Tag: 2014 season

The Cardinals bring the big sticks to Miller Park

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For the past few years, the St. Louis Cardinals lack of power is well known. They rank near the bottom of the National League in home runs. However, if there is one place the Birds love to carry the big sticks to play, it’s Miller Park against the Milwaukee Brewers. At the start of Sunday’s action, the Cards have won 4 of 6 games there this season, scoring 24 runs and cranking 7 home runs. However, let’s look at the last two seasons of play at Miller Park.

While their average at Miller Park since the start of the 2013 season may be decent at best(.282), the manner in which the Cardinals score their runs differs from every other road park they play in. The Cardinals have scored 143 in 27 games, an average of 5.3 runs per game. In those 27 games, the Cards have amassed 412 total bases and 42 doubles.

In 2014, the Cards cranked 14 home runs, more than doubling their total from Wrigley Field and Great American Ballpark. In 2013, they smashed 19 doubles and 15 home runs at Miller Park, slugging .500. Om 2015, the Cardinals have amassed 12 doubles in just 5 games.

There are certain Cardinals who love hitting at Miller, including Jhonny Peralta. In his 15 games there, Peralta is 23-58(.396) with 4 home runs and 13 RBI. There’s a reason Mike Matheny doesn’t rest the guy there. Jhonny likes to rake. The injured Jon Jay found success at Miller Park, collecting 4 hits in 10 at bats in April. Overall, in the last three seasons, Jay has a .353 batting average. Matt Holliday doesn’t find the average but he has hit 6 home runs in his 20 games played. Other Cardinals like Matt Adams and Yadier Molina have also hit well there. Ex-Cards and former RBI machine Allen Craig hit .393 there in 2013. As a team, the Cards have slugged .460 at the park since 2013.

Their lack of power overall may be hard to deny, but when the Birds fly into Milwaukee, the big bats ride with them. It’s a place they have found plenty of comfort the past few years. In 27 games, the Cardinals have amassed a record of 19-8, dominating an opponent that challenged them for the division title just last year. The rivalry between these teams from the red hot battles of 2011 may have died off over the past few seasons, but the ability of the Cards to handle the Brewers in their own house is apparent.

When people think of 2015 and Miller Park, they will probably think about losing Adam Wainwright there on April 25th. They can find some peace in the Birds record and ability to hit for power in Milwaukee.

5 Things About The 2014 Cards

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It’s official folks.  Pitchers and catchers report to Jupiter, Florida in exactly a week.  The waiting is nearly over with and the anticipation is going to start boiling over.1386088930000-cardinals-logo   Sometimes fans forget about the 45 days that happen before the real 162 game stretch begins.  This is where rosters start large and full of promise and end up shredded and cut to size.  With no disrespect to the Blues, the Super Bowl is over and that means one thing in St. Louis.  Baseball is near.

With that goal in mind, I am going to take a look at five things that strike me as interesting about this 2013 Cardinals team.   There are a lot of things worth talking about but here I will give you five for now.

5.) Daniel Descalso has one very good agent.   One thing that struck me about John Mozeliak’s media session at the Winter Warmup was his icy feelings towards the Descalso camp.  Dirty Dan wanted 1.6 million and the Cards were offering 900,000 and sticking to it.  Yesterday, Descalso signed for 1.2 million, a price met by the Cards due to the fear of the first arbitration trial for the Cards in like….forever.  Was this a good deal?  For Descalso, it sure is.  He gets financial security but I am not sure where the Cards are going to justify him with the at bats and playing time.

Descalso isn’t fighting Pete Kozma for starts anymore.  He is fighting the future in Kolten Wong and the seasoned veteran edge of Mark Ellis.  He may have won at the bank but in the field not so much.  Ellis didn’t come here to play behind two younger players.  Descalso’s OPS(on base percentage plus slugging percentage) was downright horrible last year and his batting average(.238) wasn’t much better.  In a dog fight there isn’t much he offers to the team in reality over a defensive wizard like Kozma or a younger buck like Greg Garcia.

I like Descalso and appreciate his fine contributions over the years, but his defense has gotten worse and his bat doesn’t do enough to justify a spot.  His 1.2 million isn’t as bad as Ty Wiggington’s 2.5 last year but it still leaves me scratching my head.

4.) Hey Joe.  I am talking about California Wildfire fighting Joe Kelly.   The jack of all trades who happens to work out with pizza in his mouth(at least according to twitter) is coming into spring with his role undetermined.  It’s a good thing Kelly doesn’t let those kind of shenanigans affect his preparation.

In 2013, Kelly served as part time Porsche parked in the garage and part time excellent fill in starter.  He went from missing in action to taking Shelby Miller’s rotation spot in the playoffs(yeah that’s just happened).  Unlike 2 of his fellow rotation dogfight participants, Kelly has a strong mental makeup and doesn’t let his spring training status stop him from working hard.  If it were up to me, I would carve out a spot for Kelly in the rotation right away but since he is so versatile, I can’t be too sure.

3.) Jason Motte’s beard.  Okay, I mean his right arm but I couldn’t resist a poke at the best wave of facial hair in baseball(sorry Brian Wilson).  Motte is only starting to throw this month but his spot is an interesting one come May and June.  Where does he fit into this packed bullpen?   Trevor Rosenthal is the closer and Carlos Martinez could be a likely bullpen long arm.

Making matters more interesting is this is Motte’s final year of a 2 year deal, which begs the question.  If he pitches very well when he returns, what happens in 2015?  Rosenthal and Motte going head to head doesn’t bode well for the Bearded One even though his 2011-12 performance was stellar.  Motte could be a victim of pure bad luck but I personally hope he develops into a killer setup man later this year while building his recapture of the 9th inning role.

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