Cardinals Win At Home and Keep Pace May 23rd, 202t5
The Cardinals win at home after losing a couple of games to the really good Detroit Tigers while the Brewers lose to Pirates 6-5 twelve hits to eleven. I still have almost a full can of Genesee cream ale for under two bucks. I’m listening to Bowery Electric on a Friday night. Welcome to my Late Nite recap. The Cubs whooped the Reds and their run differential tonight. We defeated the pretty good Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3 with a tight rope walk performance from the pitching, and just enough runs and defense from the positional players. I feel pretty good about this team. At the least.
Even when they’re not at their best, I feel like this team can still reel off a win. And I haven’t felt this way about the Cardinals for a while. I feel like the magic is back, somehow. Sure there was the magic of 2022, but that was totally different than this. This is something new.
Sure we had a Randal Grichuk sighting, and Miles Mikolas pitched for us tonight. But not a lot else has stayed the same. Lars Nootbaar been around a minute. Brendan Donovan is a familiar face. The veteran presence of Nolan Arenado has been, well….
Tonight he hit a three run triple, which ended up being a difference maker in this game. He showed off his whirling dervish one of a kind defense, both in effect and of merely aesthetic trying beyond all odds. And well, he’s still damn good. He was the player of the game tonight, and it’s a no doubter.
Miles Mikolas was the best pitcher of the night, pitching 6 innings and only giving up a run while walking 1. He has different variations of an incredible game going all night and has been pitching in a rennaissance state lately with a 4.66 ERA in April and a 2.20 ERA in May. The Lizard King may be doing tricks because his FIP was much better last month than this month, but at least we are now reaping the rewards of last month? Stats are like the weather, if there’s any meaning to it, it’s rather complex.
For all the times the offense felt like it could not capitalize at the right moment, where it felt like it could be unlucky… tonight it scored 4 runs on 4 hits. No home runs. An Arenado triple. Sometimes things just break your way, at the right moment. It is not always doom and gloom. There is balance, even sometimes when it doesn’t felt deserved. Mystery abounds.
Victor Scott II actually provided half of the hits for the Cardinals tonight. He seems so much more confident and able at hitting major league pitching, this year compared to last. He was 2 for 3 with a run scored tonight. Herrera had an RBI and a walk despite going 0-3. Romero, Leahy, and Helsley got the job done out of the bullpen, despite some late game dramatics from Helsley: he gave up a 2 run home run which made his ERA go up to 3.71 and while showcasing a 4.55 FIP on the season. I can understand why people are no longer quite as confident in the guy. His main problem though is that he is walking too many batters.
But all in all this game was about two veterans, Miles Mikolas holding the Arizona offense at bay and Nolan Arenado providing an opportune triple off the wall. This might seem a little subdued but this was an entertaining win all around and they may have only won by one run, but… damn I think this team might be actually good.
The Diamondbacks play at Busch Stadium tomorrow at 1:15 PM CST. It’s Masyn Winn bobblehead day. This will be a game of two young possible phenoms: righty Merrill Kelly 3.26 ERA 52 K, at lefty Matthew Liberatore 2.92 ERA 47 K.