Cardinals bullpen is not the whole problem

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - After Sunday's pummeling at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates as the St. Louis Cardinals again handed over the top spot in the NL Central I feel it is important to clarify a few things.

If you're looking for a column with a fairy tale ending, you might want to come back tomorrow. The season may have a happy ending, but today's column? Not so much.

Today we're going to focus on reality. Out of respect to the nine run loss on Sunday, here are nine points to ponder.

1. Jeff Locke was on top of his game Sunday. He absolutely dominated the Cardinals bats-all of them. About all there is to say is that Locke won and he earned it.

2. Shelby Miller once again showed fans he is ready for the big leagues and frankly, just how not ready big league hitters are to see him.

With that said, Sunday wasn't his best start with a pair of solo home runs, he was still the highlight of the Cardinals afternoon. High pitch counts continue to plague him early on, and given the bullpen situation, the Cardinals need him going deeper into games. Regardless, he has already shown he has what it takes to make it at this level. Other big league rookies may be stealing the national limelight, but Miller is demanding attention. Keep watching.

3. Once again, the right-handed rookie had no run support. With other pitchers reaching the 30 run mark, Miller has had a combined seven runs of support over five starts. He can't do it all by himself-hence my next point.

4. The Cardinals bats are flat right now and need a serious spark soon. Fortunately, their situational hitting has been very good and has at least partially masked their struggles, but that won't continue forever as we've seen this weekend.

Over the weekend's two losses the Cardinals are 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

A lack of situational hitting wasn't the Cardinals problem Sunday, a lack of hitting altogether was the problem.

5. After Sunday, the Cardinals do not have a single starter batting .300. Following is a list of the regular starters and their averages (with a note or two attached.)

Y. Molina - .292 (leads team with 26 hits)

C. Beltran - .289 (leads team with six HR)

M. Holliday - .278 (.394 OBP, leads team in walks by almost double-13)

M. Carpenter - .273 (leads team with 21 runs scored and 11 extra base hits)

P. Kozma - .270

A. Craig - .261 (leads team with 18 RBI and 19 strikeouts)

J. Jay - .226

D. Freese - .178

S. Robinson (tied with Ty Wiggington) - .167

D. Descalso - .157

6. First, here are a few positive takeaways from that list. Matt Holliday leading the team in walks shows that he is exercising some patience at the plate and grinding out quality at bats. That's what Holliday does best.

Matt Carpenter is owning the lead-off spot as is obvious from his runs scored total. He does a good job of getting on base and can turn a deep single into a double.

Molina and Beltran are both doing what they do and both will improve with time.

However, there are reasons to be concerned about a couple of other players. So...

7. David Freese is off to the worst offensive start of his career. Aside from his weak average, he's at the bottom of the team in RBI (3), doubles (2) and runs scored (3). Those are all categories where the Cardinals need production from third base.

He's looking quite uncomfortable at the plate and doesn't even seem to be making good, solid contact. He did have the issue with his back during Spring Training, but when he was activated it was made clear that he was 100-percent "or he wouldn't be here" according to manager Mike Matheny.

Regardless of what's causing it, the Cardinals desperately need Freese to turn it around soon. Offensively speaking, the lineup should be dramatically stronger with him at third base and Carpenter at second base.

8. Jon Jay is also off to an uncharacteristically poor start to the season. After taking the lead-off spot from Rafael Furcal in 2012, the spot was his to lose in 2013. At least for now, it appears he may have.

One thing that seems to stand out with Jay is that his strikeout total (17-second on team) is higher than I would expect to see. His high OBP and ability to draw walks are what brought him success in 2012. However, his current OBP and walk total are driving him right back town.

Much like the situation with Freese, centerfield is a position that simply must produce offensively for a team to succeed over the long haul.

9. The bullpen is still looking rough. A big part of that I was attributing to having pitchers who aren't sure exactly what their roles are. However, Matheny has been using them in similar spots for three games and is seeing the same results.

The longer this goes on, the more the mental end of this will come into play. The more they fail, the more likely they are to "expect" failure when they walk to the mound. That's not good.

I wrote all winter about the strength of this bullpen and how I felt like that would be the team's saving grace. I still believe there is a ton of talent there (the same goes for my earlier concerns regarding Freese and Jay), but something needs to give soon.

While it is still early in the season, the Cardinals could just as easily be ending the month of April, the most difficult in their schedule, with four more wins than they have today. Those are wins they could wish they had when September comes around.

In a Q&A before Sunday's game, Mozeliak did hint that prospect Carlos Martinez would be in St. Louis very soon. He didn't clarify how soon, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him bolstering the Cardinals bullpen within the next two weeks at most.

If Mozeliak is not convinced he is ready, he won't bring Martinez up. He's a firm believer in not rushing players through the system for a short term gain.

While it does seem a little bit early in the season to call him up given the fact that he missed Spring Training, you patch a leak when you spot it.

I'd expect to see some patching soon.

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Corey Noles is a Cardinals Writer and Columnist for The Daily Statesman. His work is featured in numerous publications, as well as both regional and national websites. Contact him at cnoles@dailystatesman.com or on Twitter @coreynoles.