The Astros may have had a bad weekend, but the Cardinals just had a whole bad week, and are still stuck in the middle of a bad 10-game road trip. With 34 games to play and three games to make up on the wild card front-running Phillies or five games on the division-leading Reds, the Cardinals may be seeing their season slipping away.
They had a prime opportunity to gain ground and possibly take the lead on some struggling wild card contenders with three games against the Pirates and four against the Nationals last week. Instead, they lost two of three to the Pirates and three of four to the Nationals. Their pitching has been top-notch this year, but they really fell apart over the weekend, twice giving up 11 or more runs to the Nationals.
Houston, on the other hand, just handed the Phillies the first four-game sweep they’ve suffered at home since moving to Citizens Bank Park. And even though their offense (and pitching for one crucial inning yesterday) let them down a bit over the weekend, the Astros have kept pace with the Cardinals in the second half. They are half a game better since the break, putting up a 23-18 record to the Cardinals’ 22-18.
One of the difficult things for the Astros recently has been trying to deal with Jeff Keppinger‘s injury and the shuffling of middle infielders with the abundance of mediocre shortstops they suddenly find themselves stocked with. In three games this weekend, they tried three different middle infield combos – Anderson Hernandez at second and Angel Sanchez at short on Friday; Sanchez at second and Tommy Manzella at short on Saturday; and Geoff Blum at second and Manzella at short on Sunday. And they were all over the lineup, batting 2nd, 5th, 6th or 7th, depending on the night and the player.
It must be tough to work around so many players without a standout among them. But, if Manzella keeps hitting the way he has been, it will be really hard to keep making the case for anyone else at shortstop, and difficult to make the case to play Hernandez at all. Since coming of the DL, Manzella is batting .308, mainly on the strength of his 5-for-8 performance had in his two starts over the weekend.
I don’t know what he tweaked when he was working in the minors after coming off the DL, but it certainly seems to be working. They also finally gave him some at-bats in the second spot in the lineup, where he’s batting .417 with an .834 OPS. It’s a small sample size (12 at-bats), but you really can’t say he hasn’t earned a harder look at the No. 2 spot.
Hopefully the next few games will also be a good chance for Chris Johnson to get back on track. After a great series against the Phillies, the Mets totally shut him down, dropping his batting average down to .329 and his OPS to .848. He bats better on the road than at home, but he’s been solid against the Cardinals, batting .300 with a homerun, two doubles and seven RBIs in 20 games against them.
Tonight’s Pitching Probables
Mon: J.A. Happ (4-2, 3.45) vs. Jake Westbrook (7-9, 4.54)
Happ gets a chance tonight to redeem the worst start of his career, when the Cardinals rocked him for seven earned runs in one inning-plus earlier this month. Since that game, Happ has gone 2-1 and strung together four straight quality starts with a 2.92 ERA. And he gets his chance at home this time, where he’s done his best work. In four games at Minute Maid Park, he’s 3-0 with a 1.16 ERA and is holding opponents to a .160 batting average.
Granted one of those was against the Astros when he was still with the Phillies. But, still – in three starts as an Astro at Minute Maid, he’s 2-0 with a 1.48 ERA.
I’m not totally sure what the Cardinals expected when they got Westbrook in July, but I’m guessing 1-2 with a 4.04 ERA wasn’t it. No shock there, though — he was 6-7 with a 4.65 ERA when he came over. Even granting the AL-to-NL bump, there’s just not a lot therefor a pitcher who has only posted an ERA under 4.00 once since 2005. He’s also been a really bad road pitcher — 3-5 with a 5.08 ERA; that’s 0-2 with a 4.85 ERA since going to the Cardinals.
