Who's hot (G. Garcia), who's not (Wainwright) for Cards

Here is a look at who's hot and who's not for the Cardinals:

TRENDING UP

Greg Garcia, INF: He started at second base in Sunday's 9-3 loss at New York and did his on-base percentage thing, going 2 for 4 and driving in a run against the Yankees. He is now 4 for 12 with four walks drawn and a hit by pitch. With the Cardinals desperately seeking a spark, will he start more games ahead of Kolten Wong against righthanded starting pitchers?

Matt Bowman, RP: Don't blame this terrible Cardinals start on Bowman. All he does is get outs. He stranded runners on second and third in the fifth inning Sunday, then got through the sixth inning unscathed. In seven appearances this season Bowman has allowed two hits, one walk and zero runs in 6 1/3 innings. The New Seth Maness is doing his part.

Brett Cecil, RP: After a terrible start to this season, he settled down in his last three appearances -- retiring six batters on 27 pitches while walking nobody and allowing no hits. In his first four outings this season Cecil allowed seven hits and two walks in three innings of work. Now THAT is the pitcher the Cardinals invested free-agent dollars to get.

TRENDING DOWN

Adam Wainwright, SP: He keeps making adjustments . . . and those adjustments keep failing to yield the desired results. He needed 98 pitches to get 14 outs Sunday as he once again failed to survive the fifth inning. Wainwright is 0-3 with a 7.24 earned-run average. He is going to keep battling, but at some point we all must realize he just is who he is at this point in his career.

Dexter Fowler, OF: He is setting the tone as this team's new leadoff hitter -- but that tone is negative. His 1-for-5 performance Sunday actually improved his season batting average. Fowler is hitting .143 (7 for 49) this season with 16 strikeouts against four walks. During the Yankees series he was 1 for 14 with zero walks.

Jhonny Peralta, 3B: He is losing at-bats to Jedd Gyorko, and rightfully so. Peralta is 1 for 17 in his last five games. Overall he is hitting just .120 (3 for 25) with nine strikeouts, no extra-base hits and no RBIs. And remember, he opened this season as the Cardinals' clean-up hitter.

Randal Grichuk, OF: His 1-for-11, five-strikeout showing in New York wasn't the worst on the team, since he did manage to drive in two runs. But the Cardinals need him to hit his way toward the middle of the batting order. Also, he needs to track those fly balls, even in tricky day game skies. Overall Grichuk is batting .182 (8 for 44) with 16 strikeouts and just two bases on balls.

Matt Adams, 1B-OF: The Yankee Stadium visit gave him a couple of cracks to fill the designated hitter role and he made the least of it, going 1 for 8 in those games with three strikeouts. His dribbler to the vacant left side of the Yankees infield Saturday added another pinch hit to his career pile, but overall he is batting .174 (4 for 23) with no extra base hits and one RBI.

Kevin Siegrist, RP: He didn't allow a run during his two one-inning stints in New York -- lowering his season ERA to 10.38 -- but he walked two Yankees in each appearance. Overall this season he has walked eight batters and struck out only two in his 4 1/3 innings of work.

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