They just keep finding ways to be better than the Cincinnati Reds."The Cincinnati Reds fired their manager this season Jeff Locke Jersey , and have handed the reins to an in-house replacement for the rest of the season. They’re getting absolutely nothing from their $20 million a year pitcher. They’ve lost their top prospect for the rest of the season due to injury. They’ve got a corner infielder off a 30 dinger and 20 dinger season, respectively, who’s only hit about 10. To top it off, the production from their corner outfielders simply hasn’t met the expectations set on their collective “shoulders” earlier in the season - thanks, in large part, to a season-ending injury.Heck, they even traded away one of their best outfield pieces at the July trade deadline, just about the same time that they pulled what had been their single most dependable starting pitcher out of the rotation for the rest of the year. Yet here they are, at 74-58, a full 16 games over the .500 mark, in possession of a coveted Wild Card spot, and in striking distance of the Chicago Cubs atop the contentious National League Central.Wait.What?Y’see, when I said Cincinnati Reds up top and proceeded to list the litany of things that have just gone miserably wrong for them this season, it was actually the danged St. Louis Cardinals about whom I was speaking. What’s thoroughly, miserably annoying, is that they, too, have been forced to slog through a thunderstorm of mishaps and potholes, and instead of a fifth straight season of catastrophic losing on the horizon, they...they’ve somehow managed to flourish, again, and surge to the place in the standings where they normally sit. Frankly, it’s annoyingly magnificent to watch it play out.The Cardinals fired manager Mike Matheny this season, and turned things over to in-house replacement Mike Shildt, who was given the full-time job just yesterday thanks to their ship having been completely put back on course. Perhaps that’s rightly so, too, and here’s an exhausting set of reasons why, set specifically against a backdrop of what the Reds are going through - and are going through incredibly unsuccessfully.St. Louis isn’t getting anything from their $20 million a year pitcher. They aren’t. Adam Wainwright is making $19.5 million in 2018, the final season on the 5 year, $97.5 million contract he signed years back, and has thrown a total of 18 IP this season - and none since May 13th, as an elbow injury has him on the 60-day DL. Given what the Reds have received from their own $20 million a year pitcher, perhaps they’d actually be better off if he wasn’t pitching at all Cameron Maybin Jersey , too - but here we are.The Cardinals are also going through almost the entirety of the 2018 season without their top prospect, as talented hurler Alex Reyes was done for the year after just 4 IP with a shredded lat muscle, which came immediately on the heels of Tommy John surgery wrecking his 2017 season. So, while Nick Senzel’s finger injury sidelining him from a potential big league debut in 2018 was frustrating, the Reds are hardly the only team facing that peril.That corner infielder fresh off a 30 dinger and 20 dinger season over the last two years, respectively? That’d Jedd Gyorko, who’s obviously no Joey Votto, but has seen his power evaporate largely, as he’s hit just 11 dingers this year. As for the those corner outfielders attempting to “shoulder” the loads for each squad, it’s been a terribly disappointing .728 OPS campaign for Marcell Ozuna after coming to St. Louis from the Miami Marlins fresh off a season that saw him receive MVP votes, yet his year has been infinitely better than big money Dexter Fowler, who’s now out for the rest of the regular season with a broken foot after having the single worst season of any St. Louis Cardinal regular I can remember. And that just brings us to Tommy Pham, who was traded away at the deadline in July to Tampa just a year after leading the Cardinals with a 6.2 bWAR season, finishing 11th in the NL MVP voting, and posting an impressive 20/20 season.Through all of that, the Cardinals are in a playoff spot, even though they shelved Carlos Martinez with an injury for a few weeks and can now only employ him in relief duties. Meanwhile, the Reds sit a full 17 games back of St. Louis in the standings, again in the cellar of the NL Central.The what part of the difference here is obvious. What’s happened is that the Cards have weathered that storm with excellent starting pitching, as their collective team ERA by starters is a minuscule 3.36 on the season, 3rd best in all of baseball and nearly 2 full runs lower than Cincinnati’s 5.20 mark. And, more importantly, they’ve done it largely with young starting pitching that’s come up through their minor league ranks, the savvy signing of Miles Mikolas aside. Jack Flaherty, for instance, is a former 1st round pick by the Cards who featured on the same Top 100 overall prospect lists as each of Cody Reed, Robert Stephenson, Amir Garrett, and Tyler Mahle, but instead of floundering between the rotation, the bullpen, and AAA, he’s managed to turn in 122.1 IP of 136 ERA+ ball. Baseball Reference’s WAR doesn’t love what Luke Weaver’s done quite as much this year - thanks largely due to a .313 BABIP allowed and an ERA well above his FIP - but the 2014 1st round pick of the Cards (who’s also a former Top 100 overall prospect) owns a FIP better than every single starter the Reds have used this year Lewis Brinson Jersey , which is why his fWAR sits at a respectable 1.6 for the season.The how part here, though, is much more nebulous than the what portion, enough so that it makes your heart and soul as a Reds fan begin to wonder if there’s even a why section to the story, too. The fact is, the Cardinals have been dealt a hand incredibly similar to that which the Reds hold at the moment, and they’ve not just weathered it better than the Reds have, they’ve somehow managed to flourish in it. This isn’t meant to pour additional salt in the