh should be an all-star hopefully as an alternate uh hitting 220 against lefties it It’s a real problem for this team especially with Herrera out um just like it was last year remember when the Cardinals had to make that blockbuster deal and get Tommy Fam uh just to have someone who could hit lefties in the lineup that was part of the the Fetty deal is they had to get they brought wanted Tommy Fam that was a big part of it but we want Fam like that’s how desperate they got no offense against Tommy Fam but you know it’s something they’re going to need to address eventually because there’s not a lot of right-handed pop down in the minor leagues either a lot of lefty guys that are doing well but it’s not a lot of righties who can hit left-handers well so um something they’re going to have to look into and figure it out um but if I’m a team and I got the Cardinals coming up on my schedule I’m getting all my lefties ready to rock because uh that appears to be the kryptonite if you will for the St louis Cardinals offense now things did get a little heated after the game on Thursday between Wilson Catus and Daniel Palencia with the benches clearing at the end of it all so we’ll hear what they had to say about that situation and more coming up next on Locked on Cards get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trade supply house whether you’re in plumbing HVAC or electrical work supply house is the reliable way to order products online their easy to use website it is packed with helpful resources and the latest product information to help you get the job done right plus with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands you’re going to find exactly what you need it gets delivered fast and it’s available to you from coast to coast need help with an order sometimes things happen sometimes you have questions supply house offers expert support and industryleading service so you always get to talk to a real person instead of pressing buttons listening to AI yell commands back at you which is so annoying and for trade pros looking for that extra edge their free tradem program offers exclusive perks like a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order thousands of skilled professionals are already taking advantage and now it’s your turn join the tradem program today at supplyhouse.com/tm and start ordering plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies with just a few clicks plus that promo code they got for you SH5 use that for 5% off your first order that’s supplyhouse.com thanks again for making Lock Cardinals your first listen every day leave your comments on YouTube as well as on X anytime you want uh nobody likes villain Willie more than I do i enjoy having a bad guy on our team it is something that I feel like we had for a long time with Molina you know other fans other teams they just didn’t like him which was fine they all respected him they didn’t really like him um and anytime I see another team getting worked up about something that Wilson Conturus does I get a big smile on my face i kind I kind of dig it a little bit because normally it works out well for the Cardinals and on Thursday there he was again in the ninth inning as the Cardinals attempted to mount a comeback in what was a very dull day for the home team when they three hits on on that in that game like it was boring like and the Cubs let them hang around they were giving them ample chances to to get back in it and they just couldn’t do it it just was blah but uh in that ninth inning another opportunity popped up when Wilson Contrus gets hit by a pitch you get the lead off double you get the the hit by pitch and that did not sit well with Wilson Contrus at all you saw Willie kind of chirp at Palencia as he strolled to first base and uh then when the game was over you saw Valencia celebrating appeared to direct a bit of his newfound joy uh specifically towards Wilson Catus over at first base which did not sit well with the former Cub and current Cardinals first baseman nothing physical came out of this but both benches did end up clearing and jump on the field just in case now the Cubs they were coming out anyway because they were celebrating the shutout win and uh you know being able to pull off the you know series split after dropping the first two games so they were going to be out there anyway cardinal were just kind of they came over just to kind of make sure things didn’t get out of hand which they did like it it never really got all that close although the Wilson Contrarus death stare towards Valencia and the celebrating Cubs oh buddy that he would red I he was seeing red right there but didn’t didn’t do anything about it but it but it’s fun right it adds another layer to what is a fun rivalry already uh the connection between Willie and the city of Chicago will always be entertaining he loves going back there and he thrives on the booze you saw how he thrived against the Chicago white socks like he enjoys it likes it you know he likes the theater of it all so he likes being the bad guy while Chicago seems to the city I’m saying the fans they seem to have some fun with uh with him after seeing him switch from Cubby blue to Cardinal Red i thought it was funny that White Sox fans were booing him what do you care never played for you but they were booing him anyway because it’s Chicago uh and I liked it i thought it was great so um and it was kind of similar to how the fans treated Jason Hayward when he came back to Bush Stadium after jumping ship and going to the Cubs difference is Willie was there much longer won a championship with the Cubs while Hayward simply he resurrected his career with the Cardinals uh and they offered him a contract and he chose the Cubs over the Cardinals wisely when you go back and look at it because he was like I think the Cubs have a better chance to win a championship and he was right they got one right away when he got over there um I almost sometimes forget he was a Cardinal because it was just one year it was so quick but uh it was an important year because uh helped Hayward get that massive deal with Chicago and you know he’s made a lot of money and had a a long career after that where uh things were going