PHOENIX _ Simply, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.
In one eye is the mediocre 37-41 record compiled by the Cardinals. In the other is the fact that, after a 10-4 win over Arizona on Thursday, the Cardinals were trailing the Milwaukee Brewers, the leaders in a highly questionable division, by just three games with 84 to go.
The word "questionable" often has been applied to Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk and justly so, given his penchant for long strikeout binges to accompany his power bursts. But, after a humbling several weeks in the minors, Grichuk is trying to set the record straight.
With the Cardinals trailing 3-2 in the seventh he banged a three-run homer, his third long ball in five games, to put the Cardinals ahead after Matt Carpenter was walked intentionally. Then, he tacked on a two-run double in a five-run eighth inning that broke the game open and made a winner out of Lance Lynn, who had pitched a sturdy six innings before pinch hit for by Luke Voit.
The St. Louis-bred rookie started the seventh-inning surge with a two-out double.
