Fading quickly after receiving a shot of adrenaline from Brandon Phillips last month in Cincinnati, the Cardinals are sleepwalking into September. They can't find a cure for the summertime blues.
Apparently the Cardinals used up all of their punches, their willingness to fight, near the home-plate backstop during the memorable scrum at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
The Cardinals trail the first-place Reds by eight games in the standings. And when the Reds visit this weekend, perhaps Johnny Cueto will kick the Cardinals when they're down.
The Cardinals' current 4-13 skid is undoubtedly a humiliating experience for a proud organization that's accustomed to ruling the NL Central. And it must be especially embarrassing for the Cardinals to be so far behind the Reds, who are led by former Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty.
If the Cardinals whiff on October again, they will have failed to qualify for the postseason in three of the last four seasons. How's that for wasting the precious natural resource that is Albert Pujols?
The blame game already is under way.
I'll start from the top and work down the list:
THE CHAIRMAN
Yes, Bill DeWitt signed off on the $120 million contract extension for left fielder Matt Holliday. And he approved of the one-year, $7.5 million salary for starting pitcher Brad Penny. But then the Cardinals went cheap in assembling the rest of the roster. Holliday is making $17 million this season, but that money was covered by salaries that came off the books after the 2009 season. I flatly reject the spin that signing Holliday prevented the Cardinals from being more aggressive with payroll in 2010.
Through 66 home dates, attendance is up compared to last year. DeWitt and general manager John Mozeliak claimed that there was money to spend to improve the team in-season as needs emerged, but no additional investments materialized. The three-way trade that netted starting pitcher Jake Westbrook and sent right fielder Ryan Ludwick to San Diego was a financial wash.
The Cardinals' payroll is actually down from last season. And in their hours of need, this team resorted to Dumpster-diving for discarded veterans. The list of cheap pickups includes Randy Winn, Aaron Miles and Pedro Feliz. And Felipe Lopez was signed only after his spring-training price dropped to $1 million. With the Cardinals in a state of collapse, we've seen the rookies take 125 at-bats and the castoffs take 167 at-bats over the last 17 games. Disgraceful.
THE GENERAL MANAGER
Yes, DeWitt apparently re-entered his DeWallet phase in 2010, but it's Mozeliak's duty to be resourceful and creative in filling in the spots around the team's tremendous nucleus. How can a team anchored by Pujols, Holliday, co-aces Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter and Rookie of the Year candidate Jaime Garcia be flopping with a 51-54 record since May 4?
How can management justify giving up Ludwick — one of the league's top RBI producers from the start of the 2008 season until being sent away — for a rental pitcher? The deal damaged the team's morale.
Yes, the Cardinals have had injuries; all teams do. But does the season-ending loss of third baseman David Freese and the two-week injury absence of center fielder Colby Rasmus really excuse this shabby roster construction? Something is wrong when you have a $95 million payroll and the best you can do to back Pujols and Holliday in the crucial No. 5 lineup spot is to give turns to non-threatening bats such as Jon Jay, Allen Craig, Winn, Feliz, Lopez, Yadier Molina and Nick Stavinoha. Those players have combined for nearly 200 plate appearances in the No. 5 spot this season.
THE FARM DIRECTOR
Jeff Luhnow's player-development system hasn't covered the major-league roster gaps in a satisfactory manner. Yes, I realize the Cardinals traded seven prospects of varying quality last season to acquire Holliday and Mark DeRosa. But when trouble arose during this season, only one prospect, Jay, delivered true impact. And even then, the Cardinals overreacted to Jay's hot start by trading Ludwick. Jay is batting .217 in his last 15 games. Manager Tony La Russa and staff clearly are reluctant to entrust most of the "prospects" sent their way by Luhnow. The organizational chasm still exists.
THE MANAGER
Yes, La Russa has an offense impaired by too many dead lineup spots. I've never had tantrums over TLR's lineup tinkering, but some of his recent lineup choices are baffling. Allen Craig batting leadoff? The incessant use of Felipe Lopez — who is batting .141 with a .259 onbase percentage since July 29 — in the No. 1 or No. 2 spot? And in what baseball universe does it make sense to place Colby Rasmus and his onbase and power capabilities seventh in the lineup, behind the plastic bats toted by guys like Feliz?
La Russa is a hard-driving manager, and for most of his 15 seasons here his teams have responded to — and co-opted — his tenacious leadership in a positive way.
And we saw that admirable spirit, if ever so briefly, during the three-game sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati last month. Where did that team go? Where is the response? Is La Russa still an effective leader? Does he still love the job, or is he miserable? I'm certain that La Russa, nearly 66, will ask himself the same daunting questions in a few weeks as he ponders the pros and cons of returning for another season.
