The brutal loss on Tuesday was a team effort, but don’t tell that to the Trevor Rosenthal and Mike Matheny critics. In their mind, all the blame falls on their shoulders as if they took the at bats at the plate and played in the field all night. It’s never that simple in baseball. NEVER. Most losses are team losses. Sure, it’s easy to nitpick and look here or there for a rightful owner of shame. I have done it several times because it makes good reading and makes a writer/fan feel better. However, the right approach to look at last night’s miserable blowup is confronting the entire team.
Let’s look at the Usual Suspects.
Rosenthal. He didn’t do his job. That much is known. It could have been the well worn tweets and words in my columns yesterday about his newfound sharpness in September. He had 5 saves, a 3-1 K/BB ratio and wasn’t throwing as many pitches in September before last night. However, Rosenthal blew his sixth save of the year. He committed the immortal sin of all relievers and that is walking the leadoff hitter. Jonathan Lucroy was patient and didn’t try to tie the game on one swing late in a 2-1 ballgame. He waited and walked. Hector Gomez pinch ran for him. A double and ground out later, Rosenthal allowed a fly ball to left field that Matt Holliday played perfectly. The left fielder got behind it and made a strong throw to home plate. It wasn’t quick enough to get the speedy Gomez. Game tied. Mood flipped. Anger initiated in Busch Stadium. The work of a closer walks the fine line of hero and goat. Rosenthal carries a grenade to the mound every save chance and he does his best to keep the pin in. A one run lead in September has to be held. There’s no getting around that. Rosenthal’s closer status carried big highs and the required lows. However, Trevor doesn’t get all the blame for Tuesday’s loss.
Kevin Siegrist. He walked a batter with one out and allowed a free pass to the wrong guy. Carlos Gomez. It comes down to more than speed folks. It’s knowing how to steal bases and take advantage of lazy relievers. Siegrist barely threw over and nearly forgot about Gomez. The lefty never gave Yadier Molina a chance. Gomez stole two bases and easily scored on the bloop hit from who else…Hector Gomez. You are taught in high school how to hold runners on at all times. The little things bit the Cards hard last night.
The offense as a whole collected 7 singles last night. Since Bob Yecker is in the house this week calling the games for Milwaukee, I’ll break out a Harry Doyle moment here. SEVEN GODDAMN SINGLES!! Yeah. With the bases loaded in the 1st inning and a run already in with nobody out, Jhonny Peralta grounded into a double play and Yadier Molina was retired as well. When you stop producing after five batters, the game isn’t easy to win.
Yadier Molina. He carried a hot bat into the game but went 0-5 at the plate. He left runners on base and couldn’t produce much with the bat. In a one run game in the 12th inning, he swung at the first pitch from K-Rod and popped out. All in all, not a good night for Yadi.
Jhonny Peralta. He was 0-5 at the plate as well, and his night could have been flipped if a deep fly in the 12th goes a bit further and ties the game. It fell short and so did Peralta’s night at the plate.
Matt Adams really wanted to play yesterday and drew his 16th walk in the second half of the season to give the Cards an early 1-0 lead. He didn’t do much the rest of the night. He was hitless and continues his second half spiral. It can be looked at as cruel to zero in on Adams but since the Craig trade, Adams has flat lined. He hasn’t taken advantage of all the at bats given to him via the Craig departure. In the heat of a playoff chase, Adams isn’t producing. I don’t care about average or OBP from the big guy. He is a cleanup hitter. Look to Jhonny Peralta. He doesn’t have a great batting average but he mashes when needed. Adams needs to draw more walks and start cranking or the Cards need to drop him in the order. A sixth spot for Adams seems a lot more realistic. He has suffered a power outage post All Star Break, slugging .349 after putting together a .532 in the first half. Definition of a power outage goes like this. “An Interruption in use or functioning.”
I DO NOT FAULT Mike Matheny at all for last night. He put the right guys in to succeed and the players failed. Pat Neshek came in and did well. Rosenthal didn’t do his job. Seth Maness pitched a solid inning and Siegrist was set up to do well and failed at the little things. The moves off the bench were solid. Pete Kozma came in for Kolten Wong late and that was debatable, but you want your best defense out there in a one run game. Matheny, for once, didn’t play a big role in a brutal loss.
Apologies to Lance Lynn. He has fired two absolute gems in a row and has nothing to show for it. Two outings. 15 innings. Two earned runs. Instead of having 17 wins, Lynn is stuck on 15 because the Cards ran into Johnny Cueto and Wily Peralta. No run support for Lynn? How things have changed inside one season…
This was a tough loss. The Brewers are within striking distance. With a win, the Cards could have pushed the Brewers 6 games back. With one failure, a two game swing keeps things interesting. The Pirates won as well, so their deficit shortens to 2.5 games. With two weeks left, the little things come into play. What passed as an early or midseason gaffe now stands out in this late stage of a 162 game season. The Cards can ill afford to not hit well for an entire game or make the mistakes when holding a one run lead. The schedule isn’t tough, but that only tightens the grip on the lead and adds pressure.
It’s old and well prescribed but true. If the Cards fail to win the NL Central, the blame falls solely on them. They are in control right now. Will they be in control in 12 days? If I knew the answer, this game wouldn’t be as grand.
Thanks,
DLB
