Kuzul

After another great outing from Adam Wainwright, the St. Louis Cardinals fall again after bullpen struggles and defensive miscues continue to plague the team.

Wainwright put together a big night going seven innings giving up only two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts. By any stretch, that’s a great night. Not only was he pitching well, he got an early base hit and made a pair of key defensive plays.

It was clear early on that he was going to have to do it all.

The game fell apart only moments after Wainwright went to the bench.

Marc Rzepczynski came in and barely pulled one out before giving up two runs on three hits including a monster home run to Adam Dunn (21).

RHP Mitchell Boggs then came in to clean up the mess, but with no luck. Boggs got the final two outs of the eighth inning, but not before giving up a two-run home run to take the game to 6-1.

The only real glimmer of hope the bullpen showed was from Fernando Salas who faced only four batters in the ninth inning to get the final outs. Salas is beginning to get himself together and it couldn’t come at a more opportune time for this team.

The offense managed to string together hits on multiple occasions with the team batting .275 on the night, but were haunted by the double play three times.

Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, David Freese and Tyler Greene all went 2-for-4, but never managed to hold together a rally long enough to circle the bases.

Yadier Molina, who batted second for only the second time in his career, went 1-for-4 with a key double in the top of the third. It’s unclear as of yet whether Molina will spend much time that high in the lineup, but he’s hit well enough of late that he can handle the challenge.

At this point, it appears Manager Mike Matheny is doing everything in his power to get the faltering team back on track.

Wainwright (5-7) wound up taking the loss Tuesday night, but he deserved better. The frustration is clearly mounting with the team as they continue to slide further away from the top of the National League Central Division. 

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One St. Louis Cardinal is rapidly making his way toward a rather exclusive club this season. Carlos Beltran is within hitting distance, no pun intended, of the 300-300-2000 club.

This status is reserved for players who have hit 300 home runs, stolen 300 bases and amassed 2,000 hits over their career. Lots of talk has floated about Beltran hitting 300-300, but the 2,000 hasn’t gotten much attention.

As of Tuesday, June 12, 2012, Beltran has 320 home runs, 299 stolen bases and 1,977 hits. Barring a major injury, he will make the club in 2012 without breaking a sweat.

Following are the few players who have made the club, including a few near-misses.

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St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright will take the mound tonight in anticipation of his sixth win of 2012.

Wainwright, who is still getting back to form following Tommy John surgery in 2011, has seen more success in his last four outings than all season.

His sinker sinks again. His curve moves again. That wasn’t the case earlier in the season.

Wainwright’s road back has been a rocky one. So far in 2012 he has bounced back and forth between good starts and, well, not so good ones. We’ve seen glimmers of hope and moments of the old Wainwright, but his last few outings have shown more than a glimmer.

It has been the culmination of 15 months of rehab and hard work to re-discover himself as a pitcher.

Tonight, he will face off against Jose Quintana, the rookie pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Quintana is 1-1 on the season and has posted a 2.05 ERA in his first five big-league starts. He has given up only 15 hits to date which could be a problem for the Cardinals stymied offense.

In his last four starts, Wainwright is 3-1 and has pitched 27 innings. He’s given up a total of 11 runs, but seven of those came against the New York Mets. He’s also posted 25 strikeouts and surrendered only five walks. Over the last 10 games, he has an ERA of 4.08.

His season numbers are somewhat inflated at the moment, mainly due to his April struggles. Assuming he continues to go the direction he has been headed of late, they will correct themselves.

While it’s likely he won’t look great in every outing, a few simple successes are exactly what he needed. He and the world have been reminded of just how dangerous he can be when he is in the zone.

One thing is for sure, a pitcher with his drive and that amount of natural-born talent won’t go down without a fight. It will likely be July before the dominant pitcher who won 19 games in 2009 and 20 in 2010 is here to stay.

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