COLUMN: Cardinals prove they're not yet snakebit

Each result in the St. Louis Cardinals season crashes against the phrase "it's early" like waves against the rocks on the shore.

The Cardinals have not gotten off to the best of starts, especially at home. They have finished the April home slate 5-8, pitting them with the Cincinnati Reds in a race to avoid the divisional cellar.

If nothing else, the Cardinals can at least hit and make a game entertaining. The bats went off in a 14-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, their highest-scoring game of the season.

St. Louis ranks eighth in MLB in runs scored (91), third in OPS (.795), and seventh in home runs (23). Pretty good numbers, considering their struggles.

“We haven’t been able to cash in the amount of runs that we would like, but today that was not the case,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That is what our offense is capable of doing on any given day.”

What is more impressive about this lineup is that despite having the reigning National League MVP in Paul Goldschmidt, the Cardinals are being led by the youngsters. Nolan Gorman hit his first career grand slam on Wednesday and leads the Cardinals in batting average (.316), home runs (5), and RBI (18).

“You’re just seeing a lot of really good hitters do really good at the plate,” Gorman said. “We’ve got a really good lineup. So, our bats are going to come around, you know, whenever they do, like they have been, we score a lot of runs.”

Rookie Jordan Walker took the baseball world by storm with a 12-game hitting streak to begin his young career. Naturally, a 1-for-17 slump was inevitable, but he seems to be on the other side of that slide with a slide by knocking in two hits, including the go-ahead RBI single in the third inning. The 20-year-old, who is a month away from legally being able to enjoy the product of his home stadium's namesake, is tied for second among NL rookies in hits with 16.

“He got a steady dose of them at the end of Spring Training, too, and he took a couple of them at over 100 mph up the middle with really good swings,” Marmol said. “Now it’s about recognizing which to do that with and which to lay off. This is a guy with a high aptitude and good skill set. That combination usually pans out.”

An example of "it's early" is Arizona being 11-8 ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the National League West while St. Louis is 8-11 going into a 10-game West Coast trip. Which trend is more likely to reverse by Memorial Day?