clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

St. Louis Cardinals DH Matt Holliday As American League Stint Begins

The St. Louis Cardinals make their first trip to the American League of 2012 Tuesday night, and now that we have their lineup for Game 1 vs. the Detroit Tigers, we know the answer to the ultimate interleague question: Who do you DH? For Tuesday night, at least, the Cardinals have settled on Matt Holliday as their designated hitter. Holliday left Sunday's extra-innings marathon with a hip flexor issue, and seems somewhere between healthy and day-to-day based on manager Mike Matheny's defensive-replacement routine over the last few games.

The Cardinals have a number of injured and injury-prone sluggers currently on the active roster, and all of them are likely to get DH time as a means of resting their shaky legs; in addition to Holliday, Carlos Beltran, dealing with knee soreness, and Allen Craig, recovering from a hamstring strain, are likely to see at-bats there.

That means the primary beneficiary of the extra at-bats won't be spending time at DH—it's Matt Adams, who'll get regular time at first base while all this is going on. Stuck in a bench role since Craig returned, Adams is hitting .257/.304/.419 with two home runs and 13 RBI since being called up a month ago.