Phillies Opposition Roadblock: St. Louis Cardinals

After being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phillies will have to deal with a St. Louis Cardinals team that did the same thing to them only a couple of weeks ago. It is the last three games on the current homestand that has seen the Phillies lose five of six. They are hoping the late inning misfortunes turn around as the Cards roll into town.

Paul Goldschmidt was plenty for the Phils to handle in this series. While he did not really stand out and actually struck out more than I expected him to, he still found ways to be effective. He was 5-15 in the series. The five hits included one double and homer. He knocked in four runs and scored twice. Goldschmidt did not walk at all, but struck out four times. It was an interesting series for the slugger, but he still found ways to make his presence felt.

Phils Grade: B-

Interestingly enough, the Phillies handed Robbie Ray his worst start of the 2017 campaign. He had been cruising through starts, racking up five consecutive wins for his D-Back teammates. The Phillies ended up with eight hits and two homers (most against Ray this season), four earned runs and four walks (second most Ray has allowed), and only struck out seven times (Ray’s third lowest total this year). Even though Ray was able to battle his way out of a few tough jams, the Phils had him on the ropes. They had Ray in a losing situation before Hector Neris blew the ninth inning save opportunity.

Phils Grade: B+

The Team: St. Louis Cardinals

In the seven games since the Phillies left St. Louis, the Cardinals have been unable to capitalize on the momentum. On the heels of their sweep, St. Louis went on to go 2-5, losing three of four to the Milwaukee Brewers and two of three to the Baltimore Orioles. They come to Philly third in the Central and six games under .500 at 31-37.

A team that was seemingly struggling offensively has seemed to turn it around since the Phillies left town. While it is not a juggernaut at this point, it is far from their most pressing issue. They have scored more than five runs in four of their last seven games.

Philadelphia Phillies

While my previous roadblock pick, Jedd Gyorko (4 for his last 24), has cooled off, others have heated up. Matt Carpenter has ten hits in his last 22 at-bats, Dexter Fowler collected 11 hits in his last 24 at-bats, and Kolten Wong’s return was to the tune of 4-10.

It is the starting pitching that has taken a major step back over the course of the last couple of months. Carlos Martinez has continued to be a horse. He has reached what some believe to be his max potential, and that is quite scary. However, Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn, and Mike Leake have all taken major steps back. The Phillies will be lined up against Leake, Wacha, and Martinez this week.

As I said, Martinez has continued his dominance throughout the season. The other two have struggled mightily in recent starts. Wacha has allowed six earned runs in two of his last five starts. In another one of those, he only went three innings. Leake’s demise is not as severe. He has allowed still more than three earned runs in three of his last four starts.

The Phils hope to strike some luck against the two this week.

The Position Player: Matt Carpenter

I think I am going to take Matt Carpenter this time around in Philly. As I mentioned above, he is one of the players who has started to get hot over the last week. His ten hits over the last seven days are only behind those of Fowler, but are still extremely impressive and noteworthy.

Carpenter’s recent hot streak has elevated his average to .246 for the season. However, it is his on-base skills that have my attention. He currently holds a .377 on-base percentage with 45 walks through 64 games. The first baseman has also slugged his way to a .482 mark thus far. Both of these marks are aligned to his career numbers.

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His power numbers have declined since his 2015 power surge. He hit 28 during that season before last season’s 21-homer output. This season, he has knocked 13 to this point, which has him on pace to possibly break his career high.

The TCU grad has three hits against Jeremy Hellickson, one against Aaron Nola, and none against Nick Pivetta (but did strike out twice against him). At Citizen’s Bank Park, Carpenter has played in 15 games. In those appearances, he has been quite pedestrian (.250/.373/.354 with only one homer).

What I did find interesting about the three-time All-Star was his numbers with runners in scoring position. Over his career, he has slashed an extremely impressive .309/.411/.497 with 16 bombs. In 2017, he is hitting .275/.458/.575 in those opportunities. He continues to be productive in that area, but hits leadoff for the current Cards with less opportunities to do so.

In order to get the lefty out, pitches have to be in the strike zone. He does not chase. And if they are going to be in the zone, they have to be well-located pitches. Fastballs on the outer part of the plate are a danger zone to Carpenter. He has such strong plate coverage that he can reach out and get fastballs off the outer edge as well. Right-handers have been able to get him with breaking balls more often when they are located down and in rather than out over the plate.

With Carpenter red hot, the Cards are more dangerous than they were about a week ago. The Phillies are hopeful that they are able to cool him off once again.