What is it with the Cardinals this year? That the pitching is a disaster is a given, so lets see how it working at the plate. In general there's a lot of improvements, but the many injuries leave their scars.

Lead off

From a .295 average and .368 on base percentage last year to .280/.340 now. About 94% of the 557 at bats so far were from David Eckstein (476) and Aaron Miles (50) and it's those 50 Miles ABs that drag the totals down. Eckstein's number as lead off are .290/.348, while Miles recorded .260/.315. It's clear that Eckstein's injuries didn't only hurt him.

Despite a lack of power for Eckstein (1 homer this year against 8 last year), his base travelling has improved. Back in February I wrote it was .342 last year. Now it's .366 with 65 runs, 122 singles, 14 double, 1 triple, 1 homer, 30 walks, 14 hbp, 7 steals, 6 times caught stealing.

Eckstein's improved run rate has a lot to do with who are batting behind him. Compared to last year the slugging percentages of batters 2 through 6 have all improved from a combined .494 to .529, mainly thanks to Albert Pujols phenomenal power.

Heads and tails

The middle of the ballgame is solid from a Cardinal perspective. It's the lack of finishing power and the lack of knocking out the opposition in the early rounds that are the problems.

In the first two innings this year, the Cards hit a homerun per 32 AB. Last year that was one per 23 AB. Not that homeruns are all that counts, but it shows almost a lack of wanting to hurt the opposition right from the start. Compared to the fourth and fifth where batting averages have risen above .300 and with a homerun every 20 AB in the fifth, that's a weak start where apparently a lot more is possible. It looks as if the team actually needs to be trailing to perform as their batting averages is highest when trailing by one. When leading the Cardinals bat .259, but when trailing it's .285.

The tail end of the game provides the same problem as the start. In innings six through nine they bat .254, twenty points below the overall average.

Why?

It could be many things, of course. I'm looking at it from a few thousand miles and just see the numbers. It could be the curse of the weak division. The almost assurance that no matter how much below their level they play, the Cards are going to make the playoffs anyway. The curse of underperforming in the post season, the "lets save the best for last" idea. Who knows. For now I'm going with the many disruptions in the line up due to injuries. These are professional athletes who I expect will give 100% no matter what. Or am I naive? Either way, unless the pitching improves by a lot very quickly, I fear the play offs will once again be short.

Labels: Baseball, Cardinals