Paul Goldschmidt saves the Cardinals from an embarrassing sweep with one swing
Right when you thought St. Louis would fall, it climbs back into the fold.
Thank you, Paul Bunyan Goldschmidt. A sweep would have been so bad. The Washington Nationals, without Max Scherzer and Juan Soto among others, aren’t the kind of team you let into your house to smack your team around for three days. After a couple of brutal losses, the Cardinals got their shit together and beat Washington, 4-3.
A walk-off blast from Goldschmidt did the trick in the ninth. Instead of allowing the game to battle rain and an inevitably stupid lead-off RBI single to decide a game, “Goldy” just let it rip. Along with Willson Contreras’ sweet home run earlier, the sound off the bat was akin to a John Williams Star Wars score.
The pitcher tried to go up and in on Goldschmidt, and the right-handed bat formerly known as lethal turned and burned that baby into the left field stands behind the visiting bullpen. It starved off a sweep that would have dished St. Louis a rude 5-10 recent trend. In general, the big guy saved the day.
I wish he would just hulk out these next few days and weeks. Against a small-time wish and possibly decent return, I don’t think Goldschmidt is going anywhere before Tuesday evening. If there’s one thing he’s good for this season, the long ball is it.
The winning homer gave him 16 for the season, including three in the past week. He hit seven in the first two-plus months, and has now collected nine in June and July. There’s still some daylight left in the month for him to inch closer to 20 with two full months left on the schedule. While it may not make him sexy enough to another team for team majority owner Bill DeWitt Jr. to let him go, a great finish could help erase an ugly first half.
Look, when we’re hoping Goldschmidt can climb over the .700 OPS mark, it’s been bad. But the past is like yesterday’s clothes: dirty, yet soon to be clean and ready to try again. All he can do is keep taking good at-bats, even if he fails three out of four times. He is starting to crack the ball with authority.
Here’s another thing: Goldschmidt didn’t strike out once in the Washington series. Could he be turning a corner? For the sake of good baseball and scotch, let’s hope so.
With the win, the Birds are a game back in the wildcard race, and six games back of Milwaukee in the division. They had a stranglehold on a wildcard spot for weeks, but have let it fall to Arizona and the Mets, who are tied for the third and final spot. Keep swinging wise and pitching fine, Cardinals.
This has been your super-quick postgame report from Princeton Heights, where the dogs and their walkers own the land.