I didn’t want to look either, Pete.
None of us did.
Fearing the worst with Matt Holliday http://t.co/WhIbclRfn4 pic.twitter.com/B3OpuHZWKW
— viva el birdos (@vivaelbirdos) June 9, 2015
But there was Matt Holliday pridefully walking off the field in Denver under (mostly) his own power, showing no weakness. Because Matt Holliday does not show weakness.
Since his first full season with the Cardinals in 2010, Holliday has played in 788 of 868 possible games and posted an oWAR of 22.6. Thoughts that Holliday’s consistent and methodical hitting in 2015 could possibly be fading were quickly put to rest when the left fielder reached base 45 straight games to start the season.
Candidly, he is the Cardinals best offensive threat. And losing him for an extended period of time is another haymaker to the teams chances of raising their 12th championship flag over Busch Stadium.
Please spare me the ‘Cardinals didn’t miss a beat when Wainwright went down’. Kindly can the ‘still have the best record in baseball without Matt Adams’. Hold the ‘Jordan Walden was supposed to be an important cog in the bullpen and they’re killin’ it’ routine.
It’s baseball. It’s a grind. And losing 4 of your best players for months on end will take a toll. For the Cardinals it hasn’t been sooner, but later is bearing down like a freight train.
How long will Holliday be out?
TBD. The Post-Dispatch doesn’t seem particularly optimistic:
The Cardinals, their lineup thinning with injury, have already had two players strain their quadriceps muscle so far this season, and neither will return in less than 2½ months.
For all the joy and excitement that this Cardinals team has produced the first 58 games of the season, the cold reality of what’s to come over the next 104 contests will have a poignancy that a team scuffling in the standings wouldn’t have felt with the same adversity.
They’ve lost their best pitcher. They’ve lost their best hitter.
It’s hard to envision a scenario where their death grip on the NL Central isn’t the next casualty of a season on the brink.
Photo: MLB
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