After long winter, interrupted spring, St. Louis Cardinals appear in mid-season form
Baseball, in small increments and with brand new eccentricities, took a big leap toward returning to Busch Stadium on Thursday night.
Professional athletes in professional uniforms took to the field with only one protective screen in sight, and they swung their bats and ran the bases just as they’ve been doing at that stadium for 14 years and at many others for much longer than that.
They even had a public address announcer. John Ulett’s voice was piped in using pre-recorded clips, but it was there announcing the stream of players who competed in Cardinals Red’s 4-1, four inning victory over Cardinals Blue.
“Feels good getting back out on the field,” Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong said with a smile. “Getting back on Busch, especially, I think was huge for everybody. Getting the uniform back on, getting them a little dirty.”
Wong, the National League’s defending Gold Glove winner at second base, didn’t have to absorb much dirt or wait very long to look very much like himself on the field.
In the top of the first inning, behind presumed opening day starter Jack Flaherty, he charged hard to his left and spun with his back to home plate to kick off an inning-ending double play, just as has been seen too many times at that park to perhaps be properly appreciated.
“It’s like riding a bike, man,” Wong joked. “Once I got that ground ball, it just happens.”
Wong and the rest of the presumed starting infield — Matt Carpenter at third, Paul DeJong at short, Paul Goldschmidt at first and Yadier Molina behind the plate — were allocated to Cardinals Red, the team wearing white.
Cardinals Blue, dressed in road gray, had Dakota Hudson on the mound and outfielders Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader and Dexter Fowler aligned from left to right.
In their usual coaching boxes, Stubby Clapp (first) and Pop Warner (third) wore red, coached the bases, and called fair and foul balls down the line. They were true neutrals, like pitching coach-turned-ball boy Mike Maddux and pitching coordinator Tim Leveque, seated well behind home plate, guarded by the solitary screen on the field.
A computer called balls and strikes and displayed the data on the scoreboard using MLB’s Statcast system. Those hoping for robot umpires in the near future may not have had their most encouraging evening.
“I don’t really think it knew where the actual zone was,” Hudson said. “I felt like I threw a few balls that were pretty low and it was saying it was waist high down the middle. I was asking some of the hitters afterward and they felt like it was off too. I don’t know how accurate it actually was.”
That accuracy was challenged in the top of the third, as Flaherty appeared to strike out outfielder Justin Williams on a full count. After some deliberation, Williams was instructed to take his base. He would later score following two singles and a sharp ground ball on which Paul DeJong threw wide to first after attempting to complete a double play.
DeJong made up for the wide throw with a two-run single and a two-run homer. He is, manager Mike Shildt cracked, on pace for “about 480 RBI” this season.
“Lot of takeaways. Lot of real positives,” Shildt said. “The approach and the at bats, a lot of quality, quality at bats taking place throughout. We had some situations that were presented offensively that guys clearly had planned for and were able to execute their plan.”
Though hitting coordinator Russ Steinhorn sat on the bench in the visitor’s dugout in the place generally occupied by the manager, Shildt said that José Oquendo was the man in charge across the diamond. That evidently included engineering a pregame trade for infielder Max Schrock, who was originally set to be the designated hitter for Cardinals Red.
“Schrock was traded,” Shildt joked. “Oquendo’s running a lot of the blue team and presented an opportunity to get Schrock over and we bit on it.”
In truth, Schrock’s reallocation was part of a shuffle which was necessary to adjust for the absence of infielder Brad Miller and catcher Matt Wieters. Though both were originally slated to appear in the game, neither did.
Shildt confirmed that each player was held out by the team’s choice and not because they were otherwise unavailable to participate.
A four-inning scrimmage in which the score was loosely kept and in which one of the starting pitchers strolled through the opposing outfield on the way to finish up in the bullpen with the ball in play is still a fair distance from full-fledged professional baseball, but it did look and feel the part.
After a long winter and an even longer spring, the Cardinals seem to be approaching a typical rhythm, and are only 15 days away from playing games that count. The season, it seems, truly is on the way.
“It was a real competition,” Shildt said. “Guys were getting after at-bats. Guys were getting after the bases. Guys were playing their defense, guys were using their cards.”
“So in that sense it was good to get lost in the competition of it, which is going to be important because there’s not going to be that stimulation from our unbelievably amazing fan base. So that part was a little different but the mindset and competition was definitely there. It was a good start to it.”
