DG’s 10@10: Trever Miller Plays the Angle
DOWNTOWN — The difference this season between Houston Astros switch-hitter Lance Berkman batting from the right side of the plate and batting from the left side of the plate is 100 points in his batting average.
The difference Wednesday for the Cardinals was having a pitcher to trust when turning him around.
Book-ended last night by Joel Pineiro’s seventh consecutive winning decision and Ryan Franklin’s third save in as many games was a brief one-out appearance from lefty specialist Trever Miller. So many of his appearances have been brief. Miller came in to move Berkman to the right side of the plate, where he hits .208 vs. .309 average he has against righthanded pitchers. Berkman lashed Miller’s second pitch — a slider — to center field for a well-stung but still-caught line drive. One batter. One out. Another night at the office.
Miller has gone 11 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run, and since June 5 the Cardinals’ lefty specialist has allowed just one earned run in 21 2/3 innings. That’s a span of 34 appearances during which he has a 0.42 ERA, has held opponents to a .112 batting average, a .189 on-base percentage and a .206 slugging percentage.
The lone run he’s allowed was a home run to Angel Pagan.
A soft spot in the roster the Cardinals sought to improve this offseason was the lefty relief, with pitching coach Dave Duncan insisting that the team needed a lefty who could strikeout the best lefthanded sluggers in the league. The Cardinals needed a counteragent for the Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Adam Dunn, et. al., crew. Despite the delay in his deal, Miller was signed to be that answer. He just didn’t start the season that way. Dennys Reyes had the early cracks at the late-inning LOOGY (lefty one-out guy) spot, but Miller has steadily and unquestionable assumed the role.
Miller has held lefthanded hitters to a slash line of .101/.153/.177. He has a 0.36 ERA against lefthanded hitters, and of the 87 plate appearances he’s had against lefties, he’s struck out 33.
The lefty does it with a variety of breaking balls that he further complicates with two different arm slots. The grip on his slider has not changed since he was 12 years old. And he applies different pressure with his middle finger to determine the kind of break he wants to get. He also learned early on that he could change the look of his slider by dropping his arm. Against San Diego’s first baseman Adrian Gonzalez last weekend, Miller figured the lefthanded slugger was sitting on the breaking ball, so he Miller dropped down to a 3/4 delivery to get that wipe-out slider that Gonzalez could only pop up.
If he had four pitches he was comfortable with, changing arm angles gives him eight.
It also made him a fit for a role he’s come to value.
“You’ve got to swallow your pride and check it at the door sometimes,” Miller said. “Know your role and embrace it and if you’re not good at it you’ll be back in Triple-A. Everybody wants to be a starter. But there are only five spots. There are seven more in the bullpen. … I’m going to be one of those guys who they have to tell to leave the ballpark. I’ll do this as long as they let me.”
Miller doing what the Cardinals signed him to do is No. 1 in an abbreviated 10@10 — hey, it’s an early morning at the ballpark with a day game — and No. 2 is a question about players doing more than expected.
2. Since several of these things — Franklin as closer, Pineiro as unrelenting starter, Brendan Ryan as acrobat and Shelby Miller as Cardinal — have been on display this week at Busch Stadium, figure it’s fitting to shape a poll around some of the unexpected things to emerge for the Cardinals this season:
Loading …3. Wandy Rodriguez has been so effective this season partially because, as one Cardinal said the other night, he fires a couple different curve balls. He’s got one that’s got pace and less depth, and then another with a change-of-pace and a bigger break. It’s fitting that he and Adam Wainwright then had a 1-0 duel of curveballs at 60 feet, 6 inches Tuesday. ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote in his blog yesterday (subscription required) that the two pitchers lead the majors in strikeouts by curveball. Rodriguez is second with 85, and Wainwright is tops with 95.
4. According to Elias Sports Bureau, David Ortiz’s walk-off home run Wednesday was the 10th of his career, which moves him alone into second-place among active players. Jim Thome leads with 11. The bureau says that five players are tied with the major-league record of 12 career game-ending home runs: Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth, Frank Robinson and Stan “The Man” Musial.
