Craig confident in approach at the plate

PHILADELPHIA -- Cardinals manager Mike Matheny has declared Allen Craig, whose two-run, bases-loaded single on Saturday night helped lift his average to .220, close to breaking out. But Craig says he has never felt that far away.

"Have I felt great up there?" Craig said. "Probably not. But I haven't felt terrible.

"I have been hitting some balls hard, working pretty hard in the batting cage to make some adjustments. But I feel over the last week and a half, two weeks or so, I have just been missing pitches, hit some balls hard and they have been at people."

Craig went 2-for-5 on Sunday night, raising his average on the season to .234.

"I am going to swing at some pitches out of the zone even when I am going good," he said. "I just think it comes down it hitting the good pitches that they give you.

"Maybe I have been rolling over a little but I don't think that's the main problem. I feel like I have hit the ball pretty hard and haven't found holes. The numbers are what they are but that's why they call it a batting average, it goes up and down, and the first month, it can fluctuate rapidly."