After making a couple of changes to his lineup yesterday and seeing his offense put up 11 runs, St. Louis Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny was tempted to go with the same lineup again today. The starting eight is almost the same–almost. Peter Bourjos will be leading off and starting in centerfield in place of Jon Jay.
“There’s guys on this team we just have to figure out how to get them involved, keep them involved, get them going to where they can be impactful players for this club,” explained Matheny.
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It also doesn’t hurt that Bourjos is batting .467 (7-15) with a double, triple, homer, and 4 RBIs against Philly starter Aaron Harang.
“You’re not going to run into many numbers better than what he has,” agreed Matheny. “There’s an advantage when a guy feels good going in. But also, obviously like the way the rest of the lineup went together yesterday. Just a switch at the top and hopefully keep it going where it left off.”
Bourjos leads the Cardinals will four stolen bases–three of them have come as pinch-runner.
“Just like him getting on base–if he gets on base he creates havoc,” said Matheny of what Bourjos might be able to do with the extra at-bats tonight. “Much like what we see when we get a Billy Hamilton, Dee Gordon on base. You can’t help but manipulate how you’re going to defend bases, how you’re going to defend bunts, how you’re going to defend obviously the running game. Carp being able to get a ball in the gap–that’s a great opportunity for Peter to show off what he can do from first to home.
“First things first, we know he’s going to go out there and play a good defense for us–just like Jon Jay has. Jon’s been doing a tremendous job out there. Peter will get an opportunity to go out and get a few run downs out there hopefully and also put together some good at-bats.”
CARDINALS
Peter Bourjos, CF
Matt Carpenter, 3B
Matt Holliday, LF
Matt Adams, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Jason Heyward, RF
Yadier Molina, C
Kolten Wong, 2B
Carlos Martinez, P
PHILLIES
Ben Revere, LF
Odubel Herrera, CF
Chase Utley, 2B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Ryan Howard, 1B
Cody Asche, 3B
Carlos Ruiz, C
Freddy Galvis, SS
Aaron Harang, P
