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St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday left Tuesday evening’s game at Miller Park vs. the Milwaukee Brewers after getting hit by a first-inning fastball from Randy Wolf on his left kneecap.

The Cardinals clubhouse—via the St. Louis Post Dispatch—listed  a left thigh contusion as the reason for pulling Holliday from the lineup.

Holliday had just extended his hitting streak to 15 games last night.  He drove home the game-tying runs in the ninth inning off of Brewers closer John Axford in the Cards’ eventual 3-2 win.

Holliday was 23-for-59 (.390) during the streak and has raised his average from .215 to .317 since May 1.

He came into Tuesday’s game with a line of .317/.393/.512, including 14 homers and 59 RBI.  He’s first on the team in hits (107), second on the team in RBI, BA and runs (56) and third in OBP.

The Cardinals outfield has been affected by injuries for most of the season, but it had finally gotten healthy in the brief period after the All-Star break.  

Utility man Allen Craig, who can play the corner outfield spots, had knee surgery in November, which caused him to miss the first six weeks of the season.  He then spent another two weeks on the DL with a hamstring issue in May and June. Jon Jay also missed 35 games in May and June due to a shoulder issue.  

First baseman Lance Berkman—who played right field for the Cards a lot last season—just returned from surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee.  He has been limited to just 16 games this season.

St. Louis is also missing two hurlers from its starting rotation, ace Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia. Carpenter is done for the year because of nerve issues in his right throwing shoulder.  Garcia is on the 60-day DL with issues of his own in his left throwing shoulder.  He will be back no later than mid-August and could be done for the season as well.

There’s no reason to panic yet as it appeared that Holliday was removed as a precautionary measure. But the Cards can ill-afford to lose Holliday’s bat.  They can fill in with Craig, who is sometimes the odd man out with Berkman back in the mix, or call up Adron Chambers or Shane Robinson in an emergency.  

But Holliday was just starting to hit his stride during the season.  And with the Cards struggling to get clutch hits in tight ballgames, seeing the guy that is finally clicking go down is not what you want to see.

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First Game at the Park: April 10, 2006
 

Location of Park: 700 Clark Avenue
 

How Many Seats: 43,975 or 46,861 (with standing room)
 

Notable Titles and Players:

11 World Series Titles

18 NL Pennants

11 Division Titles

Notable Cardinals / Baseball Hall of Fame (39):

Grover Cleveland Alexander*, Walter Alston, Jake Beckley*, Jim Bottomley*, Roger Bresnahan*, Lou Brock, Mordecai Brown*, Jesse Burkett**, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Dennis Eckersley, Frankie Frisch*, Bob Gibson, Burleigh Grimes, Chick Hafey*, Bill McKechnie, John McGraw, Joe Medwick*, Johnny Mize*, Stan Musial, Kid Nichols*, Wilbert Robinson*, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter, Ozzie Smith, Billy Southworth, Bruce Sutter, Dazzy Vance, Bobby Wallace**, Hoyt Wilhelm, Vic Willis**, Cy Young

About Busch Stadium:

Welcome to the “Gateway to the West”—St. Louis, Missouri.

The stadium was constructed in 2006, the same year the team won the World Series. From the stadium, you can see downtown St. Louis, the Gateway Arch and their very own Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Cardinals are the defending World Series Champions and have won two since the opening of this ballpark.

About Don Julio and Know Your Ballpark: 

This summer, Bleacher Report and Don Julio have teamed up to get you to “Know Your Ballpark,” and know your tequila. You can learn about all thirty ballparks by clicking here.

*Baseball stats compiled from http://www.baseball-reference.com

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The St. Louis Cardinals should still be viewed as serious contenders in the second half of the 2012 MLB season despite the loss of Chris Carpenter.

While the loss of any team’s co-ace starting pitcher is a huge blow, the Cardinals have already shown this year that they have what it takes to weather the storm.

In Carpenter’s absence, the team has put together an impressive first half.

With as many as seven key players on the disabled list at once, the Cardinals pushed through a tough May and a tougher early June to find themselves only 2.5 games out of first place and six games over .500 at the All-Star break.

Given the Cardinals’ tough schedule in June and the problems they faced, they could easily be much farther down in the standings.

Following are four reasons the Cardinals will still be legitimate contenders without Carpenter.

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The St. Louis Cardinals have a major weakness in their bullpen.

If this team is going to overcome this weakness and make another playoff run, they need to make a trade similar to the one they made at the trade deadline in 2011 that landed them Marc Rzepczynski and Octavio Dotel.

Once they shore up that area of their team, they can focus on catching the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates at the top of the National League Central.

If they can’t land an arm or two for the late innings and can’t start winning close games on a more consistent basis, this team will struggle down the stretch.

