Pham heads into September on offensive tear

SAN FRANCISCO -- As the league tries to adjust to Cardinals outfielder Tommy Pham, the 29-year-old continues to produce at the top of the order.
Pham followed up Wednesday's two-homer day in Milwaukee by reaching base four times, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs in the Cardinals' 5-2 win over the Giants on Thursday night at AT&T Park.
"He's just having a terrific year," manager Mike Matheny said. "He makes good adjustments and he's able to drive the ball to all fields. He just makes things happen. It's impressive to watch."
In his current six-game hitting streak, Pham is 10-for-21 with two doubles, three homers and eight RBIs. He's had four hitting streaks of six games or more since July 24, all while holding down the second batting spot in the St. Louis lineup.
It also caps off another strong month in a breakout season for Pham, who's batting .311 with 19 homers and 61 RBIs. After a scorching July, when he batted .355 and had a .430 on-base percentage, Pham continued to be productive in August, batting .310 with a .434 on-base percentage.

One area that Pham feels like he's improved the most is in plate discipline, as he drew 19 walks in August, the most for any month he's played. He's seen pitchers start pitching him much more cautiously.
"From seeing how they're pitching me, there's a lot more breaking balls, a lot more pitches on the corners of the plate," Pham said. "If you look at the last game in Milwaukee, I hit a ball out up and in and I hit a ball out low and away -- they weren't on the middle part of the plate.
"That's just me controlling the zone. This easily could have been one of my worst months if I would've swung at a lot of pitches out of the zone, but I'm controlling the zone better."
And as the Cardinals head into the final month of the season six games behind first in the National League Central and five back in the NL Wild Card race, Pham knows he'll have to keep adjusting to new strategies if he keeps producing.
"They're pitching me tough just because of what they're seeing from me this year, but it's my job to adjust," Pham said. "If I don't adjust, I'm going to sink."