The analogy given by the St. Louis Cardinals TV crew Friday night was that the game started in a way that would inspire most to hit the reset button if this were a video game. Unfortunately, there was no reset button available for the Cardinals poor start Friday night as the Nationals scored early and often and the Cardinals gave them a couple assists, too. The end result can only be described as embarrassing if you’re a St. Louis Cardinals fan.
The troubles for Kyle Leahy started with a one-out walk
to Daylen Lile. Crews and Abrams followed that walk with back-to-back singles making it 1-0 Nationals. Crews would score on an errant throw from Leo Bernal that flew into centerfield upping the Washington advantage to 2-0. Abrams scored the third Nationals run on a groundout by House giving Washington a 3-0 lead after the top of the 1st.
The Nationals added to their lead in the top of the 3rd inning when Kyle Leahy walked James Wood to start the inning. After Lile grounded out in a fielder’s choice, Dylan Crews lifted a 94 mph Leahy sinker that didn’t sink enough 379ft into the right field seats for a 5-0 Washington lead and the Nationals weren’t done. With two outs, House doubled to right which Jordan Walker turned into a triple when he mishandled the ball in the right field corner. Leahy didn’t help himself as he then walked Vivas. Morales knocked both of them in with a double into the left field corner for 2 more RBI’s and a frightening 7-0 Nationals lead. At this point, you could tell it was going to be a long night for the Cardinals. This was one of those games where you’re in the 3rd inning wondering which position player will be pitching for St. Louis in a few innings. Pathetic.
The game just kept getting better as the innings continued. Oh, wait. No, they didn’t. In the top of the 4th inning as Cooper Hjerpe took over for Kyle Leahy, Jacob Young led off with a double for the Nationals. He advanced to third on a groundout from Woods and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lile. 8-0 Nationals going into the bottom of the 4th inning.
The St. Louis Cardinals offense could do nothing exciting against Washington Nationals starter Cade Cavalli who had just signed a 4-year, $47 million dollar contract extension Friday. I would congratulate him on that new contract, but that would seem redundant since I believe the Cardinals TV crew congratulated him at least a half dozen times Friday night. The sad statistic is the Cardinals ended the game with the same amount of hits, but with 8 fewer runs. St. Louis also had more errors than runs. How is that even possible?
For the sake of being a completionist, I’ll continue to document the Nationals runs including the top of the 6th inning when Hjerpe gave up a one-out walk to Ford. Two batters later, he scored on a double from Wood. 9-0 Nationals. To give some Cardinals some credit, Hjerpe and Winquest ate the rest of the games innings without allowing any additional runs.
The Cardinals got a “who cares” token run in the bottom of the 8th inning when Nathan Church led off with a double to right. He advanced to third on a fly-out by JJ Wetherholt and scored when Herrera grounded out. 9-1 Nationals. Those who were dedicated enough to remain in Busch Stadium let out a very sarcastic cheer and who could blame them. Yawn.
I can sum up the Cardinals effort Friday night by saying this. There was an alarming lack of energy. If you were at Busch Stadium expecting a young team trying to make the most of the remaining schedule, you likely left very disappointed. I don’t know about you, but I accepted there would not be a late playoff run by the St. Louis Cardinals this season. I have not and will not accept really poor efforts like Friday night where the team seemed to be mentally checked out and ready for their golf tee times in October. The sad thing is games like Friday night also had many of us in the diehard Cardinals fanbase also looking forward to October.
Only two more games for the Cardinals season at Busch Stadium. Saturday night, it’s game 2 of the weekend homestand vs the Washington Nationals. Michael McGreevy is the starter for the Cardinals while it’s LHP Andrew Alvarez for the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15pm and the game broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.
