[OOTPRealTime]

Moving on to take on the Philadelphia Phillies, who are struggling this Spring with a 2-8 record so far. We're continuing to evaluate our players and taking a look at some of them in different roles in case they are needed to take on a new identity as the long 162-game grind rolls along. Again, we want to stay healthy first and foremost.

LINEUPS

CARDINALS (6-5)
1. Leury Garcia, SS
2. Kolten Wong, 2B
3. Allen Craig, RF
4. Matt Holliday, DH
5. Matt Adams, 1B
6. Nelson Cruz, LF
7. Oscar Taveras, CF
8. David Freese, 3B
9. Tony Cruz, C

SP: RHP Shelby Miller

PHILLIES (2-8)
1. Ben Revere, RF
2. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
3. Darin Ruf, DH
4. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
5. Domonic Brown, LF
6. Freddy Galvis, 1B
7. Kevin Frandsen, SS
8. Cody Asche, 3B
9. John Mayberry Jr., CF

SP: RHP Tyler Cloyd

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1st Inning
After a Leury Garcia strikeout, Kolten Wong tripled and then Allen Craig got him in with a perfectly placed weak ground ball. Again, still waiting for something to click with Craig. Holliday then flew out. ///// Shelby got them 1-2-3 with a strikeout of Revere. STL 1, PHI 0

2nd Inning
Adams was given the green light on a 3-0 pitch and he drove a base-hit to right field with it. N. Cruz then singled - Adams to 3rd. Taveras then struck out and Freese grounded into a double play to end what looked like a promising 2nd inning. ///// After two quick outs, Freddy Galvis singled and then stole 2nd base on Shelby/Tony Cruz. Shelby got out of it with a ground out. STL 1, PHI 0

3rd Inning
Kolten Wong grabbed his 2nd hit of the game with 2 outs (now hitting .519). Craig flew out. ///// Again, Shelby got 2 quick ones and then allowed a base hit to speedster Revere. He easily stole second base. Shelby got out of it with a ground out. STL 1, PHI 0

4th Inning
Nothing happening outside of a 1-out base hit by Matt Adams. ///// For the 3rd straight inning, Shelby got the first two outs and then this time Domonic Brown took him deep. He then hit Galvis with a pitch before getting Frandsen. PHI 1, STL 1

5th Inning
Tony Cruz got a one out base hit off of new pitcher Manny Parra. He was sacrificed to 2nd by Garcia and then Kolten Wong flew out. ///// Shelby entered the 5th at 57 pitches. So, he'll face just one batter in this inning. He finished strong, striking out Cody Asche.

@dgold Shelby's line today: 4.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 HR (D. Brown)on 63 pitches (40 strikes). #solid

Eduardo Sanchez enters and quickly gives up a base hit to Mayberry. Ben Revere then delivered an RBI triple to make it 2-0 Phillies. Sanchez pitching his way right out of contention for the bullpen. Rollins scored Revere from third with a ground out. 3-0. Ruf then doubled before the inning ended on a fly out. PHI 3, STL 1

6th Inning
Craig struck out - dropping him to .148. Holliday flew out - dropping him to .167 and Matt Adams singled, bringing him up to .300 on the Spring. Nelly Cruz then struck out. ///// Fernando Salas takes over for Sanchez. Base hit for Brown. Galvis sacrifices him over to 2nd. Frandsen grounded out and then Asche flew out. No further damage. PHI 3, STL 1

7th Inning
Taveras - Freese - T. Cruz went 1-2-3 without much of a fight. ///// Salas gave up a one-out base hit to pinch hitter Mike Napoli. He then walked Rollins before K'ing Ruf. With 2 outs he got Salty to ground out to end the inning. PHI 3, STL 1

8th Inning
All the backups come in as we hope to mount a comeback. Kozma grounded out. Descalso singled. Pham GIDP. ///// Fornataro got them 1-2-3. PHI 3, STL 1

9th Inning
They brought in their closer Jonathan Papelbon. We have Justin Christian-Matt Carpenter-Shane Robinson due up in our last chance. Christian led off with a double. Matt Carpenter then struck out looking. Shane Robinson struck out looking but then Juan Lagares singled home Christian to keep hope alive. With Curtis coming up, Lagares tried to get into scoring position by stealing second base, but Saltalamacchia somehow threw him out to end the game.

FINAL: Philadelphia 3, St. Louis 2

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A solid outing from Shelby. Two hits from Wong has him hitting .500. The real concerns are early struggles of those who struggled in 2013: Craig (.148), Holliday (.167) and Freese (.143). How much do we worry? Right now, it does us no good. But is it time to consider taking a look at Matt Carpenter at third base? He isn't great defensively there - and doesn't have much experience, but David Freese just doesn't appear ready to take that on full time. He hit .246 with 23 HR last year with 60 RBI - and a career high 163 strikeouts. Is a platoon in order? Matt Carpenter (the lefty) against RHP and Freese against LHP? It at least has to be considered. Last year, Freese hit .259 against LHP and .241 against RHP. Not a huge difference.

Matt Adams has really started to come along and with three hits today is really putting up a fight to be the starting first baseman. That would mean Allen Craig has to play in the outfield. Which would mean that Oscar Taveras would probably start the season in Memphis. We'll see what happens. Still some time to make these difficult decisions.

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@MLBInjuryReport The #Indians will be without Michael Bourn for 6 weeks with a herniated disc in his back.

@MLBDepthCharts Michael Bourn to projected DL. Michael Brantley to projected starting CF. Tim Fedroff to projected starting LF. #Indians

@MLBInjuryReport The #Mariners aren't ready to diagnose Dustin Ackley's shoulder yet, but he'll be shut down for the time being. #MLB