Over the previous two seasons, the St. Louis Cardinals have been known for being a team who never gives up, or as Fox Sports broadcaster Joe Buck says, “They just won’t go away.”
36 games through the 2013 season and the Cardinals have shown the media given idea to hold true.
No, 2011 World Series most valuable player David Freese has not hit a game tying triple and game winning home run in consecutive at bats – in fact he hasn’t hit a home run yet this season. There have not been any extra inning heroics sending the crowd into frenzy on the green patch of grass above the center field wall.
Instead this year each inning serves as a chance to win the ball game, well any inning when runners reach second or third.
The Cardinals have the best record in baseball and the best batting average (.336) with runners in scoring position and two outs.
For perspective of how high this mark is, the next best NL average with RISP and two outs is the defending World Series champions, San Francisco Giants. They have a team average of .269.
First baseman Allen Craig has thrived on two out runners batted in. He has collected 15 of his 27 total RBI.
His batting average in this situation is .588. More impressive is that 40 percent of the time thus far he has put himself in scoring position by hitting an RBI double.
Left fielder Matt Holiday is hitting .500 when runners reach second or third with two outs and .448 less than two outs. Holiday is slumping without RBI situations hitting .246 overall thus far and is striking out 15 percent of the time.
The thing to remember is that it is still May, and the season still has 126 games left. The video game-numbers will fall back to reality as at bats are accumulated.
But as long as the Cardinals are getting on base, Holliday and Craig are expected to drive the runners in. With Craig hitting behind Holliday most games, Holliday will continue to see better pitches instead of drawing intentional walks.
