Home woes remain Cards’ unsolved mystery

ST. LOUIS — What, on paper, seemed like an available opportunity for the Cardinals to cement their position in the National League Wild Card race by knocking around a skidding A’s team instead finished as more of the same. It would be Oakland, not St. Louis, that swiped the series win with a 7-4 victory in Sunday’s rubber game of a three-game Interleague set.

The loss dropped the Cardinals to 30-37 at Busch Stadium, a setting that has typically engendered so much success. But after averaging 52.5 wins over manager Mike Matheny’s first five seasons, the Cardinals will be fortunate merely to break .500 in this one. Doing so would require 11 wins in the team’s final 14 home games.

The last time the Cardinals lost this many games at home was during a playoff-empty 2007 season. The only teams with fewer than 30 home wins this season sit in last place within their division.

It’s a topic that has become stale in the Cardinals’ clubhouse, only because of how often players have been asked to explain why a team that is 14 games over .500 on the road can’t replicate that success at home. It’s a very real concern, however, for a club still trying to generate enough momentum to sneak into the postseason for a sixth straight season.

“Every game we don’t win, there’s a …

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