April 18, 2010

Cardinals Offense

Saturday night’s twenty-inning, 2-1 loss to the Mets exposed a weakness in the Cardinals lineup that the team had covered so far this season. They came into the contest with 49 runs in 10 games, a good scoring rate of 4.9 runs per game. However, the team slash line was a rather anemic .238/.317/.419. The Cardinals were scoring well, because they were hitting for power with men on base. Nine of their fourteen home runs came with men on base, good for a slugging percentage of .460. Power with men on base moves runners a long way, which is why teams want power hitters batting behind players whose main strength is getting on base.

Saturday night, that didn’t happen. Their three doubles came with the bases empty, and four of their five singles with men on base came with a man on first only. I keep hearing praise for Mark McGwire as a hitting coach, but the overall numbers for the team as of Sunday morning, .234/.319/.392 are less than impressive. The .319 OBP is third lowest in the NL, and that was a stat McGwire excelled at. So far, the team is hitting batting average wise like Mark, but without his selectivity nor his power.

Matthew Carruth also has a note on Jerry Manuel’s use of Francisco Rodriguez Saturday night. He threw about 100 pitches in the bullpen.

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