Ah, there they were. Got a little confused on Friday and Saturday when these guys in Cardinals uniforms started slugging baseballs. But on Sunday, those were quintessentially the 2024 Cardinals in the batters’ box of the biggest game of the year.With a home series there for the taking — against the mighty Dodgers, too — the Cardinals offense failed. Six hits and one lone walk in Sunday’s 2-1 loss — and 2-1 series loss. The only extra-base hit was Lars Nootbaar’s pinch-hit homer, which was a jolt from Noot but not for the team.We can, and will, meticulously break down platoons and splits all summer long, but it’s really quite simple: If guys that are paid to hit don’t hit, you’re not going to make the playoffs. And really, this playoff talk is likely all for naught — after all, getting swept at Cincinnati sure seemed like the mortal wound for the Cardinals’ season.But the team says it still believes. That’s nice, but the team isn’t executing offensively.On Sunday, it was grounder after grounder — 15 of the 31 Cardinal plate appearances resulted in a ground ball ... including three double plays. We lost some good worms out there.Hitting coach Turner Ward oversees a Cardinals offense that is stuck in mediocrity — 19th in on-base plus slugging percentage (.697), 19th in slugging percentage (.388) and 18th in on-base percentage (.309). Possibly his closest pupil, Paul Goldschmidt, is hitting .204 in the past 15 games and .230 on the season. His OPS is .681. At this point, it’s fair to wonder if either should be back next season. Since Aug. 2, only two times has Goldschmidt tallied more than one hit — and both games, the total was two.And Sunday’s loss ended with a scenario that, in other years, one would’ve desired: Nolan Arenado up with the game-tying run on base. But Arenado, of course, isn’t Arenado this year. He has dealt with arm pain and has seldom swatted homers (though he smacked one in Saturday’s game). Arenado’s career slugging percentage is .518 (tied with future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera!); this year, it’s .394. Sure enough, in the bottom of Sunday’s ninth, Arenado hit a sharp grounder but a grounder nonetheless.Six. Four. Three. Double play. Dodgers win. As for these Cardinals, Sonny Gray summed it up succinctly Sunday. After the game, the pitcher described the only thing that would save ...
