'All we need to do is play the style of baseball we been playing' Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol previews 2nd half of season

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol feels pretty confident about what the club needs to do to catch the Milwaukee Brewers and win the NL Central.

After starting the season rather slow with a record of 15-24 in their first 39 games, the Cardinals went into All-Star Break with rather good form, winning 35-22 since May 12, with only the Houston Astros having more wins in that stretch in all of baseball.

Marmol joined KMOX Sports Director Tom Ackerman on Total Information AM Wednesday and says that while he knows they can't just take away the slow start to the season, he also knows that with how the Cardinals were playing heading into All Star Break, they be leading the division right now.

"All we need to do is play the style of baseball we have been playing: good defense, run the bases well," said Marmol. "Our offense is becoming more consistent and our rotation and bullpen are about as expected. We been playing good ball in the last two months and we need to keep doing that. If so, it be a fun couple months."

The second half of the Cardinals season begins on the road with trip to Atlanta and Pittsburgh to take on the Braves and Pirates. But after that six-game road trip to begin the second half, the Cardinals come back to Busch Stadium for a six-game homestand to take on the Washington Nationals and the defending World-Series champions Texas Rangers.

Marmol spoke about the passion of the Cardinals fans at Busch Stadium and says with how well the Cardinals are playing, the passion from the fans is giving the dugout and players a ton of energy and they are all feeding off of it.

"When we are playing good baseball, and our crowd gets behind what we are doing, it's a heck of a lot of fun," said Marmol. "Whenever you get the crowd behind you, and the one we won against the Cubs (last Saturday night), it was loud man. I didn't make it for all nine innings because I got tossed, but even inside my office, you can hear them. So it's a fun environment."