PHILS SPOIL REDBIRD CLIMB BACK TO EVEN WATER TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AFTER HORNSBY DAY TRIUMPH, CARDINALS FALL 7-5 AND SLIP BELOW .500 AGAIN.

The brass bands were gone. The speeches were finished. Commissioner Landis had long since left the ball yard. And by Sunday afternoon the Cardinals discovered again how quickly baseball can snatch away the good feeling earned the day before.

Only twenty-four hours after Sportsman’s Park roared through Hornsby Day celebrations and watched the Redbirds batter Philadelphia back to the even .500 shelf, the Phillies answered with a 7-to-5 decision that dumped St. Louis immediately back under even water and prevented the Cardinals from fully cashing in on the homestand.

The defeat left the club standing at 18 victories against 19 setbacks.

And it carried the same frustration that has haunted the Cardinals repeatedly this spring:

every time the club appears ready to gather real momentum, something breaks loose underneath them again.

Saturday had felt different.

The Cardinals finally looked alive again.

Sherdel had spun a complete game victory.

Blades and Douthit smashed successive homers.

Philadelphia kicked the ball all over Sportsman’s Park while the Cardinals themselves appeared sharper and steadier despite the miserable field conditions that have turned the lot into a weekly complaint around the National League.

For one loud afternoon the whole city felt convinced the Redbirds might finally be straightening themselves out.

Then Sunday arrived.

And Philadelphia refused to leave town quietly.

The Quakers entered the finale already bruised from consecutive defeats and badly embarrassed by their ugly defensive showing during Hornsby Day festivities. Instead of folding, the Phillies fought back hard enough to split the four-game set and leave St. Louis once more searching for stable footing.

The Cardinals never fully collapsed Sunday afternoon.

That may have made the defeat more irritating.

St. Louis hung around the whole argument.

The club battled.

The bats supplied enough noise to keep hope alive deep into the later innings.

But the Phillies repeatedly answered every Cardinal push with another one of their own and gradually kept the Redbirds chasing instead of leading.

That proved the whole afternoon’s difference.

Philadelphia managed to control the game’s rhythm just enough to prevent St. Louis from building the sort of avalanche innings that buried the Quakers earlier in the series. Every time Sportsman’s Park threatened to awaken fully behind the Cardinals, the Phillies found another answer and quieted the grandstand again.

The loss also prevented St. Louis from completing what could have been an important turnaround week.

Only days ago the Cardinals looked nearly dead against New York.

Then came the Boston slaughtering.

Then three victories in four games against Philadelphia.

Now suddenly the club again finds itself dangling below .500 instead of climbing above it.

That remains the great irritation around this ball club:

the Cardinals continue flashing signs of dangerous baseball without sustaining them long enough to seize real ground in the standings.

One afternoon they look capable of chasing the first division.

The next they hand victories back away again.

Still, there were pieces of encouragement buried inside the defeat.

Taylor Douthit continues looking considerably more comfortable at the platter than he did earlier this month when the young center fielder appeared hopelessly tangled inside one of the worst batting funks on the club. Ray Blades likewise remains one of the steadiest offensive sparks in the lineup while Les Bell continues supplying timely wallops often enough to keep opposing pitchers wary.

The pitching staff itself also appears somewhat steadier than it did during the ugly Giant series earlier this month.

But the Cardinals still have not solved the larger issue:

consistency.

Good clubs string victories together.

Pennant clubs bury weaker opponents when opportunity arrives.

The Phillies entered St. Louis as a second-division outfit beginning a long western road swing. After dropping the opener, the Cardinals appeared positioned to seize complete command of the series.

Instead Philadelphia fought back hard enough to split the set evenly.

That is not disaster.

But it is not progress either.

And around Sportsman’s Park Sunday evening, the feeling carried considerably less celebration than it had twenty-four hours earlier.

The bunting from Hornsby Day still hung around portions of the park.

But the mood had changed entirely.

Now Cincinnati arrives next.

And the Cardinals once again find themselves chasing the same stubborn target they have been pursuing nearly all spring:

Even water.

— Mike Allen, Bird Chatter Post