With five outfielders now on the active roster for the St. Louis Cardinals, the balancing act for playing time was made easier on Friday as Matt Holliday was unavailable to be in the starting lineup for the series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He’s sick today,” said Matheny. “Fever and flu-like stuff. We had to get him out today.”
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Holliday, who is in the midst of a 43-game streak of safely reaching first base was staying away from teammates but might still be available to pinch-hit in the game.
“Waiting to see what the doctors allow,” said Matheny. “There’s a chance he could be in the bowels of Busch Stadium awaiting an opportunity.”
In the meantime, the Cardinals will have an outfield of Randal Grichuk, Peter Bourjos, and Jason Heyward.
“A lot of it has to due with how Randal Grichuk’s been playing, he’s been doing a real nice job,” said Matheny. “Also with Peter Bourjos–you watch how he comes into a game, gets an opportunity and capitalizes on it. It’s game-changing. I think it’s always good to reward a guy when he’s able to do that and then still allow Jon to keep getting into a good rhythm.”
Jon Jay (wrist tendinitis) was activated earlier in the day from the disabled list.
CARDINALS
Kolten Wong, 2B
Matt Carpenter, 3B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Randal Grichuk, LF
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Yadier Molina, C
Jason Heyward, RF
Peter Bourjos, CF
John Lackey, P
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
