It is not surprising that the St. Louis Cardinals are just 2-5 to start the season given the low level of contribution from two top offensive stars. Outfielder Matt Holliday remains out as he recovers from an appendectomy, while first baseman Albert Pujols is in an unusual place – the midst of a deep slump.
The man generally recognized as the best player in the game has slumped before – every player has – but Pujols’ struggles are magnified because his team has uncharacteristically stumbled out of the gate as well.
We will look at a few of Pujols’ numbers through the initial seven contests of the 2011 season with a historical context included. If/when Pujols does get his game in order, one can see the type of year that is typical/expected of him.
0 = Intentional bases on balls. Normally, opposing managers fear Pujols, pitching around him in crucial situations. That has yet to occur in 2011. Albert led the NL in intentional walks in each of the last three seasons, totaling 116.
0 = Number of doubles. Pujols has averaged 43 two-base hits per season over his ten-year career.
1 = Home runs. Albert led the National League in long balls each of the last two seasons, totaling 89 during that time.
2 = Walks. Normally a patient hitter, Pujols drew a total of 322 walks in 2008-10, or an average of 107 per year. His current pace will leave him with 46 this season. That would be exactly half of his lowest yearly total since 2004.
E3, E3 = Two errors in the field. The reigning NL Gold Glove winner and two-time selection as the top defender in the league at first base had just four miscues during his entire 2010 season of 157 games.
4 = Runs batted in. Since his 2001 debut, Pujols has averaged 156 games played per season. He is on pace to finish the 2011 season with a career-low 89 RBI. Albert has never finished below 103 and had just one year with less than 116 driven in.
5 = Double plays ground into, tops in MLB. The Cardinals’ number three hitter has averaged just 20 GIDPs per season over his first decade as a major leaguer. His current rate would have him approaching his normal full-season mark by the end of the first month.
5 = Hits in 28 at-bats over seven games. Four of the five were singles, making his line .179/.226/.286 (BA/OBP/SLG).
60 Minutes = Sunday night television show in which Pujols will appear this week to discuss his charitable endeavors.
$300,000,000 = Amount of money Pujols is reportedly seeking for his services for the 2012-2021 seasons.
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Albert played better with Brendan on the team, but he’s still the best .179 hitter in baseball. Eventually, the identity of the next scapegoat will be revealed. Who will it be? Stay tuned.
Albert better watch it, Brendan has gone 1 for 3 the last couple games and is now batting .167.
Fox believes the Midwest wants to watch the Yankees/Red Sox why?
People at the network live in a bubble
Maybe Bill and Mo convinced them to show us a team with a higher payroll and a worse W-L record than the Cards.
Lineup: Schumaker 2B, Jay LF, Pujols 1B, Berkman RF, Rasmus CF, Molina C, Descalso 3B, Garcia P, Greene SS
Four lefties in top five, interesting. Therriot showed some sign of a pulse, so it is fitting he be allowed some pine time to savor it.
Does anyone know who our emergency catcher is?
With Matt available to PH tonight its unlikely Laird will be used again, but still, I’m sure we have somebody.
I believe it is Descalso.
Never would have guessed Descalso. I suppose Mott could be double secret emergency cacher.
Yes, it is Descalso.
All of Crdswmn’s favorites doing well to start the season – Greene, Tallet, just lack Theriot to come along
Garcia looked good covering first on the DP. Impessive so far. Lots of strikes, quick pace.
Everyone is talking about Albert but YAdi at .130 is exactly distinguishing himself.
Jay is playing with fire getting picked like that with the best .167 hitter in baseball at the plate. I suppose the Mariners could always use another center fielder.
82 pitches for Garcia. Last time, it was leaving him in that was kinda surprising.
You know fat mouth Franklin will blame Colby for that debacle. When is TLR going to learn that FRANKLIN SUCKS.
I think both of them can share some blame and deservedly so. You put two hands on the ball, ou should make the catch, no matter the elements. I hate it happened to him, after that monster hit he had. I agree on the Franklin Sucks part.
I don’t know what happened out there, wind, or collision or failure to see the ball or whatever, but the fact remains that I saw Franklin’s face and it was clear, he was not going to accept blame. Well, if you lob balls up there like Franklin did, you are going to get them smacked. Hopefully, Colby will not let it eat on him. I don’t give a (darn) about Franklin, he’s a loser.
Something has to change for sure, this whole team is in a folly. And it’s one that’s not quite funny. Tomorrow is another day, but this ulcer keeps growing.
Agreed on hoping this doesn’t eat on Colby, too fine a player. One of the few bright offensive spots this season.
Tomorrow is another day. Oh Scarlett, if it were that simple.
Crdswmn-dumb comment .Franklin has been pretty good the last couple of years.He`s having a bad streak now.Colby simply messed up.Admit you can say it.RCW will probably say it too.
Crdswmn-if the CF learns to catch the freaking ball.Franklin has been bad but Colby should catch that ball.Of course when nothing is going right crap like this happens.
