The two big bats in the St. Louis Cardinals lineup have been driving in runs with two outs in 2010.
Much has been written this season about the poor productivity with runners in scoring position by the middle of the St. Louis Cardinals lineup, especially clean-up hitter Matt Holliday. Further, fans seem to be eagerly awaiting the day that both hitters get in their groove at the same time.
Perhaps those criticisms should be retired already – at least regarding those times when the Cardinals have two outs.
In the National League, Albert Pujols and Holliday are currently ranked first and tied for second, respectively, in two-out RBI this season. Number three hitter Pujols has 29 and with 28, clean-up hitter Holliday is right behind. Holliday is knotted with former Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus, now with Atlanta.
In those two-out situations, Pujols is batting .313 after his two-run home run in the ninth-inning Friday night in Houston. Holliday’s .359 average with two outs is the best in the entire National League.
On the current road trip to Colorado and Houston, Holliday is batting .389 with a 1.111 slugging percentage, including four home runs and eight RBI.
A non flat-billed cap tip to Cardinals media relations for the research.
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Key points:
Have the financial flexibility to improve team.
Shying away from rental players.
Most worried about price of prospects, not salary assumed.
Don’t want huge back loaded contract though.
Other teams want big league-ready players in trade.
Cards have some prospects they are willing to include.
Will not trade Pujols.
Optimal time to discuss contract is off-season.
We should factor in Mo’s comments about needing a ‘clubhouse’ guy to ‘break the ice’. DeRosa and Will Clark were mentioned in the article as examples. I would guess Larry Walker is another. It would have to be an established veteran with some heft, although not necessarily a fading big star type. Mo wants somebady who can help on the field too.
I expect trying to manage the clubhouse dynamic on this team would be hazardous. Could very easily do more harm that good.
Like I’ve stated before, when I watch the Cardinals I see the Ryder cup. They come together and play as a team but when it comes down to it its not life or death if they lose. I believe Matt may be the one to turn that mentality around one day but right now everyone considers that to be the leaders job, but the leader will be focusing on the leaders game.
“Holliday is knotted with former Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus, now with Atlanta”
On other Cardinal fan feed-back sites, I’ve seen a great deal of whining that we let Troy go, contending that much of our distress would have been eliminated if we had retained him and used David Freese as a back-up.
- With regard to their careers: David is up-and-coming and Troy (only a .255 hitter) is entering into his natural decline.
- With regard to this season: Matt is catching fire and Troy has become less productive and is beginning to fade… Aye, indeed! We have every indication that Matt and David will shine brilliantly during the second half…
Two fly balls so far, one was caught and the other went for a double…
If Jeff can just induce a grounder, we’ll have a DP and get out of this inning unscathed…
Oh, well… A fielder’s choice is close enough for Rock n’ Roll…
Feliz is a light .223 Mendoza Line hitter.. C’mon, Jeff; you can strike him out…
Now, Feliz is a .226 hitter with a coupla RBI’s…
C’mon Jeff: Show that .059 hitter who is boss!
Damn missed DP.
‘Twas the grounders that produced the outs and ’twas the fly balls that hurt so much (all three ended-up in hits)…
You’re right, crdswmn; that missed DP was key…
Jon is on a holy tear! He now has a 10 game hitting streak!
We’ll open-up on ‘em during the 2nd or 3rd time through. I only hope that, by then, we won’t be too deep in the hole. Someone yesterday said that we will need 6 runs today…
The Houston pitcher sent that fly ball deep into right-center…
I think the word that applies to the upcoming offseason is “optimal.” That’s the best time for us to negotiate something to keep Albert in town for a long time. Those negotiations aren’t easy for a player of Albert’s stature. It remains to be seen what we can do. But we’ll make every effort to see where it goes. I don’t have a crystal ball to say if it can get done in 24 hours or if we would go the entire winter without getting something done. It’s tough. The market can change in either direction.
BD’s last sentences are always provocative. This paragraph say many things.
There is good reason that Dave Duncan demands for his pitchers to “keep it down” and to induce grounders…
Got that DP. The offense is going to have to work hard tonight.
Case-in-point! We’re out of the inning and there was no further harm…
The grounder for that DP, by the way, was hit to almost the same exact spot as last inning’s fielder’s choice…
Keep it up, Myers! Pretty soon, our guys will hit ‘em where they ain’t.
Our boppers will be coming-up next inning: If we don’t start opening-up then, we will start opening-up the third time through. These guys (and our scouts) have seen Brett Myers before and I must believe that they’ve got a plan…
Attaboy, Jeff: You got the mighty Lance Berkman to ground-out and you got the mighty El Cabayo to ground-out
I think it was wise of Jeff to give Pence a pass…
Whew! Thanks to Jeff and our fielders, we won’t be too far in the hole when we open-up and bomb on them…
Jon ain’t the only one on a holy tear! Wow!
An RBI out… We’ll take that!
Thanks to Albert and Matt, we’ve just begun to flex our muscles. If the bottom of the order doesn’t generate something, the Astros better duck when they face us the third time through.
Jeff got us through 4 innings with minimal damage. It’s time now for the offense to “let ‘er rip”!
Hustlin’ NIck has answered the call!
Larrupin” LaRue, however, dashed Nick’s efforts
We’re really stretching Jeff… He’s nigh unto 80 pitches.
