As my Descalso dismissal article is getting broken down and causing some finely tempered outrage, let me switch back to Happy Buffa and talk about the great weekend in Toronto…..
When the Cardinals lost on Friday night, 3-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays, things looked dire for the defending National League Champions. They were 31-31 and capped off a horrible week with another loss. Lance Lynn barely made it through 5 innings, the bats stranded over 10 runners and social media was full of theories and ledge crawls. Then, Shelby Miller took the mound Saturday and fired a complete game shutout. The bats arrived and banged in 5 runs to complete a 5-0 win. Sunday, Jaime Garcia pitched a gem and the bats delivered 5 more runs, two via the home run. Suddenly, the Cards handed the mighty Toronto Blue Jays back to back shutouts. The last time the Blue Jays were shut out was on April 17th. The Cards gave them two and while the pitching was supplied via the Miller and Garcia Express, the lineup arrived as well. Is this a tease or a legit discovery? What exactly went down in Canada?
Here are 5 ways the Cards are finding their bats.
1.)Home runs aren’t a bad thing. The Cardinals have hit 34 on the season as a team. The Blue Jays have at least 3 players with 10 home runs apiece. In Sunday’s win, the Cards got long balls from Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta(his first in nearly a month). It’s democratic to use singles, walks and doubles to score. The occasional bomb doesn’t hurt any team’s chances. No one in St. Louis could have bet the Cards would hit more home runs(3) than the Blue Jays(2) this weekend.
2.)Tony Cruz replaced a slumping Yadi Molina and delivered two huge hits. Molina sat for two straight days before taking over the DH spot for Matt Holliday on Sunday. Cruz took over, called a pair of great games for two young pitches and contributed two big game breaking hits. His two run single on Saturday broke open a close game. His RBI double gave the Cards a lead Sunday that they weren’t handing back. Cruz doesn’t get a ton of work but makes the most of his at bats and is hitting .290 as a starter. He may not be the best backup catcher in baseball, but for 521,000 dollars he sure gives the Cards a great bargain performance behind the plate.
3.)Matt Carpenter gives you the occasional dose of power from the leadoff spot. After going cold during the first two games of the series, Carpenter banged a 2 run home run to blow the game open on Sunday. Carpenter deserves a mention in any conversation about the Cardinals offense because he has been doing his job for over a month. He bolsters a .299 batting average and a .395 on base percentage to go with 23 RBI.
4.)Oscar Taveras is slowly starting to collect hits and get on base. Many fans are mad the kid hasn’t cranked 6 home runs and driven in 20 in his full week of games, but if patience exists in any household this kid is going to impress. He has played a great right field and taken some great cuts at the plate and singled and drew two walks on Saturday before collecting another hit on Sunday. Taveras isn’t going to step foot in the majors and torch the place but he is showing signs of breaking out. He isn’t going anywhere.
5.)The Cards didn’t have a horrible week overall at the plate. For the record, the bats broke out for 7 runs on Tuesday and 5 runs on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Birds had a 2-0 lead and it was given up. While it doesn’t seem like it, the Cards did produce 5 runs or more 4 different times this past week. The pitching started to crumble so that is why the box score doesn’t show more winners. For the first couple of months, this team couldn’t hit consistently and the bullpen cooked itself saving a rotation that wasn’t producing innings. One can only hope the bats keep going because the pitching needs a break.
The Cards take on the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday and Wednesday before returning to face the Washington Nationals at home Friday. Both teams aren’t bad and Washington is streaking a bit yet each have pitching that can be taken down if the bats are working. Can the Cards keep hitting? Matt Adams could be back in the lineup Wednesday and that will give them a boost. Any team that gets a .325 hitter back in the mix is bound to score more runs.
The team needs to keep showing signs of an emerging power supply as well as giving Taveras at bats so he can get more comfortable at the dish. Sooner or later, this team will resemble the team that made it within two wins of a World Series title in 2013. If not, the fans will return to the ledge because 33-31 isn’t going to cut it for the St. Louis Cardinals, home of the “best fans in baseball”.
Thanks for reading. Find me, rip me and/or interact with me on Twitter @buffa82 or in the comments section below.
7 comments
You’re busy singing the praises of Adams coming back with his .325 BA but you aren’t mentioning that it has been an extremely unproductive .325. We won’t get any boost from him coming back other than the meaningless hits he usually produces. When he does come back – who should we sit down? Craig is finding his mojo and you are all about OT remaining at the big league level? Between ST and this first appearance in the show – it is not at all apparent that OT can hit major league pitching. Yeah I know…the scouts all say he’s great…but they said the same thing about Colby Rasmus and they didn’t say anything about Pujols before making the team so that tells you just how much they “know”. I don’t think Adams will ever really scare anyone and no one that’s been watching feels good about him being at bat in a clutch situation. (Except the opposing pitchers.) As for OT – we’ll see but I’m not counting on very much to be perfectly frank.
Adams has a lot more than meaningless hits sir. His OPS(slugging and on base) is .811 and he has 16 doubles. I call that a lot more than unproductive. This lineup needs a .325 hitter anytime. ESP with guys like Holliday struggling to find their swing. Disregarding a hitter like Adams is downright illogical. Oscar hasn’t gotten the hits but he has taken good swings and looked good at the plate. That isn’t easy for someone who centers on standard stats to see but patience is needed with Oscar. I hope he is kept with the team and finds at bats and learns to grow into being a major leaguer. Comparing him to Colby or Albert is also illogical after only a small sample size of at bats. Patience my friend.
Craig may have found his mojo but his slugging is below .400 and he is hitting .253 so let’s relax on him finding his stroke. He had a nice end to May but hasn’t torn the ball up. He had a nice Toronto series but needs to keep it going. Adams will fit right in.
In stead of talking about who you think the Cardinals should get rid of, why don’t you write a piece on who the Cardinals need to acquire via trade.
That’s a good question. And I have written about it. Inquired about the idea of Giancarlo for this site in May. Right now, it’s a little blurry about potential trades so they will be referenced(like I did with price in my column that just went up) but will eventually get a column to itself as we edge closer to July 31.
Dan…Adam’s BA with RISP is under .200. His hits and doubles have largely come by slapping the ball to the opposite field to beat the shift. Now I’m not saying that’s the wrong thing to do against the shift but they aren’t doing that to him with runners on base and he has been virtually an automatic out in those situations. I’m a Cardinal fan – I want him to be good but I just don’t see it. He was horrible in the WS last year – missing pitches by a foot. Left handed bat off the bench – taking an occasional shot at a long ball – okay, but that’s about it.
Adams’ OPS of .811 is one of the highest on the team and until Craig and Holliday are slugging as much as Adams, he has to play. You can’t disregard a .325 average because it starts rallies. The fact that no one can drive Adams in doesn’t speak badly on him. Sure, he hasn’t shown the power from 2013 but barely any Cardinal truly has. Adams isn’t the problem.
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