If you missed Thursday’s game between the Cardinals and Mets in New York, you have nothing to regret. The Redbirds were declawed in a 4-1 loss to the Amazins.
From the St. Louis standpoint, the minimal action and entertainment value made for a largely unwatchable competition. I should be thankful because the Cardinals made it possible for me to doze off early.
The Cardinals had three hits in 30 at-bats in this game and did nothing with the four walks flipped in by Mets pitchers. Boring. And the non-competitive St. Louis batsmen struck out in 34 percent of the team’s plate appearances. Ugh.
Cards starting pitcher Andre Pallante was pestered into conceding four runs to the Mets in the first two innings. That was your ballgame.
The Cardinals have a little credibility problem. They’re 8-4 at home and 1-6 on the road. There’s a paradox in there, somewhere.
As a home team playing in a half-empty ballpark in an environment that has a 1970s feel, the Cardinals are energetic and play with an edgy attitude.
It’s interesting. There should be no real home-park advantage for the Cardinals because the unofficial fan boycott has quieted the place where noise once roared through downtown streets. But despite a lack of support from the fans, the Cardinals compete like mad dogs in their backyard.
On the road? Not so much. Sure the Cardinals put up 20 runs against the Red Sox while getting swept in a three-game series at Fenway Park. The Cardinals lost all three games that weekend because their pitching staff was massacred. The offense put up enough runs to win a couple of games.
That said, in their three subsequent road defeats – two at Pittsburgh, and the latest to the Mets – the Cardinals averaged 2.0 runs per game, batted .174, slugged a feeble .239, and struck out in 27 percent of their plate appearances.
Miles Mikolas starts against the Mets on Friday night. So the 1-6 road record could turn into 1-7 unless Mikolas pitches very well or the hitters wake up and pile a bushel of runs.
CARDS VIBE CHECK: Think of a bustling New York subway train, and sitting there as a parade of unsettling-looking passengers come through in a way that leaves you a little anxious and slightly alarmed.
In the words of the late New York poet-musician Lou Reed: “No consolations please for feelin' funky. I got to get my head above my knees but it makes me mad and that makes me sad and then I start to freeze.”
LET THE RECORD SHOW: At least for the first three weeks of the season, it appears the National League is loaded with strong teams. That probably doesn’t bode well for the Cardinals. The Redbirds are a respectable but inconsistent team, and their road-game futility can be viewed as a warning sign.
At 9-10, the Cardinals have a .474 winning percentage that’s tied for 11th among the 15 NL teams.
Seven NL teams have winning percentages ranging from .571 to .789. And eight NL clubs already have amassed 10 victories or more: Padres, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Cubs, and Brewers.
The daily Playoff Odds at FanGraphs underline STL’s potential predicament. As of Friday morning, nine NL teams had a higher percentage of probability of qualifying for the postseason. The Cardinals’ postseason chances – 19.4 percent – are better than only five National League teams: Reds (12.4%), Pirates (7.9%), Marlins (0.7%), Nationals (0.6%) and Rockies (0.0).
It’s way too soon to talk about playoff odds, but that is not my intention here. I just wanted to point out that the Cardinals have a lot of good horses running ahead of them as the early part of the race shapes up. It would benefit the Redbirds to try and stay as close as they can to the lead pack.
HIGHWAY TO HELL: Not really. I just wanted to top this section with a song title. But the Cardinals are certainly traveling on a highway to losing.
To recap: The Cardinals are 1-6 in their first seven road games, but three previous teams have done worse than that. The 1960, 1975 and 1988 Cardinals each lost their first seven road games. That 0-7 is as bad as it looks.
The 2025 Cardinals are one of 12 teams in franchise history to sit at 1-6 through the first seven road games of a new season.
In chronological order, here are the 12 Cardinals teams that lost six of their first seven road games. And make sure to take note of one of the teams.
1905 1907 1912 1914 1919 1921 1947 1978 1985 1997 2017 2025
That’s right, 1985! But after that 1-7 false start on the road, Whitey Herzog’s Runnin’ Redbirds recuperated and sprinted to a 46-28 road record the rest of the way. That splendid team finished 101-61, won the National League pennant and made it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series before losing to the Royals.
So there’s hope for the 2025 Cardinals, right? Technically, yes. Because the ‘85 Cardinals showed it’s possible.
So let’s move 1985 aside, and we don’t know how the 2025 Cardinals will do.
However, the other 13 Cards teams that opened with 0-7 or 1-6 road marks failed to make the postseason. And only five of those 13 teams went on to compile a winning overall record.
