(Busch Stadium) The St. Louis Cardinals lineup on Sunday features a couple of subtle changes, but Mike Matheny dismissed reading too much into the moves.
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After making all 56 of his prior starts in centerfield, Randal Grichuk will play left field while Tommy Pham slides over from left to center.
“Both of them have the ability to play centerfield and play it well,” said Matheny. “Taking some days too, to maybe take the demand off of centerfield. It’s a demanding position. To be able to share it and keep them both sharp in centerfield I think is important for our club.”
The other notable move is Matt Holliday batting clean-up, instead of third in the lineup.
“We’ve had him in different spots before, but not very often,” Matheny said of the change. “I trust the fact that these guys pay attention to what’s going on. We have some players that we’re trying to get in some different kind of spots depending on how they’re rolling. This is really the kind of conversation we had early in Spring Training–don’t get so caught up in days off, don’t get so caught up in where you are in the order, and just trust the fact we’re trying to do what’s best for the club. If we can get away from some of those pre-conceived ideas, it gives us more flexibility to utilize everybody we have the best way we can.”
At the time of his media session, Matheny had not yet spoken with Holliday about the move but planned to do so later.
“Just haven’t had it yet this morning,” he said. “He knows that I want the best for him, most importantly, I want the best for us. Sometimes we’re going to have things a little different than what we see or what we’d like, but just go out and do your piece and not get too caught up in once again the position or where it is in the order.”
Alberto Rosario is starting at catcher to give Yadier Molina a break on an early afternoon game following a night game.
CF Tommy Pham
SS Aledmys Diaz
RF Stephen Piscotty
1B Matt Holliday
3B Jhonny Peralta
LF Randal Grichuk
2B Jedd Gyorko
C Alberto Rosario
P Michael Wacha
photo credit: Bill Greenblatt/UPI