It wasn’t just that they lost but how they lost.
OK, it also was that they lost. Because even if the Cardinals fell Monday by a score of, say, 6-5, they would’ve dropped to 1-4 in their past five games.
But they lost 6-0.
Just their fourth time being shut out this season.
And they were at home.
And against the Mets, a team they’re chasing in the wild-card playoff race.
The Cardinals better shape up or they’ll be out of the wild-card race.
“We’ve got to play better than what we’re playing — I take a lot of ownership of that,” Nolan Arenado, who had the Cardinals’ lone extra-base hit Monday, told the Post-Dispatch. “We’ve got to show up and just play better. I don’t even know what else to say. We’ve got to pitch better. We’ve got to hit. We’ve got to score. And these (recent) few games that we played have been tough. By no means is it over. It hurts to lose like this, like we have the last few nights. But we have a chance to start a new series (Tuesday) — hopefully we get a win, we move on and keep moving.”
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In the past 12 games, the Cardinals are 4-8.
In the past 17 games since the All-Star break, they are 7-10.
And in the past 23 games — starting with the infamous home doubleheader loss to Kansas City on July 10 — they are 9-14.
Three teams qualify for wild-card slots, and the Cardinals now are 4 games below the cutoff in a crowded field of clubs fighting to climb above that line. They are tied with Pittsburgh and 2½ games behind the Mets.
And Monday’s lifeless loss was a microcosm of all that’s plagued the Cardinals.
- With runners in scoring position, the Cardinals aren’t in a position to drive in runs. It’s getting absurd. No team in Major League Baseball has hit fewer homers with RISP than they have (20). The Cards are fourth-worst in batting average with RISP (.232) and second-worst in slugging percentage with RISP (.342). The only team worse is the White Sox. And in Monday’s loss, the Cards went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
- That said, it was a bit surprising that they even had seven at-bats with RISP, considering they had just six total hits — five singles and Arenado’s double. Oh, and the Cards only drew one walk — and that was in the eighth inning. No question, New York’s Sean Manaea pitched dominantly. But if they’re going to win a wild-card spot, the Cards are going to have to win some games against tough pitchers. Notably southpaws such as Sean.
- That leads us to the next issue, well-documented: The Cards don’t hit lefties well. In all of baseball, Cardinals are second-to-last against lefties in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
- Paul Goldschmidt actually has been pretty good against lefties compared with his struggling teammates. But then again, he went 0 for 3 against Manaea on Monday. And just when you thought “Goldy” was heating up — the homer and three hits last Thursday had his batting average up to .238 — he went hitless in his next 14 at-bats. Manager Oliver Marmol often talks about how hard Goldschmidt works and prepares, so it’s not for a lack of trying. But Goldschmidt (down to .230) has been just brutal this season, as his on-base plus slugging percentage sits at .675 (for reference, the lowest OPS he’s had in any full season is .822).
And his at-bats Monday, my goodness. There was a three-pitch strikeout, two popouts (including one foul to New York’s first baseman) and a double play.
Marmol emphatically backed his players Monday — the manager said urgency isn’t an issue.
But the results from the players aren’t consistently there.
Look, Sonny Gray could pitch well and win Tuesday against Tampa Bay — another team like the Cardinals with a winning record but a negative run differential. After that, the Cards have Erick Fedde pitching Wednesday in his home debut — and you want to believe he’ll respond after his shaky road debut. Like Arenado said, it’s very possible that the Cardinals win and “move on and keep moving.”
But it’s harder to be as optimistic, considering lately they’re losing close games and blowouts alike. And how about this from the Elias Sports Bureau: Entering Monday, the Cardinals had the third-toughest remaining schedule in Major League Baseball. In fact, 27 of their next 30 games are against teams above .500. Yes, there’s a stretch in September with three series against last-place teams within 16 games. But they’ve got to get their first.
That means execution.
And that also means, 113 games already into the season, bucking some trends.