These 3 things turned Cardinals’ seasons after ‘doomsday’ loss to Brewers
The first half of the first half was nearly too much a disaster to be worth saving. A loss in Milwaukee on May 11 dropped the St. Louis Cardinals to 15-24 and capped a seven-game losing streak. They’d played better that night than the previous two games in the series, but the tension around the team was thick. “It was pretty much a doomsday type of feel for everybody but the ones who were in that clubhouse,” manager Oli Marmol said this past weekend. The night before, May 10, after an ugly 11-2 loss, Lance Lynn stood at his locker and mused that maybe what would be best for all involved would be to let off the gas. “The truth of the matter,” he said, “is everybody needs to relax a little bit, realize it’s a game and stop stressing so damn much.”
From May 12 until now, the Cardinals have recorded the best record in the National League. Marmol pinpointed Saturday in Milwaukee as a particular turning point, a fork in the road which broke firmly in the direction of the Cardinals. He handwaved a question about whether anyone in the clubhouse in particular stood up to say something about where they were then that led them to where they are now, but the day wasn’t memorable simply because the next day was Mother’s Day (and he enjoyed his first ejection of the season). From then until now, holding above .500 and seizing an increasingly firm grip on a playoff spot in the crowded National League, these are the three things that stopped the Cardinals from sliding:
None of Giovanny Gallegos, Andre Pallante or Zack Thompson have made much in the way of positive contributions from the bullpen, though Pallante has made valuable starts. Keynan Middleton was hurt in spring and will miss the season, and at the deadline, the Cardinals will seek to replace what he might have been able to give them. Middleton has scarcely been missed, though, because Ryan Fernandez has turned out to be a stellar find in the Rule 5 draft. Marmol described him as a pitcher the organization could see dominance in if he was only able to harness and repeat a sometimes finicky delivery. Work in spring locked that down, and more than 30 appearances into his first big league season, his ERA is closer to two than three. Kyle Leahy and Chris Roycroft were
far enough off the radar in spring that the only roster conversation they were involved in centered on Memphis, but both have made important contributions. Gordon Graceffo, Adam Kloffenstein and Ryan Loutos have had brief, successful cameos. The Memphis Shuttle is once again functioning, and when it heads north, it brings options and weapons rather than hope and Band-Aids.