the wrong way for him after uh the Cardinal before the Cardinal acquired him so anyway after the two games all the all the media members go into the clubouses and they start interviewing uh both of these guys and asked him about the altercation and what went down and you know Willie wasn’t bashful about it he said “Last year I got two broken bones.” And I know he’s not trying to hit anybody there i know I react the way I react again I know he’s not trying to i just said to him “Throw strikes.” My reaction was bad i take that back i apologize to the Chicago Cubs but I’m not trying to get another broken bone fair enough right fair enough you know no batter likes to get hit by a pitch especially when it’s up and in near the hands and the face and the head area you know everybody’s gonna be a little pissed about that when it happens you know these guys at this level are supposed to have enough control about where they’re throwing the ball that they wouldn’t have to worry about that but sometimes the ball slips and again I don’t think Valencia was trying to hit Wilson anyway you know you’re not trying to bring the tying run to the plate you know I mean there’s better times to hit people if that’s what you want to do that was not one of them so I don’t think he was trying to do it either um but it probably didn’t help that it was the Cubs that hit him and this was the 13th time Wilson Couturus has been hit by a pitch this year tied for second most in the league with former Cardinal Randy Rosena who’s now with the Seattle Mariners and trailing only Tai France from the Twins why is Ty France getting hit so much from Minnesota i don’t know i don’t know but he’s got 14 hit by pitch already this year um Katrus continued in the uh in the scrum in the media scrum uh in the in the clubhouse saying “I’m not trying to fight them either i just react to the heat of the moment i’m not trying to fight anybody he did his job the only thing that I didn’t appreciate was the way he turned around.” But once again that’s just the heat of the game he came out with a good staff to put another zero on the board and they won today and yeah you know when Valencia you know he first starts celebrating he’s looking at his catcher and then he purposely turns to Wilson’s and just his his area just is like um but again heat of the game like you don’t want people celebrating on you don’t let them beat you uh as far as Palencia side of things he said “I was just excited it’s part of the game i don’t want to hit that guy i’ve been watching that guy since I was a kid i’m proud of him what he’s doing for the game like I said the moment was intense close game totally understandable uh Cardinal killer Ian Hap even chimed in uh played with Contrarus when they when they were in Chicago together uh he had no ill thoughts about anything that went on there either about Wilson saying that’s Wilson you know he loves his teammates he loves to play hard he’s going to be a guy that is in it every pitch anytime you get hit up and in in a spot like that it’s scary guys are frustrated i totally get it just the heat of the moment and competition i love this stuff i love this stuff i I I don’t want anyone getting hurt on either side but I do like it when there is some edge to things between teams and players and fans it makes everything feel that much more important you know this is the end of June this is not even remotely close to uh getting down to the home stretch of the season where everybody’s pushing for a playoff spot but it made it feel that much more important you know and it was important games don’t get me wrong but I just just the atmosphere and the vibes about it it just gets everybody on edge and I I enjoy that i think it’s good when everybody’s relaxed and the game’s as boring as it was on Thursday and it’s three to nothing and nothing’s happening and it’s just like oh boy whatever i’m glad that there was something there was at least a little spark for some fireworks because guess what cardinals and Cups are going to play each other again here real soon the atmosphere and Wrigley I’m sure it’s going to be saucy when the Cardinals and Contras show up for the Fourth of July weekend uh looking forward to that uh Cardinals going to be in Cleveland this weekend let’s not jump too far ahead and start looking at other things because the Cleveland Guardians are in front of you this weekend we’ll discuss that series and more coming up next on Locked on Cardinals summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re 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mustwatch events so whether you’re placing a same game parlay or watching a bet right into that ninth inning FanDuel is going to make it feel like you’re a part of the action and if you’re new to FanDuel new customers can bet just $5 get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins open the FanDuel app today or visit fan.com/lockedon to get started thanks again for making locks on Carlos first listen every day for your second listen be sure to check out the all new locked on MLB game night every game every night all season long get the local analysis you want on a national scale on MLB game night on locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast uh Cardinals begin a long road trip tonight in the land Cleveland against the Guardians team that has now fallen nine and a half games back of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central they’re only one game over 500 at 40 and 39 but they’re just a half game back in the wild card so they’re in the thick of things like they usually are that’s one of the impressive things that the Guardians have been able to do over the years as they don’t spend a whole lot on salary yet they maximize their roster and they’re constantly just right there they’re always right there they got one of the best players in the game that doesn’t hurt superstar in Jose Ramirez at third base he continues to put up MVP type numbers he’s batting .317 with 13 home runs 38 RBI’s which is a bit low for him but kind of has to do with the lineup that’s around him but he’s also got 21 stolen bases the batting average is tops among all third baseman in baseball obp 378 is number one slugging