Welcome to my 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, opinions, notes, facts, stats, praise, cheap shots, randomness, and some weirdness as I have my first cuppa or two of the day. We’ll (mostly) go “Buffet” style to give you a chance to graze before I write a different column that I’ll post much later in the day.
Today, I’m starting off with an autopsy report on the Cardinals’ sad 0-3 visit to Milwaukee.
Why the Cardinals Got Swept
1. The Cardinals scored two runs in 27 innings of at-bats, and hit .177 with a .210 on-base rate and a .219 slug. In 100 plate appearances the Cards struck out 26 times and drew only four walks.
2. The Cardinals were 0 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
3. The Cardinals 1-2-3-4 hitters were shut down by Milwaukee pitchers. The top four lineup spots – filled by JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker – collectively went 7 for 44 (.182) in the three games, had one extra-base hit (a double) and knocked in one run. And the top four went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
This was big because the Redbirds came into the series with the most productive 1-2-3-4 lineup sequence among NL teams. The group’s 134 wRC+ translated into 34 percent above league average offensively. In the majors only the Yankees have a better 1-2-3-4 row than the Cards, and that’s by only two percent.
4. Shoddy defense. The Cardinals were charged with three errors during the series and failed to make several big plays that should have been converted into outs. Terrible defense prevented the Cardinals from holding onto a 1-0 lead in the 8th inning Wednesday.
5. The Brewers pushed the Cardinals around again. From aggressively relaying signals from the dugout (considered a no-no) and having a loon Milwaukee reliever buzz a fastball near Ivan Herrera’s head – then completely disrespect the Cardinals by lewdly thrusting his hips at the St. Louis dugout to show them up – the Cardinals never responded in a way that would have salvaged at least some respect. Embarrassing.
Let’s head to The Buffet …
— State of the Cardinals: Right now? Reality has arrived. The fellers are 11-12 in May. They’ve lost their last four games and have dropped six of their last seven. Since winning the first two games in the four-game set at San Diego, the Cardinals are 6-10. After having strong early success on the road, the Cardinals are 3-7 in their last 10 turns as the visiting team.
— Hey, it’s not all bad. Even with their recent skid, the Cardinals (29-25) still rank 9th among the 30 MLB teams with a .537 winning percentage. They’re tied for second (with the Cubs) in the NL Central and are prominent in the wild-card picture with 67 percent of their regular-season schedule remaining.
— No offense, but there’s no offense. Not much, anyway. With three games remaining in May, here’s where the Cardinals rank among the 15 NL teams in essential categories for the month: 14th in runs, 14th in batting average (.198) with runners in scoring position, 12th in homers, 10th in batting average, ninth in on-base percentage, 11th in slugging, and 11th in OPS.
Switching to some other items. How about some SEC barbeque?
— What’s all this talk about the SEC breaking away and operating independently? This would possibly include an SEC-only playoff tournament to cap the college football season.
—- Georgia coach Kirby Smart said this during the SEC meetings: “I’ve been a huge advocate that (if) we can’t find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play by our own. I’m not afraid of that. I’m not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out (and do that.) If we could actually function and it financially would make our programs more stable, and we could support things financially. I’m talking about all the sports and do (it) by our own rules. I’d be all for that.”
— OK, what’s next? Is the SEC going to fire on Fort Sumter?
— The reference came to mind because I watched a three-part documentary on Abraham Lincoln over the Memorial Day Weekend. It was packed with significant Civil War content.
– As was the three-part documentary on Ulysses S. Grant. I watched that too. And I watched the great 1998 Terrence Malick film, The Thin Red Line. That’s become a Memorial Day ritual for me.
— College Football Inc: absolutely crazy.
— During his time as a superb St. Louis reliever, lefty Steve Kline wasn’t shy about expressing his opinions. And so it was this week when Kline appeared on the “Cardinal Territory” show. Host Jim Hayes asked how the Cardinals should have handled Abner Uribe’s ridiculous, clown-show, freak-show antics …
— “I think you just drill the first two players of the Brewers,” Kline said. “You find the best player, you smoke him, and then you smoke the next best player, and you say, ‘This is for your guy acting like a buffoon.’ They don't like it, that's part of it. But that kid brought it upon himself and brought it upon his team.”
— Kline wasn’t finished. “I know it's energy and people are excited, but there's a certain point in the game where some of all this crap that's going on in baseball today is just getting a little out of control. And then they want you to be like ‘sportsmanship’ – but then they bitch if you don't flip a bat in the air. I don't know. So it's like you're getting torn both ways. But as a player, you don't say nothing.”
— More from Kline: “You just go out and you just level the first two guys. They're two best hitters. You just drill them and say, “Hey, that's for your boy right there. Make sure you handle it. And if they don't handle it, it might get a little ugly. I think you just drill them.”
— Hey, can Kline still pitch? He’s 53, sure. But even at that age, Kline can’t be any worse than, say, lefty Justin Bruihl. And the Cardinals clearly need an enforcer who will take care of business the old-school way.
— Best new albums so far in May: (1) The Lemon Twigs, “Look For Your Mind.” (2) Broken Social Scene, “Remember the Humans.” (3) Kacey Musgraves, “Middle of Nowhere.”
— I’m in the mood for Jonathan’s Fiery Scramble breakfast at Southwest Diner. It’s been a while … and after that … but not on the same day … it’s onto Songbird in The Grove for “The Combo” breakfast sandwich.
— Speaking of fiery: St. Louis power-hitting prospect Joshua Baez hammered two more home runs Wednesday night for Triple A Memphis in a win at Omaha. That’s a total of four home runs and eight RBIs for Baez over two consecutive nights. The right-handed slugger has 15 home runs and a .552 slugging percentage on the season.
— In 2026 Baez is hitting homers at a rate of one every 12.2 at-bats in this, his first season at Triple A. This month Baez, age 22, is hitting .274 with a .636 slugging percentage and .987 OPS – and in May he’s smashed a homer every 9.8 at-bats. The Redbirds are also giving Baez some starts in center field.
— What about the strikeout concerns? During a brief but encouraging trend, Baez has a 17.8 percent strikeout rate over his last six games. (That’s real progress, but in a sliver-size sample.) For the season the Baez strikeout rate is still on the high side at 32.6 percent. But, metaphorically speaking, we can hear Baez pounding on the door for entry into the big leagues. When? That’s up to Chaim Bloom, Rob Cerfolio, and Larry Day.
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.