Welcome again to a new feature here at STL Sports Central: Breakfast with Bernie, which I’ll write early in the morning on most weekdays. I’ll serve up observations, snark, facts, notes, opinions, random weirdness, praise, cheap shots, assorted Bernie Bytes and stuff that’s on my mind as I have my first cuppa or two or three of the day. This isn’t a full breakfast. It’s Continental style. And this gives you a chance to graze before I write a different and fuller column that I’ll post much later in the day.
The Continental, May 21
I’m going heavy on the baseball talk today, in part because (A) I fell asleep very early Tuesday and was disconnected from the world, and (B) the Cardinals have a 12:15 p.m. game against the Pirates today at Busch Stadium.
So this particular Continental buffet has lots of breakfast nachos, grilled bratwurst, peanuts, Crackerjack, and maybe some of them burnt-end hot dogs. What, you expected health food? From me?
— Where do we start? Well, the inconsistent Cardinals offense ghosted the scoreboard again. The fellers scraped for just five hits, went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and got blanked in all nine innings in Wednesday’s repressed 7-0 loss to the Pirates at Busch Stadium.
— The Yinzers counterattack: After cudgeling four home runs and scoring nine times in a 10-inning shout-out victory over the Bucs on Tuesday, the Cardinals followed that up by getting shutout for the second time in three games.
— It was kinda predictable: Then again, the Redbirds had dunked on the Pirates by winning their first five matchups against the Bucs this season, and averaging 7.8 runs per game while committing these atrocities. Hell, we couldn’t expect the Cardinals to sink the Jolly Roger every single time.
— Still concerned over the St. Louis offense? Who? Me? Yes I am. After averaging 5 runs per competition in March-April in their first 31 games of the season, the first month the Cards have slowed the production to an average serving of 3.6 runs in their first 17 May games. Over the course of the 17 tests, the Cardinals have scored three runs or fewer nine times and scrounged for two runs or less eight times.
— Compared to their per-game home run production in March-April, the Cards’ home-run rate over the first 17 go-arounds in May is down by 37.8 percent. That’s significant.
--- Here's a telling stat that's pretty cool: In the first month of the season (31 games) the Cardinals were ranked 7th in the majors in runs scored per game, and 25th in MLB for runs allowed per game. So far May (17 games) it's the exact opposite: the Cards are 25th in runs scored per game, and 7th in the majors for fewest runs yielded per game.
— Cards starting pitcher Michael McGreevy was off form in this one. We know this for two reasons (1) it’s important for McGreevy to get ahead in the count. Before Wednesday’s game, he had a first-strike rate of 55 percent on the season. In the loss to the Pirates, McGreevy’s first-strike percentage was 46%. And (2) the Pirates had 12 hard-hit balls (95 mph+) on McGreevy. That makes 23 hard-hit balls against him in his last two starts. Until these two games McGreevy had never allowed more than seven hard-hit balls in a start. McGreevy was slapped for 10 hits by the Pirates in five innings, and his 35 game score was his worst of the season.
— Oli Marmol used Nolan Gorman at DH again in Wednesday’s game. Gorman went 0 for 4 with a walk. This is one of those strange things, but Gorman is absolutely awful at DH this season, going 7 for 46 (.152) with a wRC+ that makes him 73 percent below league average offensively.
— And when Gorman is used at third base, in 120 plate appearances he has a .272 average, .834 OPS and a wRC+ that’s 32 percent above league average offensively. And Gorman is one of the best defensive third basemen in the majors in 2026.
— If you’re gonna play Masyn Winn virtually every day at shortstop, and JJ Wetherholt virtually every day at second base, and Alec Burleson virtually every day at first base … then why relocate Gorman to third base? When Marmol starts Gorman at third, the Cardinals are stronger defensively and offensively. That’s a fact.
— I suppose Marmol was trying to get Gorman “off his feet” by using him at DH. I get it … in a way … but I’m not a fan of it. With Marmol opting to start Cesar Prieto at third base – and he was awful there on Wednesday – the Cardinals weakened their offense and their defense with one lineup decision.
— No offense to Prieto, but what’s the point? He’s 0 for 12 since his promotion from Triple A Memphis. The Cardinals have an uninspiring collection of bench players, though Jose Fermin and Yohel Pozo have their moments.
— How about the Milwaukee Brewers? They invaded Wrigley Field and swept the three-game series against the Cubs, outscoring the North Siders 19-5 over in 27 innings of play. After a slow start, the Crew has won 16 of their last 21 games including their current 11-2 stretch. And there’s Milwaukee again, occupying their usual spot (first place) with a 29-18 record.
— Brewers manager Pat Murphy: “We know how these series go. They don’t even know most of our guys’ names, you know what I mean? So they’re never going to be intimidated by us, but we’re not looking for that. We’re looking to turn around and play good again.”
— Here’s Brewers monster-ace starter Jacob Misorowski on the annual forecasts of a Brewers’ downturn and demise: “I’m sitting here on the inside seeing stuff that I think — I know — are positives, and obviously someone on the outside just isn’t seeing that. I have no clue what those people are thinking.”
— Meanwhile, as for the Cubs: Remember when, not long ago, when the Cubs rushed through two 10-game winning streaks within a 24-game stretch? Remember how the Cubbies won 15 in a row at Wrigley? The panting Chicago sports media and scarily aroused denizens of Wrigleyville were sizing up potential World Series opponents.
— Remember all that stuff? Yeah. Well. After the Brewers came in and beat their arses, the Cubs have dropped five in a row and nine of their last 11.
— And the Cubs’ big-splash free-agent signee, third baseman Alex Bregman, is batting .233 with a .315 slug, one homer and five RBIs in May. Center fielder Pete Crow Armstrong made a fool of himself in the weekend series against the White Sox, and in the last two games against the Brewers he made two huge and mortifying defensive gaffes that helped push the Brewers into the winner’s circle. But breathless media will still go right on ahead and hype him up as if the PCA was the second coming of Joe DiMaggio.
— For now, anyway, the Cubs trail the second-place Cardinals by a smidge in the NL Central.
— Current active-cash 26-man payrolls: Cubs $186 million. Cardinals $47 million.
— Cardinals fans are fortunate to have so many options for informative and opinionated analysis from a variety of sources. Derrick Goold, the potentate, has been covering the Cardinals for the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday since 2004. Rob Rains, STLSportsPage, is the Dean of St. Louis ballwriters. There’s Brian Walton and Kyle Reis on the prospect beat at The Cardinal Nation. There’s a roster of enjoyable writing talent at Viva El Birdos. Three of my favorites can be found at Redbird Rants. In alphabetical order: JT Bucheit, Josh Jacobs and Scott Plaza. And Scott also writes for Viva El Birdos. Of course, we’ve got a lot of Cardinals content here at STL Sports Central.
— Baseball America is out with some prospect rearrangements, and BA has moved several Cards kids into the organizational Top 30 – or moved them up within the Top 30. There are also a few “fallers” in the rankings.
— The newcomers are RHP Xavier Cruz (No. 24), RHP Jacob Odle (25) shortstop Sebastian Dos Santos (26), corner infielder Blaze Jordan (27), LHP Mason Molina (28) RHP Cade Winquest (29) and RHP Luis Gastelum (30).
— Moving on up in the STL system rankings: RHP Tanner Franklin (No. 4), RHP Jurrangelo Cijntje (5) and outfielder Tai Peete (12). Others elevated within the rankings were catcher Jimmy Crooks and LHP Yhoiker Fajardo.
— Fallers were LHP Quinn Mathews, LHP Brandon Clarke (injured) and LHP Cade Crossland.
Thank you for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.