Who woulda thunk it?! Well, we as the Cardinal faithful probably would have, I guess, because we have always known the potential of the three Matts: Carpenter, Holliday and Adams.
With the season ending and devastating (collective gasp! Sigh!) loss of Wainwright we knew the bats would have to wake up. Although Waino was just one of the five starters and we didn’t see him on the mound every day, his presence is felt at every game. Even in the dugout, which he has been missed since his injury, his presence is there. His positivity and belief in the team are going to be back before long…at least in the dugout.
So, let’s get back to these Matts, shall we? Looking at the three for the season, Carpenter is batting .372 with 3 home runs (tied for first on the team), 14 RBIs and has 13 doubles in 21 games. He has scored 21 runs and has an on base percentage of .438.
Looking at Holliday, who has a batting average of .379 with one home run and 14 RBIs, his biggest feat is his on base percentage of a whopping .500. He’s on base 50% of the time. I know it’s early, but hey, this is phenomenal. For a guy who’s been around for a while…well, don’t get me started.
Last, but not least (not that there is a least), let’s look at Matt Adams. His batting average is sitting at .304 with 3 home runs (yes, tied with Carp for the team lead) and another Matt with 14 RBIs.
Okay, so looking at that, there were some people questioning Matheny about a line up change that started just 3 games ago, on April 28. The movement of Carpenter from batting lead off (yet another collective gasp! Sigh!). That put the three Matt’s batting 2, 3, and 4 with Carp, Holliday and Adams. I guess we should take a look at those numbers:
* April 28: a big win for the Cards 11-5 against the Phillies. Carpenter went 2/4 with one RBI; Holliday 3/5 with one RBI; Adams 3/4 with 2 RBIs….
* April 29: another big win for the boys 5-2 against those Phillies. Carpenter was 0/4 with one RBI; Holliday was 0/2 with no RBIs; Adams 2/4 with 1 RBI…excitement over, silly line up change.
* April 30: third win in a row! Score: Cards 9, Phillies 3. Let’s see how the Matts did (since that darn Matheny decided to keep the change in the line up). Carp 2/3 with one RBI; Holliday 2/4 with 2 RBIs; Adams 3/5 with 3 RBIs…wait a minute…did that manager know what he was doing?!
You’re telling me that over the last three games, the three games where the Matts have hit 2-3-4, they are 17/25? That’s a combined batting average of .680 over those three games. Oh, and they also combined for 12 RBIs. Not too shabby.
As I’m sure you’ve read, the Cardinals have the best record in baseball (according to winning percentage) with a record of 15-6. That’s a winning percentage of .714. They are 2.5 games over the Cubs right now in the NL Central. Yes, it’s early, but it’s still jump up and down on your couch and yell at the TV exciting.
Get well soon, Waino!
As always…Go Cards!
Photo: fantasybaseballcrackerjack.com
