5 takeaways from the Cardinals' thrilling 7-6 triumph over the Cubs
It felt like a late September playoff spot battle. A team brought back to life.
It was sitting there during the seventh inning Saturday night. That feeling of sports fans dread, a portion of your mood hanging on the performance of other adults playing baseball downtown. While dining at the south county (and underrated) Uncle Bill’s Pancake House, the Cardinals-Cubs game was on the television. (Okay, I asked them to put it on.)
After demolishing a country fried steak breakfast entree that would have left in a to-go case with a more modest-eating human, my attention was glued to the television. The Cubs seemingly had the jump on the Cardinals, even with Miles Mikolas holding them to three runs in six innings. They took the lead, lost it, and took it again over St. Louis with some timely hitting. A 4-3 battle into the bottom of the eighth, a time that St. Louis’s band of summer rogues would have already checked out of a potential comeback.
Lately though, that team has somehow morphed into a squad that doesn’t quit. When a three-run deficit, or the idea of scoring three runs, used to be a mountain too high to climb for this club, these days it’s an everyday event. In winning ten of their last twelve games, the Cardinals have scored five or more runs in eight of those games. They’re scoring proficiently and consistently, even without their two big guns.
Without further delay, here are five takeaways from another impressive win by the Cardinals.
*Matt Carpenter still takes a great at-bat
Many people mocked this one-year contract that represents the final year of Carpenter’s career. I didn’t have a problem if the usage dictated the time. While his everyday starting abilities and leadoff magic has worn down, he can still carve up a pitcher slowly but surely over the course of an at-bat. With two outs and dwindling hope, he broke through with an RBI single last night to knot the game at four runs apiece.
It came after a nice little duel between pitcher and hitter. Mark Leiter Jr. missed down and in with his first pitch, setting up a nice back and forth at-bat that reminded me of Carpenter’s natural talent. He’s never rushed at the plate, sitting back waiting for his pitch. He can be locked in or out of it at times, but his ability to locate and attack a pitcher’s weakness, or last long enough to exploit a mistake, is his everlasting talent.
I love the gray in the beard, too. Old man Carp can still hunt.
*Ryan Helsley is the best closer in baseball and… human
He gave up a couple runs of padding in the ninth to the Cubs, making an almost shut 7-4 game turn into a nailbiter. Helsley has 16 saves, a MLB crown spot that has been there through good times and bad so far in 2024. But he can become hittable, as evidenced by the baserunners and runs allowed over past few appearances. He’s still razor sharp, but hopefully not running into a JoJo Romero-type wear and tear period where the ball gets left up a bit too much.
What this team has in spades, if Oli Marmol can find a way to not overuse this lethal unit, is a strong bullpen finish. Andrew Kittredge, Romero, and Helsley are a difficult slinky for a team to climb through in the latter part of a game. Keep them fresh. John King and other relative newbies can help with that. Spread the wealth, and gather arms for a potential division fight, with POTENTIAL being the key word.
*Well done, Mr. Mikolas
I’m hard on the guy who could walk onto the Tombstone set and not be thrown off. Good, bad and ugly are labels that Miles Mikolas has assumed since wearing the Redbird colors. He’s been a great one, a sorta good one, and also a downright bad one. Over the past few weeks, though, he’s become somewhat, ever so slightly at a time, steady.
Mixed in with a six-run shellacking at the hands of the New York Mets, a team he fared much better against two starts earlier, Mikolas has held it together over his last six starts. He held the line against Milwaukee and Detroit, and put a good enough hold on a Cubs team that came in with a plan. Better is pretty good news for Mikolas.
*Kudos to Marmol for fine management lately
It’s not just the bats that are working better, or the arms that keep on refusing to bend: Marmol has managed well over the past ten games. He’s standing firm on his bullpen trio and overall arrangement of attack, and mostly heeding to a lineup that is producing. Outside of last Sunday’s semi-WTF grouping, he’s putting out good cards and dealing with what he’s got: a team minus two big production vessels.
While I appreciate the occasional Paul Goldschmidt double last night and the overall resilience of the Nolan Arenado stroke, these two are having poorly below average seasons so far. In other words, a continued descent from last season. Marmol has found a way to produce wins with a group that is still waiting on the two 2022 MVP top 5 finalists to show the fuck up. Pardon my Lebanesy French, but this team brings it out of me.
Marmol is doing better, getting tossed and showing that surefire emotion. He’s always had that dragon breath mood swing that only lights a pintt-sized flame under his players and entire bench. He’s improving amid a gathering storm of better baseball, and I’m here for it.
*Burleson becoming a big asset
He’s hitting .393 in the last 15 games, collecting 22 hits during that time frame. He also knows how to run the bases and tackle homeplate. There’s a fire in his belly, a rage that comes out during big moments. A guy who couldn’t see over .700 in his OPS is a hit-me-anywhere asset for St. Louis, a manager’s dream.
He’s someone a team in need of offense can lean on while the big guys try to get going.
Can someone trust this team yet? Maybe, but not all the way yet. Climb back to .500 and that reloads the chambers and odds in a weak division. If the weather holds off, let’s see how the team finishes against Chicago, a talented group in their own right.