As Yogi Berra famously said, “it’s getting late early” and that could be the case if the Cardinals continue to flop on the road.
THE STATE OF THE OFFENSE: For the ineffective traveling squad, the only the fun-time highlight Thursday came in the third inning when Victor Scott II led off with a single, stole second, scooted to third base on a wild pitch, and scored on a two-out single by Brendan Donovan.
After Donovan’s RBI, Cardinal hitters went 1 for 20 the rest of the way … though the Mets’ arms were kind of enough to contribute two walks as a gift.
CONTRERAS BATTING 2ND: For a time, manager Oli Marmol briefly moved Contreras down in the lineup, and that seemed to relax a hitter that was stressing under pressure when batting in the No. 2 spot.
Granted, it was only 17 plate appearances away from the second spot, but Contreras responded with a .313 average. .353 onbase percentage, and .563 slug. Plus a homer, double, three RBIs and only three strikeouts. The reset was helping.
Contreras was slotted back into the No. 2 spot for the last three games, and he’s hitless in 11 at-bats with three strikeouts.
In 61 plate appearances when utilized as STL’s No. 2 hitter this season. Contreras is 5 for 56 (.089) with a 36 percent strikeout rate.
Among the 27 MLB hitters that have logged at least 40 plate appearances when batting second this season, Contreras ranks last with his .089 average, and last with his 36% strikeout rate.
Marmol has to rethink his stance on using Contreras as the No. 2 guy.
PALLANTE’S INFERNO: A three-run Mets second inning ruined his start against the Mets. Pallante pitched six innings and was knocked for seven hits including a home run. He regrouped after that, but the STL offense did not come to the rescue. Pallante hung tough and pitched four more innings after that to help preserve the bullpen for the final three games of this series.
Pallante’s sinker created 12 ground-ball outs in this game, and he leads all MLB starters with a remarkable 67.2 percent GB rate early in 2025. Through four starts Pallante has a 3.22 ERA, but his fielding independent ERA (4.34) is more than a run higher per nine innings.
Analyst Eno Sarris (The Athletic) just put Pallante on a five-name list of big-league starting pitchers “who look like they’re breaking out.”
“He’s always had a good sinker, that Andre Pallante,” Sarris wrote. “And that’s ported over to starting, even as he’s lost velocity on the pitch. He’s thrown one of them to left-handers, so he’s got the same weakness against lefties as other sinker/slider guys.
“He doesn’t have a pitch that rates above average against lefties,” but Sarris wrote that locates his four-seam fastball well to make up for it.
“Three OK pitches with command against lefties and a super-sinker against righties is possibly a little underrated,” Sarris wrote. “Think of it this way. Here are all the pitchers with a ground-ball rate over 60 percent and 130 innings over the past two years: Pallante and José Soriano, with Framber Valdez right there as well.
“It’s boring, and he won’t maintain this production, but could he have a high-threes ERA with a high WHIP and fewer strikeouts than your average pitcher … and still be useful at the right times in the right leagues? For sure.”
DONNYBROOK: Donovan’s RBI single stretched his hitting streak to 13 games. During the 13-game spree Donny was 20 for 45 for a .444 average and a 1.057 OPS.
A TOUCH OF MOLINA: The way St. Louis catcher Pedro Pages is performing defensively this season, he could be given the title of “Honorary Molina Brother” to join Yadier, Bengie and Jose.
Consider:
This season Pages has thrown out four of the 10 runners that tried to steal on him. That 40 percent caught-stealing rate is high above the overall MLB caught-stealing rate of 21 percent.
Pages’ 40% rate puts him among the top two percent of MLB catchers in the caught stealing above average metric at Statcast.
Statcast puts Pages in the top 15 percent of major-league catchers in total Fielding Run Value.
Pages’ assist rate is No. 1 among major-league catchers. And his Total Zone defensive rating is the best in the bigs for catchers. Pages has also been credited with two Defensive Runs Saved, which is tied for third among big-league catchers.
Final note on this: Pages and current backup catcher Yohel Pozo have combined to throw out 7 of 12 steals (58.3%) this season. Ivan Herrera – on the IL with a knee injury – has been exploited by runners for seven steals in seven attempts.
Thanks for reading and have a nice weekend.
–Bernie
Bernie was a 2023 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and has won multiple national awards for column writing. You can access all of his writing and videos here on SportsHubSTL, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” on KMOX (1120-AM, 104.1-FM) and watch him discuss baseball with Katie Woo of The Athletic twice a week on the “Cardinal Territory” YouTube channel.