Never in my short life have I been this frustrated with our coveted Redbirds. If you were occupied elsewhere last night, then you were lucky enough to miss their monumentally depressing and embarrassing loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates (which can be described as less of a cohesive major league baseball team and more of random pairing of beer league-rs with majorly misplaced mediocre talent).
Believe me, this is not hyperbole. The Pirates are not only the worst team in the Central Division (a cool 30 games back from Cinci), they are the worst team in the entire National League, with only the D-Backs and Nationals keeping them in near company. Let me emphasize one more time for you the point I'm trying to get across: the Pirates currently have the fewest number of wins this season throughout ALL of baseball (43 — the Orioles have 45). This includes their two most recent victories over a team with statistically, the best potential for offensive production in the league and almost unarguably the most elite pitching staff in the league. One former Cy Younger, another that deserved it last season and will deserve it again this season, a potential rookie of the year in Garcia, and the dependable veterans: Westbrook and Suppan. That's basically as good as you're going to get for starters, especially when you include McClellan and Franklin in the bullpen. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, lets just say it's the Holliday/McGwire factor.
"The Cardinals are currently pacing the league average for runs scored per game at 4.59 runs per game. Not great, but certainly not terrible either. The Cardinals are 4th in OPS+ (On base % + slugging %) though, at 103 compared to the NL average of 95 in OPS+. So, while the Cardinals offense is scoring in the middle of the pack so far, the lack of hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP) has them producing runs at a rate less than their OPS+ would imply. The timing of hits is almost completely statistically random to the best of my limited knowledge, so it should correct over the course of the season."
That's a quote from a Cardinal Nation article, published on May 6, that addressed the perplexing quality of the early 2010 Cardinal offense, and yet it sounds like it could have just been published this week. Clearly not much has been "correct(ed) over the course of the season," and with September looming, time is running out to even place a foothold in the Wild Card race.
The score from last night's game was 5-2, with both teams getting 8 hits each, but in his characteristic fashion Matt Holiday (the team's highest paid player with a salary of $16.3 million, beating out even Pujols' $14.6 million) was not able to drive in a single run with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. He popped out on his first pitch, and then Lopez grounded out, cementing the "low point of the season," as the dejected post-game hosts put it.
Truly, why do we pay Holliday the big bucks if he can't perform under pressure or even in key situations? Isn't that a basic job qualification in almost any field (except for government of course)? Aaron Miles only makes $2.7 million and yet he's the most clutch hitter on the team, especially with RISP. Yes, Holliday does start slow, but he got out of his early funk and is actually putting up much more than pedestrian numbers (.301 Avg and 22 homers), they're just never coming at the right time. Could he be feeling claustrophobic under Pujols' superstar shadow, or perhaps jealous that he's not getting the same attention? Is he resting on the laurels of his mammoth contract? Is it simply another rebuilding year where we have to wait for hitters to adjust to new hitting coach Mark McGwire's eccentricities? Whatever it is, the rest of the team is having to pick up his slack, and with Rasmus not at 100%, Freeze out for the season and the loss of Ludwick still stinging, that may not be enough for a post-season appearance.
On a personal note, I haven't felt this engaged in a Cardinal season since 2002 when we lost Darryl Kyle and Jack Buck, and yet still managed to eek out a chance at the pennant (we lost to Arizona after losing Rolen to injury). Learning that Jack Buck had died hit me hard, like many in Cardinal Nation, mainly because we had literally grown up to the sound of his voice on KMOX. When my own father (the man who introduced me to baseball, the Cards and Jack Buck) passed away last year, it may have sparked some latent passion I had brewing inside me that called me to pray at the altar of the birds on the bat. All I know is that, as I mentioned earlier I've not felt this level of frustration with the team in my life, and I am beginning to truly understand why my dad would constantly change the channel or simply shuffle upstairs to bed when things got dicey on the diamond. I got close to that point tonight, but I didn't start watching until the seventh, so I may already be there.
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