Jon Jay passes crucial test

While his teammates enjoyed an off day Thursday, Cardinals outfielder Jon Jay reported to Busch Stadium for a test that determined what he would be on this weekend — the lineup card or the disabled list.

After three hits in his start Friday, clearly he passed.

Jay took about 100 swings in the team's cages during a workout Thursday that he described as intense. The goal was to gauge if his shoulder, sprained a week earlier, was ready for him to play or if the Cardinals would have to consider a roster move to give him more rest.

"We had waited enough," Jay said. "It was time to decide. It had gotten to the time when I really needed to test it out."

Under the watch of hitting coach Mark McGwire and members of the training staff, Jay did well enough in the cage Thursday to prove he could start Friday. Returned to the No. 2 spot in the order, Jay laced three singles and tied a career high with three RBIs in the Cardinals' 13-1 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers. In the decisive eight-run third inning, Jay had two singles, one to help spark the rally and another to drive in two runs that continued it.

Jay raised his average to .375, and he left the ballpark Friday night with the highest on-base percentage of any regular starter, at .412.

"That was a big test for me," Jay said after facing Milwaukee's opening day starter, Yovani Gallardo. "I didn't know how it was going to be in the game. You're never going to feel 100 percent ... but it can get better."

What got worse after Jay left the lineup with his shoulder sprain was the offense. Other than a brief appearance as a pinch runner, Jay missed the entirety of the six-game road trip during which the team struggled to score. Most of the credit went to the opponent's starting pitchers, especially Cubs righties Matt Garza and Jeff Samardzija, who handcuffed the Cardinals in consecutive games at Wrigley Field this past week. But a contributing factor was absences.

The Cardinals went the whole road trip without Jay and Lance Berkman in the lineup. Berkman has the bigger reputation. Jay has had the better production this month.

Jay left the lineup to tend to his injured shoulder with a .391 on-base percentage. In the six games before he slammed into the center field wall and mildly separated his right shoulder, Jay hit .400 (eight for 20) and slugged .600. With Carlos Beltran pressed into service as the cleanup hitter, Jay had thrived in the No. 2 spot in the order. After going three for five there Friday, Jay is now batting .450 at No. 2 with seven RBIs and 10 times on base in 21 plate appearances.

"I don't see any reason to mess with it right now," manager Mike Matheny said about hitting Jay second when he's healthy. "Things went very well. I think he fits in that spot. But he has the flexibility to bounce around to a couple of other spots in the lineup as well."

The question Thursday morning wasn't where he would be in the lineup, but if he could be in the lineup. Jay went to the park unsure.

Comforted on Monday by a scan of the shoulder that showed no structural damage and confirmed the sprain, Jay received an anti-inflammatory shot to help speed the healing. That forced him to take a couple days off to let the shot's medication take effect. When it had cleared, he went to the cage. The trouble he had extending his swing — the resistance he felt when trying to swing at full strength — had cleared. Hitting coach Mark McGwire said Jay looked "1,000 times better than what he was in Pittsburgh."

"We talked about it and this is a great time for him not to even think about his swing," McGwire said. "Just trust his eyes and let it happen. He looked good. He was there early again (Friday). He looked good through it all."

Had Jay not felt good doing it, the Cardinals would have reconsidered their plan to go with a shortened bench. Having proved his ability to hit, Jay said he has to maintain the shoulder's health and improve it.

"I feel I can contribute the way I am," Jay said. "Every day we'll just continue to work on ways to get it better."

Like, for example, staying away from the wall.

"That's the big one," he nodded.


(stltoday.com)