Kuzul

In a repeat performance of the 2009 NLDS, the Los Angeles Dodgers out-hit the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game sweep at home. 

The very same factors that led to the September playoff pounding—an aggressive one-two in Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez, and a lack of response in Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday—not only kept the Cardinals from West Coast redemption, but also kept them from keeping their lead of the NL Central. 

Pujols and Holliday hit one single each in the entire series.  Additionally unsettling for Cardinal fans, young hitters David Freese and Colby Rasmus, who earned the NL Player of the Week award last week, played very little.  Freese had a few unsuccessful pinch-hitting appearances; Rasmus did not play at all because of a strained calf. 

Fortunately for the Cards, the sweep is nothing detrimental. 

The Redbirds are one game behind the Cincinnati Reds, and the better part of the season is still in front of them.

The Cards do, however, have an important issue to deal with:

Where is Brad Penny?

Although he had a losing record before his injury, Penny was a promising pitcher for the Cardinals—certainly a lot better than the $9.2 million waste in Kyle Lohse. 

The timeline for Penny’s return has been just about as cohesive as the timeline for the repair and cleanup of the Gulf Coast oil spill. 

As soon as Penny returns, Cardinal fans can stop writing off every fourth game as a loss.

Jaime Garcia will start Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.  There, the Cardinals will look to shake off their losses to the Dodgers.  

Can the Cardinals come back from losing hard to a division-leading team on the road?  It’s hard to say, but a sweep of the pitching-weak Diamondbacks would certainly diminish the blow.

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It took an offensive blackout and countless griping from fans, but St. Louis skipper Tony LaRussa has finally made the move.

Monday night against the Washington Nationals, Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols found himself batting cleanup. It was the first time Pujols batted outside of the third spot since May 30, 2003, when he hit fourth against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Matt Holliday will now bat third.

“It’s a couple things,” La Russa said. “No. 1, Matt is feeling O.K., but he’s a major impact guy for us and we’ve got to get him going to where he’s more like himself. Two, hitting him in front of Albert should be a plus, but hitting him second, I didn’t really like that too much.”

One reason for making this move was Holliday’s struggles with runners in scoring position. This season, he’s eight-for-47 in those high pressure situations. Otherwise, he is having a fine year at the dish. By moving him to third, St. Louis optimizes RBI opportunities for Pujols, while lessening the chance of Holliday coming up with runners on.

Another way it helps the Cardinals is by simpling shaking things up. It’s no secret that most of the St. Louis lineup has been under-producing, and this move returns Holliday to a place he is familiar with from his years with the Colorado Rockies. Pujols, meanwhile, will be able to hit with more runners on, because Holliday is a high average, high on-base percentage guy who can come up with two-out hits if necessary.

“We’ll see,” the manager said. “We’ve still got to make it work, but Matt’s been a third-place hitter. He likes hitting third. We need to be more productive. So you identify, there’s things we can work on, there’s things we can improve, which we will improve. And there’s other things like this that maybe there’s a spark there for us. and getting Matt going would be a spark.”

Holliday didn’t say he would change his approach at the plate, but he did acknowledge he likes coming up in the first inning.

“But with Albert,” he said, “you usually hit in the first inning [anyway].”

Although LaRussa said Albert approved of the move, the St. Louis star didn’t have much to say about the switch.

“I don’t care where I hit,” Pujols said. “I’m just glad to be in the lineup.”

In a related story, Cardinals shortstop Felipe Lopez rejoined the team from the disabled list, and led off in last night’s contest.

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