Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty used colorful language to describe the current struggles for St. Louis after being swept by the Angels.
The St. Louis Cardinals expected to compete for the No. 1 spot in the NL Central this season. More than a month into 2023, they’re deep in the basement.
On Thursday, St. Louis lost their sixth game in a row, suffering a sweep at the hands of the Angels after being swept by the Dodgers over the weekend.
Starting picker Jack Flaherty got real after the 11-7 loss.
Jack Flaherty got colorful describing the Cardinals’ frustrations
“Of course, everybody’s [expletive] frustrated. It is what it is, but we’re way better than this. We know we’re better than this and we’re going to climb out of this,” Flaherty told reporters, per John Denton of MLB.com.
As for his own performance, the pitcher was not pulling any punches.
“My hand’s fine. I didn’t get taken out because of my hand. I got taken out because I sucked,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty went 2.1 innings, giving up nine hits and 10 earned runs. So, yeah, there’s really no sugar-coating that one. He’s now 2-4 this season with an ERA of 6.29 and his future looks in doubt.
The Cardinals are 1-9 in their last 10 outings, but the struggles go back further than just the last couple of weeks. They’ve won just two series all season and have now been swept three times. They’re in dead last in the NL Central and 10 games behind the first-place Pirates.
The saving grace for St. Louis is that the whole division has been a mess. The Pirates and Brewers have each lost four in a row. The Cubs have won one in seven games. The Reds are the only team with a winning record in their last 10.
Oli Marmol has his work cut out for him to get things back on track for the Cardinals.