Few things are more controversial in this baseball-obsessed city than a manger who substitutes his cleanup hitter out of a game, especially when that game then bleeds into extra innings.
Attempting to pick between the concerns that are worthy and the ones that could soon seem shortsighted is risky business five games in. Deep breaths are the best medicine when April is as fresh as John Brebbia’s shave. But there is one issue that is becoming increasingly hard to slow-play.
The hitter the Cardinals have cemented into their cleanup spot continues to swing and miss, and swing and hit spinning grounders, and swing and hit singles (and rarely anything else) as he searches for a power stroke that slugged .