Yadi’s absence not what’s ailing Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals cannot possibly be the same team without the services of catcher Yadier Molina. And yet, in the exalted realm of October baseball, this cannot be an all-purpose excuse. In fact, the Cardinals are 0-2 in the National League Championship Series games in which Molina has been absent since he sustained a left oblique strain. But the way the Cardinals lost these two games did not point to Molina’s absence as the chief culprit.