Hopefully Franky will not emulate Albert and Chris as far as making a public spectacle.
The problem is that he’s a pitch to contact, and our defense is poor up the middle. Having no outfield arms is also a problem.
Didn’t watch the game last night so I had to watch it this morning before commenting………….My comment was …….efffff…..he should have had that. Oh well…..Holliday back in the lineup today will hopefully allow for more runs scored and more margin for error.
98% of the time, Rasmus catches the ball. 99.9% of the time, Pujols catches one he dropped Friday in the 9th. Life happens.
Anyone who’s ever played the game knows sometimes when things are going bad the mistakes can keep coming and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. This is just one of those times for the Cardinals. Its tough to watch but be certain….the guys in the dugout are really having a hard time going through it.
Its not easy when things are going bad and the mistakes just keep coming.
Matt will spark them today hopefully.
I hate to bring out the old “this team needs a spark”. No, I really think this team needs a change of philosophy. I’m an ardent TLR supporter for a long time, but something isn’t clicking and it’s contagious. I think from what I’ve seen it matters not that it’s only the 2nd week of the season. I can’t see this getting better, or shall I say better enough? I’m not for manager changes during the season, rarely do you see a profound enough effect. I would, however, support a move now. Too many good players on this team, to be playing like this.
A change could lift some heads that are sagging low at the moment.
Just one man’s opinion.
GO CARDS!!!!!!
If only.
Is a manager change going to make Albert hit? Colby catch the ball? Jay learn to run the bases? Molina hit? Is a new manager going to fix all those?
As for Franklin……….IMO its time for Motte or Boggs to get a shot at closing.Use Franklin in 7th or 8th.
It will be good to get Matt Holliday back, when he feels strong enough to play.
Matt Cain is a good pitcher. The Cards got ahead of him anyway, one strike from victory. The winds in San Francisco can be treacherous, like twilight in LA.
Cause and effect. Franklin puts two men on ahead of Tejada and then tosses meatballs to the plate. I’d say Franklin was asking for it. Yeah Colby should have caught the ball. So?
Franklin is no longer an effective closer. Try someone else.
I’m not gonna disagree that Frankie isn’t missing too many bats at the present time. Man I watched the interview of Frankie this morning and it was painful to watch. This has got to be tough on him.
I haven’t seen any of the postgame from last night. Colby was named star of the game by the FSM booth guys right before he ham handed Tejada’s fly. Did they do a star of the game interview?
I notice Tejada’s game winner was scored a double. Har. And Tony said it wasn’t a routine play. At this level, if you want to be a conteding team, that has to be a routine play. Of course, your closer can’t walk guys putting the tying run is scoring position and the winner on base, and you have to hit better than .216 as a team and get more than two runs. But it all matters.
Lets hope RC’s prediction of one out of three in SF turns out to be right.
If you go to the main TheCardinalNation.com site, I have posted links to both TLR’s and Franklin’s post-game interviews. I did not see one with Colby.
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_04_09_slnmlb_sfnmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=stl
A dejected Rasmus acknowledged that he should have hauled the ball in, although it was a tough play. Left fielder Jon Jay was also closing on the ball, and both men were going hard toward the wall.
“It definitely ruined my evening,” Rasmus said. “It’s not going to be a fun one for the rest of the day. I hate it for us, especially the way things have been going, to have that happen. It just happened so quick.”
I can see the play being ruled a hit….especially at home. I don’t think it was a routine play. Now I do think the play should have been made….most definitely….but routine? No.
I read where a misplay by Berkman contributed to the first run. Jeesh. Can anybody play this game?
I didn’t think Berkman misplayed that ball either. It was basically a broke bat blooper that he paused for a second and then came in on and it dropped in front of him.
I hadn’t noticed a problem while watching the game, he thinks he misplayed it. I think he’s done better than expected out there. But he’s not going to be diving and bouncing off the wall, and runners will take bases off his arm. Hopefully his bat and leadership will pay off.
Much better game today. A couple of defensive hiccups but the offense stepped up today to overshadow that, Lohse looked good.
On to Arizona, where it always feels like a home game with so many Cardinals fans in attendance.
I don’t watch a lot of games from SF, but I don’t think I have ever seen a series with so many balls glancing off fielders’ gloves. The scoring is very liberal.
Strange winds. Yes the scoring was very liberal.
Freese seems to be getting the rust off. Lohse is a positive.
Another 0 for 5 for Albert is disturbing. I wonder if Tony’s refusal to move him around the middle of the lineup to get different looks helps Albert or hurts him when it comes to breaking out of a slump. Last eason Albert got off track where he was just slapping out singles and couldn’t find the power stroke for quite a while. If he suddenlly showed up 5th for example, wouldn’t that mess up the opposition’s plan for how to pitch him? He will pull out, of course, but is unnecessary damage to the team’s chances being done meanwhile?
One of the things left over from last season is that he used to be able to get around on the inside pitch but keep it fair. He seems to have lost that touch. He still gets around, but nothing good comes of it.