Hello, and welcome to my new feature here at STL Sports Central: Breakfast with Bernie, which I’ll write early in the morning on most weekdays. And if I’m a little late it’ll be “Brunch with Bernie.” I’ll serve up observations, opinions, notes, facts, stats, praise, cheap shots, randomness, and some weirdness as I have my first cuppa or two or three of the day. At times we’ll go “buffet” style for morning grazing, and later in the day I’ll author a new column. On most days, I’ll lead off with a Cards recap. There will be plenty of baseball info served here, with emphasis on the Cardinals.
Is this the real life?
Caught in a landslide?
Is there an escape from reality?
(Why am I channeling Bohemian Rapsody? Heck if I know.)
I don’t have an answer to the questions.
Not yet, anyway.
But your 2026 St. Louis Cardinals are becoming more acquainted with losing ballgames. Hey, it happens to every team. This isn’t a crisis, but it’s a trend.
The Redbirds – 14 wins, 17 losses in their last 31 games – aren’t free falling. They’re just not winning enough lately. Since May 20, their .452 winning percentage ranks 9th among National League teams.
This isn’t a big deal.
Not unless they continue to lose.
And they’ve won only two of their last seven games, including two losses in a row to the Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium. This four-game set concludes Thursday night, and the Cardinals will scramble to come away with a 2-2 split.
Wednesday’s regrettable outcome for the locals: Arizona 9, St. Louis 4. Hey, but at least there was another small crowd at Busch Stadium. Looks like the momentum has stalled in another way.
Here’s why the Cardinals lost for the fifth time in their last seven games…
1. Another awful start by Matthew Liberatore. The implosion came in the top of the fourth, with the Diamondbacks banging out six runs on two singles, a walk, a double and two home runs.
– Liberatore gave the Cardinals 5 and ⅓ innings of subpar pitching, and please forgive me if I don’t attend the medal ceremony if manager Oli Marmol honors Libby for saving the bullpen. The relievers still had to cover 3 and ⅔ innings in a lost cause in this one.
– Liberatore has a 10.34 ERA in four June starts. His ERA is 6.57 in the last 11 starts, and 6.21 over his last four assignments. In the four June starts Liberatore has averaged fewer than four innings. As Brad Thompson might say, Libby is manufacturing a lot of runs.
– This season, among 95 MLB starters that have worked a minimum 77 innings, Liberatore ranks 90th with a 5.56 ERA, 90th in expected ERA (5.78) and 90th in a home-run yield of 1.98 per nine innings.
– In his last 28 starts, which goes back to July 11 of last season, he’s 5-11 with a 5.39 ERA and has averaged less than five innings per outing.
– Even though Libby is a lefty, he’s been assaulted by left-handed hitters this season for a .316 average and .606 slugging percentage.
2. The Cardinals offense was easily tamed. Again. By the time they got busy producing some runs, it was too late.
Here is a strange and revealing statistic: in the first three games of this series, the Cardinals have scored five total runs in the first eight innings – that’s five runs in 72 innings. They’ve scored just as many runs, five, in the three ninth innings.
The Cards scored 30 runs, hit .330, and shot-gunned 14 extra-base hits in three games at Kansas City. But in their other seven games in a 10-game block, the Cards scored an average of 3.0 runs.
3. Arizona’s three starting pitchers have largely neutralized the Cardinals offense. Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and rookie Mitch Bratt combined for a 2.30 ERA in 15 and ⅔ innings. Rodriguez and Bratt were nicked for one run in their 9 and ⅔ innings. (Bratt was making his first MLB appearance and was scheduled to work only three innings.
The three starters collectively allowed a .218 batting average and one extra-base hit. And the Cards batted .214 against the AZ starters when set up with men in scoring position.
4. Could someone please pay the electric bill and turn on the power? When Jose Fermin biffed a solo homer to open the bottom of the 9th, the blow was the first home run by a Cardinal at Busch Stadium over the last five-plus games. The Birds went 224 consecutive plate appearances without homering until Fermin ended the futility.
5. Jordan Walker’s personal power outage continued. It’s 10 games and counting since Walker’s last home run winged on June 13. During this 10-game stretch Walker is 9 for 38 (all singles), has a .237 slugging percentage, and has struck out in 29.2 percent of his plate appearances. In the first opening monthm Walker homered every 12.8 at-bats. In May, he went yard every 16.3 at-bats. And so far in June, Walker’s home runs have been limited to one every 37.2 at-bats.
Cardinal Star of the Game: Blaze Jordan went 2 for 4 with a double, walk and three RBIs. In his first 12 big-league games Jordan has struck out only four times in 47 plate appearances (8.5%). Since making his MLB debut on June 12, Jordan leads the Cardinals with 12 RBIs. He’s also been the best hitter with runners in scoring position, cranking 7 hits in 13 at-bats for a .538 average. Jordan is hard for pitchers to put away; so far he’s gone 6 for 17 (.353) on two-strike counts. The quality of his at-bats are impressive. One wish: draw more walks. He has only two.