wounds, per se, but it certainly is meant to serve as a bit of a reference point. In a division where the Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cards, and even the Pittsburgh Pirates have been plenty competitive all season, it was always going to be hard for the Reds to compete this year. The trouble is, none of those other teams appear as if 2018 is the final season of the windows that they’ve opened. The Cubs are stacked for the near future, the Brewers have added superstar talent in Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain for a handful more years, and even the Pirates - who shed Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen before the season - made a jump for Chris Archer, who figures to be better than he’s shown thusfar while controlled cheaply for more years. If anything, what St. Louis was smacked with during the course of this season was the only real sniff of another team in the division potentially bordering on the time for a rebuild, but instead, they’ve seemingly managed to rebuild everything about what they always do in just a few weeks of play. After this year, they’ll lose just Wainwright and Bud Norris to free agency among players who they’ve had around all season, with recent peripheral additions Matt Adams and Tyson Ross hitting free agency, too. In other words, all the other pieces they still have, plus all those that have been sidelined this year, will be back, and it again seems as if they’re just the rolling, rotating juggernaut of black magic they’ve been for most of my entire life, even with the plot of their 2018 season being oh so similar to that of the 2018 Cincinnati Reds - the last place 2018 Cincinnati Reds, at that.Man, those guys are annoyingly good. SEATTLE (AP) — Aledmys Diaz has to take his opportunities when he can with the Houston Astros.Diaz responded to his first start at designated hitter this season Sunday by hitting a home run in the seventh inning that made the difference in Houston’s 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners, the ninth straight win for the Astros.Diaz was traded from the Blue Jays this winter. With stars nearly everywhere in the lineup http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-starlin-castro-jersey , Diaz has served as Houston’s utility infielder, filling in at first, second and shortstop already. He’s been in the starting lineup three times in April, going 5 for 12 with two homers in those games.“He’s not getting to play a lot. He played almost every day last season, so the attitude has been great,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s willing to do anything. Guys are rooting for him in there.”Gerrit Cole had a strong start for Houston, striking out 11 in six innings. Cole (1-2) gave up two runs on four hits, including a leadoff home run to Mitch Haniger, and did not walk a batter. Cole has pitched at least six innings in each of his four starts.Haniger’s homer, his fifth, extended the Mariners’ major league record streak to 18 games with a home run to start the season. Haniger also doubled and scored both Seattle runs.Cole and the Astros bullpen shut down the Mariners, who entered leading the majors with 7.29 runs a game. After Domingo Santana hit a run-scoring double in the third for Seattle’s second run, no other Mariners hitters reached base, with Houston retiring the last 19 Seattle batters.Hector Rondon, Ryan Pressly and Roberto Osuna each pitched a perfect inning in relief for Houston, with Osuna working the ninth for his seventh save.“Our whole bullpen is really good,” Cole said. “They’re not afraid to pitch in leverage or clean up your mess. As starters, we just try to minimize their workload as best we can.”There were some close calls for Osuna. Haniger appeared to start the ninth inning with an infield single, but was ruled out on replay. Santana had fans on their feet with a long drive down the right field line that went foul before striking out, and Daniel Vogelbach worked a full count before striking out looking to end the game.“It’s a game of inches. I thought Domingo’s ball had a chance there in the ninth to sneak around the foul pole. Just didn’t happen,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “We just went up against really good pitching this weekend.”Mariners starter Marco Gonzalez was trying for his fifth straight win to open the season, and looked on track early. Gonzalez allowed just one hit over the first five innings as Seattle opened a 2-0 lead.The Astros took over in the sixth. Singles by Tony Kemp, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman loaded the bases. Michael Brantley then drove in two runs with another single, trying the game and ending Gonzalez’s day.Brandon Brennan struck out the next two batters to end the inning. In the seventh, Diaz led off with his second homer, the first run Brennan (1-1) allowed after starting the season with 11 1/3 scoreless innings.IN CONTROLThis was the 10th time Cole has struck out at least 11 batters in his career. In six of those 10 games, Cole has also not allowed a walk.TRAINERS ROOMMariners: Placed starting LHP Wade LeBlanc on the 10-day injured list with a Grade 2 right oblique strain. LeBlanc is expected to be out four to six weeks. Seattle recalled RHP Erik Swanson from Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday. Swanson is expected to take LeBlanc’s upcoming spot in the rotation on Wednesday against Cleveland.ON THE MOVEThe Mariners traded C David Freitas to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league RHP Sal Biasi.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Colin McHugh (2-1, 2.65 ERA) makes his fourth start at Oakland on Tuesday. McHugh has one win against the Athletics this season, after his pitched six one-run innings on April 5.Mariners: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 4.15) is looking for his first major league decision in his fifth start as Seattle starts a three-game home series against Cleveland.