Scoreboard Watching 2013

[MikeThierry]

Craig/Adams at first and Beltran are abysmal according to the advanced metrics. Jay and Freese have been pretty bad as well. Overall, the Cardinals have one of the worst team UZR's and are one of the worst fielding teams according to the Fielding Bible.

Again, they're catching everything in front of them, Derek Jeter style. They weren't doing that in previous years. As long as they don't botch routine play's, their defense will do fine. Besides, the pitching staff gets a decent amount of strikeouts this year so they aren't as reliant on defense this year than in years past. By all means though, find more ways to justify the opinion that the Cardinals are suddenly fall of the cliff Florida Marlins style.

[757690]

Again, they're catching everything in front of them, Derek Jeter style. They weren't doing that in previous years. As long as they don't botch routine play's, their defense will do fine. Besides, the pitching staff gets a decent amount of strikeouts this year so they aren't as reliant on defense this year than in years past. By all means though, find more ways to justify the opinion that the Cardinals are suddenly fall of the cliff Florida Marlins style.

Keep telling yourself that

Don't worry, there are plenty to choose from.

[SpiritofStLouis]

The Cardinals might have won today, but the season is going to catch up to them.

The Cardinals have the worst Defense in the National League, great pitching, and they are the best at hitting in the clutch.

The pitching will continue to do well, but the clutch hitting will fade. Their worst-in-the-NL Defense will catch up to them. By the end of the year they will have had at least three stretches between now and then where they lose six out of 10. It's inevitable.

Unfortunately, for the REDS, their Defense is nothing but average thanks to the worst-in-the-NL Defense of Choo in Center and the poor play in Left. The REDS have already paid for the effects of their poor Defense in Left and Center with several losses squarely on the shoulders of those two areas. What's happened to the REDS will happen to the Cardinals. That will close the gap between the two teams by year's end and the 2-1/2 game lead will disappear.

You actually have to watch the Cardinals games to see the effect. There isn't a boxscore that will show you that. It has absolutely nothing to do with "errors". The same goes for Left and Center for the REDS.

Anyway, just posting this to put some optimism out there that the Cardinals will fall from their perch and that they are playing over their heads right now. It will come to an end very fast.

Actually, they've had 2 already. They opened the season in Arizona, then went to S.F, then lost their home opener against the Reds. They went 3-4.

Less than 2 weeks ago, They had a 9 game homestand against K.C., S.F. and the D-Backs. They went 5-4 and could easily have gone 3-6.

As for the defense, I would call it average. Poor team speed and lack of range definitely restrict the team's ability. However, the fact that they have the fewest errors in the NL tells you that they make the plays they get to.

Just about every team has better UZR, but they also have more errors. The Cardinal's staff also leads in Ks per 9 innings, so that helps.

You might well be right, but I'll live with 3 or 4 stretches of 4-6.

[texasdave]

If it makes anyone feel any better, the Yankees had 2 runs after their first three batters in the first. It is in the 15th now and they still have just those 2 runs.

[vaticanplum]

Yankees-A's in the 18th now. This has been the most exhausting baseball day of my entire life.

[NebraskaRed]

Pirates being blown out by the Giants. 9-0 in the 6th.

[BCubb2003]

Mariano Rivera pitches the 18th, gives up the winning run.

[vaticanplum]

Mariano Rivera pitches the 18th, gives up the winning run.

Very exciting end to the game, with Rule V pick Nate Freiman singling in the winning run. The A's are hot as jail right now.

My teams put me through an awful lot of baseball for no wins today, though. 32 innings is an awful lot of baseball.

[RedEye]

Mariano Rivera pitches the 18th, gives up the winning run.

I wonder if he ate some guava cheese pastries today...

[Patrick Bateman]

Actually, the Cardinals are second in all of baseball (Tied with the D'backs and Tigers) with a .990 fielding percentage.



See above stat. I believe that should say "Best in the NL defense". As far as your "by the end of the year" prediction, are you saying that the Reds won't have a stretch like that? Cause I should predict that just as easily as you can predict a Cardinals fade.

You're delusional if you actually think the Cardinals have the best defense in the league. Fielding percentage? Is it 1970?

The Cards have a .302 BAPIP against. The average team is sitting at .295. Roughly, the Cardinals are a below average defensive unit, which is pretty consistent with the number of fielders on the team that lack range. Do you really believe the likes of Kozma, Carpenter, Beltran, Freese, Holiday, and Craig belong to the best fielding team in the league?

Look, the Cardinals have a number of great qualities. They pitch well. They hit well (although they are due for a regression seeing as how they hit well above their norms with runners on base so far this season).

The Cardinals are pretty clearly a playoff team likely to win 90+ games.

But we don't need to start inventing reasons for their success. There is more than enough evidence to argue in their favour without ignoring pretty obvious flaws on the team IMO (and to dress it up as being elite.... that is just crazy!!).

[Salukifan2]

They have bad range, ill give you that. Howver, I will disagree in the case of Carpenter and Kozma. Carpenter is statistically the best second baseman in baseball right now and Kozma is superior to Cozart right now. At least thats what fangraph's UZR metric is saying.

[Wonderful Monds]

Actually, the Cardinals are second in all of baseball (Tied with the D'backs and Tigers) with a .990 fielding percentage.



See above stat. I believe that should say "Best in the NL defense". As far as your "by the end of the year" prediction, are you saying that the Reds won't have a stretch like that? Cause I should predict that just as easily as you can predict a Cardinals fade.



I dunno...errors seems like a pretty big deal to me. The fact that the Cardinals have only made 25 errors all season has only helped them to have baseball's best record.



Their pitching is just that good. Wainwright has 10 winnings. He's not playing over his head. Lynn did this last year and was an All-Star then. He's not playing over his head. Miller is an up and coming rookie. Too soon to know if he'll start to crumble, but he is a top prospect so this was expected.

We'll just have to wait and see.

I threw up in my mouth.

[Patrick Bateman]

They have bad range, ill give you that. Howver, I will disagree in the case of Carpenter and Kozma. Carpenter is statistically the best second baseman in baseball right now and Kozma is superior to Cozart right now. At least thats what fangraph's UZR metric is saying.

According to Fangraphs Matt Carpenter has also produced 17M worth of value so far this season.

[texasdave]

Weird line score in the Phillies-Twins game tonight. Phillies get 3 runs on 16 hits. Twins get 2 runs on 3 hits.

[Todd Gack]

Adam Rosales entered the game for the Athletics in the 10th inning and still managed a Golden Sombrero...now that takes some skill.