With 2 in scoring position, ’twas wise to lift him… and Mitchell is an excellent choice.
The top and bottom of the order have done nothing so far. Other than Albert, we’ve been pretty quiet. Four more chances. Too bad we haven’t been able to run up Myers count.
Surely, now, going into the order for the third time, a 3 run deficit is nothing to our guys…
Let’s see the PH8 strategy in action in the 6th.
It’s been a while since Tyler produced and I would imagine that he’s feelin’ mean n’ nasty!
Mean n’ nasty as in looks like he’s never batter before.
Roger that! Oh, well… We’ve got our Big Boppers coming up during the next inning…
Well, nobody could get on to bring up Albert. Maybe the middle of the order will have to show the kids how its done.
no one is showing much in their approach to Myers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
You’re right, so far it’s been Albert-Matt-Jon-Nick… Sure hope they unleash all together with this next inning.
As I recall, Brett Myers stymied us the last time we faced him. I’m surprised that our guys have not figured him out…
Its probably because they’ve spent too much time trying to figure him out.
You mean watching video tapes?
Well Westy, maybe the big boys will approach him up one side and down the other this inning.
Right 57, thats my thinking.
Having gone 2 for 2 so far, Albert has at least figured him out…
If Matt goes 0 for 3, we will know that HE hasn’t figured him out..
I think this is Jon’s first game against Myers
Sure didn’t take JON long to figure him out!
Myers plays on the barbed-wire edge of disaster. With all the fly balls he’s allowed, I’m surprised that we haven’t hit many where they ain’t…
We’ve had 6 fly ball outs and 4 fly ball hits…
It simple………make him throw strikes……………..the breaking ball is to good to pull………..If you go up hitting the middle..slicing the curve……….you will pressure him………the stretch always slows him down…………………….I think you all realize that we likely lose tomorrow if we roll over today.
Suppan has to be done………..he has nothing…………that is as good as he can throw and it isn’t enough.
It was a battle royal against veteran Berkman, but MItchell got both him and Keppinger out on grounders…
It doesn’t seem like DD is getting anywhere with Sup. Certainly we’ve seen no flashes of something better to come.
It will be a relief pitcher when they face our boppers one more time
He’s the dud that we signed and he’s done just about what we’ve asked (not expecting much)
If we lose today, I will put the blame on our offense
Who the heck is Travis Wood?
Whoever said yesterday (with Suppan in mind), that we will need to score 6 today, was absolutely right…
Travis Wood is a red-hot rookie
Yep, top o’ the ninth shall be our final stand… We’ll have Flip and Skip to get us to Albert. And then, hopefully, we’ll have Matt n’ Jon heroics on top of that…
I’m assuming Colby is day-to-day with that hamstring. Seeing MIles and Winn tonight really made me miss him (I thought that he might have been able to pinch hit)
I can’t believe that we allowed Myers to pitch a 5 hitter!
The word is he’s done till the break
Why did Tony put Yadi in?
He is missed…
Pinch hit for Larue I think
C’mon guys! Lindstrom is damned good, but he ain’t nuthin’ we can’t chew-up and spit-out…
With a good eye and patience, Skip did his part…
Two beach balls (the first and the last): Both allowed to sail by! Why????
Oh, I get it! He wants to put the pressure on our red-hot rookie to hit the game-tying three run homer!
Don’t blame Suppan: Blame the offense!
Watch the betting line tomorrow…………..
The missed DP didn’t help.
Extra innings in Reds game. Perfect game blown.
You’re right, crdswmn…
Since the Phillies stranged a man on third, they’ll have another crack at a walk-off in the 10th. It is imperative that the Reds lose!
“stranged”? I meant, “stranded”!
With a 5.02 ERA Closer “Has been”, the Phillies can be had…
Myers was pretty darn good tonight. No shame in taking this one on the chin. Myers was just better than us tonight.
Tomorrow is Hawk against Wandy I believe? Wandy has been electric his last 3 or 4 starts so that may be a battle as well.
When Wandy is “on”, he’s a veritable Oswald…
Thanks to the Phillies, we’re still only 2 behind…
Whew. Reds lost.
.500 may end up winning the central as this division is the ugliest in the big leagues.
Lets see what Mo comes up with at the deadline.
RC, a bit of an exaggeration there as there has never been a .500 or below division winner in MLB history.
What we need: Ludwick and Freese back. Decent starting pitcher (either Penny comes back or we make a trade for one). Somebody or something to light a fire under the offense.
My hope for any or all of these asap are about 50/50.
The 2006 NL Central didn’t miss by much. That was Cards and Cincy too.
What are the chances of history repeating itself?
Perhaps Beane is tired of paying Ben Sheets.
I can see us taking the NL Central with 83 wins. After that it gets tricky.
It worked in 2006.
Yadi hit .216 that year, maybe history is repeating itself
Now that is kind of spooky.
Well Brian, This years Central is shaping up to be weak as a whole with the two contending teams not really showing an ability, to this point, to play real well. I certainly expect the Cardinals to play better in the second half and my guess is that the cards will end up being the better team when all is said and done. But today both the Cards and the Reds have looked like anything but possible of winning much.
Whoa. A’s beat the Angels 15-1. I want that offense.
Crdswmn, you may want their offense from last night, but you don’t want their offense in general. The Cardinals have 23 more runs this season without a DH (normally).