Let’s head to the buffet …
— Yeah, he did it again: Joshua Baez smacked his 26th home run of the season for Triple A Memphis in Wednesday’s loss at Jacksonville. Baez had a busy and versatile game: 2 for 4, one homer, a run batted in, one walk, one stolen base, and two runs scored. He struck out once.
— Baez has 15 homers in 114 plate appearances since May 26. His other numbers over that time include a .353 batting average, .393 on-base rate, .892 slugging percentage and a 1.285 OPS. And his strikeout rate over the last month is a reasonable 22.8%.
— I don’t know why anyone would disapprove of the Jordan Kyrou trade from a Blues’ standpoint. The relationship between Kyrou and the team was so strained, both Kyrou and Blues exec Doug Armstrong agreed it was time to move on. It’s like a marriage gone hopelessly bad; some marriages just can’t be saved. So this fussing over the Blues needing Kyrou still here to score goals – goal scorers are hard to find! – is absolutely irrelevant. On top of that Armstrong certainly made sure to cash in on the decision to relocate Kyrou; the Blues did very well in the exchange. Sometimes when a player-team relationship sours, the team is willing to sell a little low just to get the player out. Not Doug Armstrong.
— Here’s Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic: “The Blues deserve a ton of credit for extracting full value here. Getting the 16th overall draft pick, (forward) Connor McMichael and an intriguing prospect in (forward) Milton Gastrin is a great haul. McMichael should slide in well into St. Louis’ top six, but the big draw is acquiring No. 16. That gives the Blues four (!) picks in this year’s first round, which could set St. Louis up big for years to come.”
— I’m no expert (obviously) on McMichael’s game but he scored 26 goals two seasons ago, is still young, can’t become an unrestricted free agent until July of 28, and has elite speed. According to NHL EDGE tracking data, he ranks in the 77th percentile in max skating speed and the 69th percentile in speed bursts. He’s also been described as “a very capable, confident puck carrier who can gain the blue line and drive transition play efficiently.”
– In other words, the Blues didn’t sacrifice the “pace” factor when trading Kyrou. Because McMichael can go. His heavy shot should lead to a goal-scoring resurgence in St. Louis. This is a center who can be repurposed at left wing whenever coach Jim Montgomery needs him there. Versatility is a plus.
— When I see a scouting report that praises a hockey player’s “spatial awareness” I’m geeked. McMichael apparently has that, so gimme that sharp internal GPS. The Blues could use a lot more of it.
— Gastrin is big, he’s a hitter, has a high motor, can muscle his way to the net, and he was the 37th overall pick in last year’s NHL entry draft. With Armstrong adding more to the supply, the Blues have a bountiful tree filled with young-forward talent.
— Former Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt smacked Detroit ace Tarik Skubal for two homers Wednesday. Skubal is up there with the most elite starters in the majors, but Goldy owns him. Goldschmidt is 7 for 13 (.538) with four home runs in his career confrontations with Skubal. Amazing.
— Let’s face it. I’m toast. Here’s why: “Using four data sets from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, researchers were able to identify three major transition points in aging: at 43.7 years, when the onset of metabolic destabilization begins. At 66.7 years, when the most rapid destabilization takes place. At 89.7 years, when destabilization reaches its plateau.”
— I’m 67.4 years … and I’m toast, I tell you. Toast. But I’ll keep writing. Hell, the quality of my work might even improve.
— Random question: as a fan, would you be willing to trade Lars Nootbaar if it meant promoting Baez to the big club and making him the Cardinals’ starting left fielder?
— You can’t make me do it. You just cain’t: (1) Get a peptide injection (2) go to a Morgan Wallen concert (3) pile a bunch of other food items – like pulled pork – on a perfectly juicy and delicious burger.
— I’m sorry, but I haven’t been impressed by catcher Jimmy Crooks. And I want to be impressed. It’s a poppyseed size sample, but in 46 plate appearances since the promotion from Memphis, Crooks is batting .170 with a .541 OPS and 26.4% strikeout rate. Give it some time, though. I’ve got to believe Crooks is better than he’s shown.
— What in the world? From the Entertainment web site: “Olivia Rodrigo says she has 'smelled' fans wearing diapers from the stage: 'I think about it kind of often'
— JJ Wetherholt is so damn good, that when he goes 0 for 5 in a game, as was the case Wednesday, I’m surprised.
— Caleb Cummings, a member of the original “Tarps Off” crew that debuted at Busch Stadium, is a loyal dude. Asked by the Wall Street Journal about receiving invitations from other ballparks, Cummings rejected the idea with no hesitation. There is only one Tarps Off home.
— “We will never join in on another section,” Cummings said. “That’d be betraying St. Louis.”
Thanks 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.