Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 3-0 win over the Phillies from Tuesday night, April 9, 2024. On a pitch count of 65, Sonny Gray went out and shut down the Philadelphia lineup for five scorless innings in his first appearance for the Cardinals.

The bullpen was asked to carry more of the load than usual due to Gray's truncated availability, and the unit came through with a massive performance highlighted by JoJo Romero's gumption.

Offensively, the Cardinals got just enough thanks to a power surge by Nolan Gorman and some situational baseball by Victor Scott II and Brendan Donovan.

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 5-3 loss to the Phillies in extra innings on Monday, April 8, 2024 at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals just didn't get much production from their lineup backing Miles Mikolas' strong start in this one. The problems are particularly noticeable as it pertains to 2-3-4 in the lineup with Goldschmidt, Gorman and Arenado combining to for 2-for-15 with 7 strikeouts. With runners at the corners in the 10th, the Nolans whiffed back-to-back to end the game.

If the Cardinals don't have their best hitters playing like their best hitters, what's the upside for this team to contend? And is it too early to be worried about guys who have historically been studs their whole careers or could there be something to these early woes? Plus, we talk more Victor Scott II, more Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera.

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals 10-3 loss to the Marlins from Sunday afternoon, April 7, 2024, at Busch Stadium.

Kyle Gibson failed the team by giving up six runs in the first inning and effectively taking them out of the game before it ever really began. But did he also, in a way, do the exact job that the Cardinals signed him to do on those inevitable days where you don't have your best stuff as a pitcher?

Gibby still got the team through six innings and saved the bullpen in a major way in the process. Do we give him some credit for fulfilling that notable role?

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 3-1 win over the Marlins on Saturday, April 6, 2024 at Busch Stadium.

Steven Matz dialed up another strong outing as he tossed five zeros on the scoreboard, lowering his ERA to 1.74 for the young season.

The Cardinals had a very intentional, deliberate approach to Matz's spring, bringing him along on a slower pace than the rest of the team's starters.

While it might be nice eventually to see Matz get deeper into games, it's hard to argue with the production St. Louis is getting from him so far--especially when you consider that he's healthy in a world where prominent pitchers like Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, Gerrit Cole and Devin Williams have already gone down to injury in 2024.

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Brenden Schaeffer and Charlie Marlow return for the latest episode of Cardinal Nation's favorite buddy cop pod, Low Hanging Fruit.

The boys break down the first week of the Cardinals' season from all the angles you want to hear--and plenty of them you probably don't. But hey, if we think it's fun or funny, we end up discussing it anyway!

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 8-5 win over the Marlins in the home opener on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

Ivan Herrera launched his first MLB home run. Lance Lynn gave the Cardinals a solid start but saw the wheels begin to fall off as he was removed from the outing after allowing a couple of fifth-inning homers.

From there, the Cardinals found a way to put together a rally and got sturdy efforts from their relievers to hold together a victory in front of the Busch Stadium crowd on a chilly Thursday in April.

We break down the big moments from the game while diving into the numerous injury updates from Thursday, including info on Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and more.

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 3-2 loss to the Padres on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 as Zack Thompson had an up-and-down start that included more free passes and fewer miles per hour than folks were hoping to see from the St. Louis starter.

Nolan Arenado came up empty in a big late spot as the Cardinal offense failed to make the Padres pay for several walks and hit-by-pitches.

Plus, a very unnerving defensive play from Brandon Crawford was ultimately equivalent to the difference in the ball game.

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 5-2 win over the Padres from Tuesday night, April 2, 2024. Miles Mikolas logged a quality start and Willson Contreras hit his second homer of the year.

Plenty of interesting moments to discuss from this game and the commenters had plenty to say about the nature of small ball and the steady start for the rotation. Some concerns, too, about slow starts for Arenado and others. We discussed it all!

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 6-2 win over the Padres from Monday, April 1, 2024.

No foolin', Kyle Gibson was the Cardinals' best pitcher through the first turn of the starting rotation.

We talk about Gibby's strong outing as well as the bats coming to life as the Redbirds coasted to a solid series-opening win against Mike Shildt and the Padres.

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Brenden Schaeffer discusses the Cardinals' 5-4 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball as John King surrendered the crushing blow of a home run off the bat of Max Muncy to give LAD a lead that they would not relinquish.

What did you think of the bullpen management by Oli Marmol? We'll dive into how there was arguably more going on in the John King decision than quick hot takes would lead you to believe. Let's get into it.

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