So, let’s take a look at three American League relievers who could help the Cardinals repeat their 2011 World Series magic.

Aaron Crow, Kansas City Royals

The Royals haven’t used Crow very much this season. He’s appeared in only 39 games so far in 2012.

Despite having a respectable 12 holds, he has a disappointing 4.04 ERA. In 2011, he posted an outstanding 2.76 ERA in 57 appearances.

He has a great fastball and a couple of decent breaking balls to keep hitters off-balance.

The chance to move to a winning team like the Cardinals might be enough to allow Crow to develop into an elite relief pitcher.

Sean Doolittle, Oakland A’s

Doolittle is a converted catcher, much like current Cardinals closer Jason Motte.

Motte has worked out pretty well for the Redbirds, so adding another converted catcher might be a good move.

Doolittle is a lefty, so he can help Rzepczynski and take some of the pressure off him.

He’s only pitched in 11 Major League games, but he’s compiled an impressive 2.45 ERA and has struck out 24 batters in just 14.2 innings.

Charlie Furbush, Seattle Mariners

Furbush has pitched 36.2 innings for the last-place Mariners so far this season. In those innings, he’s struck out 46 batters and has a 2.21 ERA.

He’s only been in the majors for two years now, so he has plenty of time to become an even better pitcher.

He hasn’t allowed a home run to a lefty all season, and lefties are hitting only .161 against the southpaw hurler.

He struggled as a starter last season, but seems to be settling into his role as a reliever quite nicely. He could be a great addition to the Cardinals bullpen and should still have plenty of gas left in his tank.

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The St. Louis Cardinals have certainly faced their share of adversity in 2012.

As injury after injury has swept through the team, they have managed to stay competitive. Even through slumps, the Cardinals still remain less than three games out of the National League Central lead.

While the Cardinals disabled list has thinned recently with the return of Skip Schumaker, Allen Craig, Jon Jay and Matt Carpenter, there are still a handful of impact players out of the lineup.

The Cardinals are 7-3 since their return through Monday, July 2. Prior to that, the team was 7-11 in the month of June.

All who remain are making progress, but some faster than others.

Continue reading for updates on those who remain on the disabled list.

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In the days leading up to the July 31st MLB trade deadline there will be a number of St. Louis Cardinals trade rumors that come up.

With rumors coming in fast and furious, it is hard to keep track of all of them. B/R is going to help you out with all of this. Bookmark this link as it will be used to report on all of the key Cardinals trade rumors that pop up through a number of different sources over the next few weeks.

Not only will all of the Cardinals rumors be easy to find, but insight will also be provided about what impact each potential deal could have on the Cardinals moving forward. Are any of the moves being talked about ones that could help the Cardinals reach the World Series for the second straight year?

The only way to find out is to keep coming back and checking out all of the Cardinals trade rumors.

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The “Rally Squirrel” supposedly was the St. Louis Cardinals‘ secret to success in winning the 2011 World Series title.

And you think that was bizarre?

Whether it was with the Browns or the Cardinals, this list highlights the strangest events and players to ever be a part of St. Louis’ baseball history. 

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Last night against the Miami Marlins the Cardinals came back to win a game in which they trailed in the eighth inning for the first time this season. They were 0-26 in those situations until Monday night.

However, the Redbirds’ bullpen tried their best to punt the game to the Marlins in the seventh as Fernando Salas got just one out while allowing runners to reach second and third. Scatter-armed Eduardo Sanchez followed and walked three men in a row—the first intentionally with the other two coming Rick Ankiel-style.

The Cardinal relievers walked eight batters on the night in 10 innings.

Fortunately for St. Louis, Heath Bell and the Marlins’ bullpen have had continuing struggles of their own and blew a four-run lead in the ninth (but at least they forced the Cards to, you know—hit the ball).

Jason Motte was fortunate that Jose Reyes’ scorching liner to center was right at outfielder Shane Robinson to end a strange night of baseball.

While we give manager Mike Matheny and GM John Mozeliak a moment to wipe their brows, let’s look at five trades that would immediately help the Cardinals’ stressed bullpen.

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With the return of Jon Jay and Matt Carpenter, two of the St. Louis Cardinals casualties from the month May, the team seems to have begun playing good baseball. What, or whom, is responsible for the recent offensive upturn?

For the majority of two months, the St. Louis Cardinals have struggled offensively. Whether it’s getting hits, scoring runs or working with runners in scoring position, they kept falling short.

In recent days, however, things have begun to change. Slumps are ending, both for players and the team. While the Cardinals are 4-4 in their last eight games, a deeper look shows a much better trend than the win-loss record indicates.

Following are 10 signs that the Cardinals offense is coming back to life.

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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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