is third ops is number one the guy is as good as it gets offensively at the position switch hitter so there’s no easy way to pitch to him like just don’t really just don’t make somebody else beat you don’t let J Ram be the guy uh Steven Quan is another excellent all-around outfielder for them not much for power but he’s hitting 306 he’s one of those uh pests that’s constantly on base uh you’ve got veteran first baseman Carlos Santana switch hitter as well gold glove winner last year not having a huge year offensively but he’s one of those guys that like when I when I see the Cardinal play them I’m like I feel like Santana’s the guy that’s going to do the damage i don’t know why just a vibe I get they also got a nice DH in Kyle Manzardo uh he’s got 12 home runs and 32 RBI’s on the season uh the Cardinals have fallen to 11th overall in batting average thanks to their issues going up against left-handers uh lucky for us Cleveland is not throwing uh a bunch of left-handers at least not right now they’re going to have two uh right-handers starting in the series they do have a lefty on Sunday but offensively when you look at the Guardians uh you know you see those numbers for JRAM and Quan and you’re like “Oh they’re probably pretty good.” No uh they are way down at 25th and are hitting 229 as a team this year they’ve got less home runs than the Cardinals so that’s not something that you’re going to be all that afraid of they’re 25th in runs scored middle of the pack in strikeouts and in the lower half for walks they average only 3.8 runs per game their pitching is also very similar to the Cardinals as far as erra and batting average against goes their bullpen which was so good last year remember how insanely good the Cleveland bullpen was last year that has regressed tremendously this year numbers are similar to what the Cardinal are doing so um their closer Emanuel Class is still very very good had a very rough start to the year the RA in April was over seven like and he was it took him forever to get his ERA to come down it still looks bad but his last couple of months he’s been as good as he normally is so you want to avoid seeing him at all costs because he’s awesome um so to me it just feels like the Cardinals need to not let Jose Ramirez beat them don’t get into a situation where you got to throw to him and just do what you can do to manufacture four or more runs in a game and that should be sufficient against this Guardians offense they are 20 and 29 against teams over 500 and 20 and 10 against the ones who are under 500 that’s very telling it means they take advantage of the bad teams and they’re not all that competitive against the good teams it tells me that the Cardinals should be able to take two of three in the series pitching matchups you got Sunny Gray against Luis Ortiz who is 4-8 the RA of 430 don’t let those numbers fool you because there are moments where he looks brilliant he just threw six shutout innings against the A’s in his last outing and struck out 10 guys so there’s moments where he looks incredible he does tend to get a little wild he will walk some guys so don’t go chasing things and he’s you know he’s he’s he’s one of those guys that he’s very inconsistent where he has these great games like I know he shoved against the Yankees a couple of games ago too and then the games before he faced the A’s Mariners and Reds they hit him pretty easily they didn’t have any problems against him so um hopefully that’s where he is as far as the consistency go just had a real good game so time to come back and uh let somebody pound you a little bit uh they got another righty going on Saturday in Slade Sakone uh against Miles Michaelis and then it’s lefty Logan Wilson on Sunday against our lefty Matthew Liberator so Friday and Saturday seem like the best options for wins all things considered because the Cardinals don’t hit lefties very very well so um I just you got to need you got to show some offense tonight that’s really the thing you’re in this funk you can’t let the last 22 innings continue the way they have i want to see the desperation again you know I I need the energy that you showed up with against the Chicago Cubs in the first two games i need that but I need to see the desperation that we saw after that losing streak where it was like we we’ll do anything to get some runs across right now we we we’ll bunt we’ll sacrifice we’ll do all the stuff we’ll do all the things just to try to to try to break the seal on this shutout streak right now that’s what I want to see uh in the in the opening frames of this game against Cleveland on Friday you can outscore these guys the offense for Cleveland is not good just got to avoid those big names do not let Jose Ramirez beat you do whatever you can to get around him and get to other pieces of the lineup do not let guys in the seven eight n hole you know guys that should not be beating you don’t let them beat you you got to take advantage of the fact that though they got a much less offensive lineup than you do so take advantage of that uh N should be back in the lineup after that twoame absence after getting a shot in the ribs um all the lefties should be in there tonight burley still on fire we’ll get Victor Scott in back in that lineup tonight we don’t have to see Garrett Hamson again um Gorman obviously has been hitting quite well i I thought he got a hold of one on Thursday’s game that one that he lined out the center i I thought he gets that up just a little bit that ball’s gone so I’m liking what I’m seeing from Gorman right now donnie hits the right he’s better like it’s set up for you to win these first two games do it need a bounceback game for sure thanks for making lockdown Cardinal first listen every day if you haven’t already please give us a follow on X at l_cardals at aj sports radio Tik Tok and Instagram at lockdown Cardinals like subscribe on YouTube you guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason we will see you next time on Locked On Cardinals

– Cardinals Split With The Chicago Cubs
– Left Handed Pitching
– Benches Clear
– Willson Contreras
– Daniel Palencia
– Cleveland Guardians Preview
– Jose Ramirez

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