Playing the wrong kind of baseball

Unfortunately, since I’m an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan, the 2011 Cardinals are a prime example of playing the wrong kind of baseball in the wrong league. What do I mean by that statement?

The Cardinals have played good old-fashioned American League baseball, moving from base to base, one at a time in a methodical run-scoring fashion, occasionally scoring a lot of runs via home run.

The problem is that the Cardinals play in the national league and that style of baseball historically hasn’t gone well over the course of a full season. It’s easy to understand how the team fell into this type of game, with the likes of Albert Pujos, arguably the best hitter in the game, Matt Holladay, a muscular power hitter protecting Pujos in the lineup, and later acquiring Lance Berkman, whose resurgence since being dumped by the Houston Astros, the stuff of Hollywood movies, the lineup is potent.

However, what is the big debate? “Good pitching stops good hitting” and that has proven true many times throughout the season. When the Cardinals click, they provide an offensive display few other clubs in the Major Leagues can compete with, but when they don’t click, the game becomes dull, hard-to-watch frustration.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with having a power-laden batting lineup and the Cardinals’ flops this year may contribute to more than just playing the wrong kind of baseball, but one problem at a time.

The Cardinals have turned more double plays, an alarming number more, than any baseball club in any of the leagues. Some will argue that it’s a result of the Cardinals’ high team batting average, which translates to more runners on base, thus more opportunities to hit for double plays.

To some extent, that reasoning is valid, however, if the Cardinals traditionally put a lot of runners on base during a normal game, it would seem worth the risk to have runners moving through the net. Steal or Hit & Run instead of standing still waiting for a home run or a gap hit.

This not aggressive offensive play on the basepaths leaves the pitcher confident that he can devote his full attention to getting the batter out, and just a courtesy pass to first once in a while is enough.

This situation allows the pitcher to throw “his” pitch to the batter, resulting in a record year for double play hits. The double game is not only the pitcher’s best friend but it breaks a baseball team’s morale faster than any other offensive play. It doesn’t really matter if your leadoff hitter gets to first base safely every inning, if the next hitter tags him out on a DP.

National League Baseball historically played aggressive offense on the basepaths, while the American League lumbered forward with power hits. Both styles are effective, but mixing one style with another for an entire year isn’t productive, as the Cardinals are discovering as they fade into oblivion and out of the playoff picture.

The two different styles must collide in a fall event known as the world series, and not during the season.