Trying to describe what happened when the St. Louis Cardinals played a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night is like trying to explain what it looked like when you see a dumpster on fire. It wasn’t pretty, but it happened so let’s begin.
The Chicago Cubs made St. Louis Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy look like a batting practice pitcher. It started out promising enough (for the first out, anyway) when Pete Crow-Armstrong struck out gloriously. From there, it was downhill at blazing speed. I’ll keep this as brief as possible. Suzuki singled. Two batters later, Bregman hit a ground rule double then Ian Happ hit a double which made it 2-0 Cubs before most of the Busch Stadium crowd had even taken their seat.
The top of the 2nd inning was worse. So much worse. Conforto singled. Kelly walked. Two batters later, PCA hit a sacrifice fly then Suzuki doubled, Busch singled, Bregman singled, Happ walked, then Nico Hoerner singled to right. By the time the carnage was over, it was 7-0 Cubs. Even the all-you-can-eat Busch Stadium food deal isn’t enough to redeem this type of experience. Michael McGreevy didn’t even finish the 2nd inning. That was Gordon Graceffo’s job and, to his credit, he kept the Cubs from piling on any more runs until he was replaced by Justin Bruihl in the top of the 5th inning.
The Cardinals would manage to scrounge around for a run in the bottom of the 4th inning when they loaded the bases with an Alec Burleson walk, a Nootbaar infield single, a Masyn Winn single and a Nathan Church sacrifice fly with the bases loaded slightly reducing the humiliation making it 7-1 Cubs.
The Cubs were determined to squash whatever faint hopes the Cardinals might have managed with that menial 1-run bottom of the 4th by grabbing another run in the top of the 5th inning when Nico Hoerner walked then stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Justin Bruihl and then scored on an infield single from Ramirez restoring the 7-run lead making it 8-1 Chicago. The Cubs added another run in the top of the 8th to make it 9-1 and another in the top of the 9th to make it 10-1, but who really cares? Oh, the Cardinals did add a run in the bottom of the 9th inning when Masyn Winn doubled in Lars Nootbaar who had walked to make the final score 10-2, but we still don’t care.
If there is ANY positive that can be taken from the Tuesday night baseball game in Busch Stadium, it’s the fact that new call-up Peter Strzelecki made his debut for the Cardinals and did a respectable job of taking care of the last few innings of the debacle except for the 9th which Matt Svanson can be blamed for. Cardinals legend Yadier Molina was also in the dugout which is also a plus. I have to wonder what was going through his mind as he was watching…THIS. I have to wonder how that Cardinals leadership core a couple decades ago including manager Tony La Russa would have handled a deplorable effort like what we witnessed tonight. Different era with greater expectations, but surely the Cardinals can represent better than this. Even in a non-playoff season rebuild, the team can show more fire than they’ve displayed since the All-Star break. The first few months of this season, the St. Louis Cardinals were hungry, relentless and competitive. They were fun to watch. What they have become in July is the opposite of that.
Well, what can we say except that the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs will play again Wednesday night. According to MLB.com, Dustin May will audition for a trade to the Yankees make the start for the Cardinals while LHP Matthew Boyd will take the mound for the Cubs. First pitch scheduled for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium. Game TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.
