St. Louis Cardinals’ key cogs finally getting into gear

8:18 PM ET

ST. LOUIS — Lately, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny sits on the dugout bench each day and fields questions about the fringes of his roster.

Who will be the stopgap shortstop while Jhonny Peralta is out, promising rookie Aledmys Diaz or steady veteran Ruben Tejada? Do they go with the high-end bat or the bankable glove? Can Jeremy Hazelbaker continue to be the feel-good story of the early season? What about catcher Eric Fryer’s fast start? Should Yadier Molina get more days off? Discuss the trajectory of middle reliever X, Y or Z.

Lost in all of that deep drilling has been a bigger picture, namely the slow starts for the decorated, well-paid players in Matheny’s clubhouse, the guys on the billboards inside and outside Busch Stadium. Matt Holliday, a .306 career hitter, went into Wednesday batting .229 with seven RBIs in 14 games.

Matt Holliday has hit three homers and batted .316 in his last five games. Scott Kane/Getty Images

Matt Carpenter was hitting .255, Kolten Wong .205, Randal Grichuk .200 and Stephen Piscotty .220. The lead horse in the Cardinals’ rotation, Adam Wainwright, has an 8.27 ERA. Molina, who has been the most consistent Cardinal so far, alluded to some of those slow starts Tuesday night in a conversation with ESPN Deportes colleague Marly Rivera, as the Cardinals stood on the brink of getting swept by their biggest rivals.

“Honestly, we …

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