Luckily, few Ƶans were there to have to experience it.
On a rainy, dreary Wednesday, just perfect for being indoors, the announced attendance at Busch Stadium, including sold tickets, was 33,104. Only two home games last season had a lower announced attendance. And Wednesday’s actual crowd, from my perch in the press box, sure looked thousands and thousands (and thousands) smaller than 33,104. All of this means that many Cardinals fans 徱’t have to see some of these at-bats, which were categorically somewhere between abysmal and brutal.
Notably some from All-Star Nolan Arenado.
The Cardinals, wouldn’t you know it, lost on Wednesday, 4-3, in a game in which they tallied just seven hits. This season, the Cards are hitting .219 — third-lowest in the National League. And they have 11 home runs — third-fewest in the National League.
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Look, I want to believe this offense can ultimately be, as I’ve written on these pages, elite. But in a season in which the division could come down to just a couple of games, the Cardinals have already lost a couple of winnable games because of their lack of offense.
They head to Arizona for a weekend series against the defending NL champs, who average 5.6 runs per game (second in baseball behind the Dodgers). Meanwhile, the Cardinals just set a dubious (albeit obscure) team mark: They have now scored exactly three runs in five consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.
“Offensively, we’re going to fight through it and get to where we need to get to,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.
These days, the Cardinals line scores look like binary codes (0s and 1s). It’s become increasingly difficult for this club to tether together some production.
The fingers, fairly and squarely, should be pointed at the highest-paid players.
Paul Goldschmidt, for instance, has eight hits. The 2022 NL Most Valuable Player, who actually had some encouraging expected stats in an overall down 2023, is hitting .182 with 16 strikeouts in 44 at-bats.
And Arenado is 4 for his past 19 plate appearances. The last time he hit a homer was 38 games ago — Aug. 19 of last season. A classic pull hitter, Arenado is lately hitting balls to the opposite field but without much force. Yes, the optimist at this keyboard thought Arenado was turning a corner after a three-hit game a Thursday ago — and the veteran Matt Carpenter, with explanatory quotes about Arenado’s batting posture and mindset, agreed. Since that point, yep, Arenado is 4 for 19.
“It’s not a lack of work, I’ll tell you that — this guy’s getting after it,” Marmol said. “He’s going to get back to where he feels comfortable in the box and doing what he does — which is damage.”
Victor Scott II has only four total hits. Jordan Walker is struggling at the plate, too. Yes, Walker is hitting some balls hard — but many are grounders. And to be fair, the Cardinals hit six outs Wednesday that were over 100 mph. Some of those, you’d think, would get through.
But right now, the lineup has too many holes to be effective, let alone elite.
Some people thought the starting pitching would be the downfall of the 2024 Cardinals. Maybe it still will be? But as of now, the starters are eating innings. It’s the offense, in this small sample size, that isn’t holding up its end of the bargain.
With runners in scoring position, the Cardinals have the third-lowest batting average and second-lowest on-base percentage in the NL. And everyone seems to be striking out at inopportune times.
At least Thursday’s day off will seem like a win for Cardinals hitters.
“Sometimes,” Marmol said, “not looking a video and taking a swing can be a good thing.”
While the Cardinals are getting zero from a lot of guys, they’re actually getting a lot from No. 0. Masyn Winn is perhaps the best story so far this season. The shortstop who hit poorly last fall has discovered his swing and swagger. He’s hitting baseballs hard — and to all fields. He’s low in the order, but they should keep him there, for now. Let him continue to string together good at-bats before demoting someone at the top of the lineup.
And fellow youngster Ivan Herrera is hitting the heck out of some baseballs. Wednesday’s solo homer was hit 112.4 mph — the second-hardest-hit ball by a Cardinal this season. This is a wonderful turn of events for the Cardinals, who anticipated having the backup catcher start a chunk of the games in order to give Willson Contreras (with an impressive .894 OPS so far) some rest. But the Cards need the rest of the famous names to start hitting consistently and convincingly. These games count, too. And the poor offensive performances are counting up already.