5. Albert Pujols is tied with two others for the second-most walk-off home runs since 2003, according to Elias. Ortiz’s nine leads, but Pujols, Adam Dunn and Alex Rodriguez each have seven in the past seven years. … 6. Heads up, Cardinals Nation: Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard hit a three-run home run Wednesday and that gives him 35 home runs and ties him with Pujols with 107 RBIs. He’s on a hot streak, closing the gap on the home run leaders and powering one of the best teams in the National League. We’ve seen a September surge change MVP votes before, and Howard has a habit of finishing strong. … 7. The Cardinals are 17-5 this month, four wins shy of tying the franchise record for most wins in this month, set in 2004 (21-7) and 1967 (21-11). …
8. The Cardinals pulled ahead of Houston for a league lead on Wednesday. The two double plays the Cardinals turned behind Joel Pineiro gives them 136 total this season, two more than the Astros and tied for the major-league lead with the Texas Rangers. Pujols leads all major leaguers with a hand in 124 double plays. The next closest is Adam LaRoche with 110 (spread over three different teams). Novice second baseman Skip Schumaker has been a part of 62 double plays this season. Brendan Ryan, in his first season as the everyday shortstop, has been a part of 58 double plays. He and Jack Wilson (before his trade to Seattle) are the only shortstops in the National League to have more than 50 double plays and less than 800 innings at the position. Ryan has played 603 innings at shortstop this year.
9. The Cardinals scored all of their runs in the first innings of the past two nights and still held onto win. MLB.com writes that its the first time the Cardinals have scored only in the first inning of two consecutive wins since 1919. The Cardinals are 17-14 in one-run games, which is fourth-best in baseball. … 10. Don’t forget Pineiro in the list of players the Cardinals have pulled from the Boston Red Sox discards in recent years. Back in 2007, Pineiro was in the Class AAA Pawtucket bullpen when the Cardinals made a move on him to fill a gap in their starting rotation. He was the trailblazer for the group that also now includes Julio Lugo and Friday’s starter John Smoltz. Today The Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox will release Brad Penny. Probably shouldn’t go to the well too many times.
And, on the heels of a Chicago columnist suggesting that the Cardinals’ skipper should migrate to the North Side as a free agent this winter, Olney suggests this morning that Tony La Russa should be a candidate for the Mets’ GM position. A subscription is required to read. No subscription necessary to comment below.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Very tough poll question this morning, Mr. Goold. I think it is safe to eliminate Brendan Ryan’s play - those who have watched him knew he had some pretty impressive defensive skills. The questions were around his ability to stay focused for long stretches and if he could hit enough to stay in the big leagues. I think his performance in those two areas is far more surprising.
And the Shelby Miller story is a good one. But it is only the beginning. The chapters in this one still need to be written. Yes, good enough for a publisher’s advance, but not ready for the Best Seller’s List. Just yet.
Which leaves the other three.
We were all happy when the Mark DeRosa deal was done, but I suspect that most of us believed that would be it. Battle until the end and maybe squeeze out a top spot in a weak division, or maybe get the wild card. And then get lucky in post season. But no, there was still more to be done. I can’t recall any time when I’ve seen the Cardinals front office commit this much to winning today. Thank you. But but but but - this happened because the guys prior to the trades were performing at a very high level. So there is a certain cause and effect here. Applaud the front office, but also applaud the guys giving the front office confidence in investing here and now.
Franklin has been amazing all season. Nobody saw this one coming, especially after last season. He has been terrific and is a large reason why the Cardinals are where they are. Imagine how last year would have played out had our closers been anywhere near this effective.
But how can you not be amazed and what Joel Pineiro has done ? Yes, the man has had success and we knew he had talent. He had shown moments of brilliance, some times in long stretches. But his pitching since embracing the sinker has been nothing short of a revelation. Nobody wants to face Carpenter or Wainwright, but I don’t think they are exactly lining up waiting to face Pineiro. I’ve sure enjoyed watching him pitch this year.
I voted for Pineiro’s pitching, but I wanted a multiple choice option. Pineiro, Ryan, and Franklin have truly transformed this team. We had problems in all three spots last year, and all three have fixed those holes.
Mozeliak has to come in 4th, not for a lack of moves, but those three lead to him doing what he did.
Let the big dog eat! -Kevin Costner
Great, now we have JT writing 1000 words and a wannabe in throatwabler. It’s going to take forever just to get to the real comments.
The Red Sox cast offs have been a blessing to the Cardinals so far this season, so unless he’s looking to go back to the Dodgers, WHY NOT go grab Brad Penny if he can be had for a song the rest of this season? Why not have Penny be among the competitors for a starting spot in Spring Training? Once again, he’s most assuredly a better option than Wellemeyer, Boggs and perhaps Lohse the rest of this season; he’d likely make a pretty good ROOGY in the playoffs and/or as an extra long reliever should the Cardinals need someone to come in the game before the 4th or 5th inning (let’s hope that’s never the case).
Again, why not? How is there any downside other than hurting some feelings of guys who have been with the team all year long, but have offered substandard performance? There’s no help in Memphis, really. The competition alone with Penny should make everyone better, don’t you think?
I think people should look at the Cards record/standing before and after the trades. Add in Pujol’s numbers after the break and it would be bleaker than a Dicken’s novel right now. Mo is the man! I am boycotting any post longer than a Phd thesis.
Mo Duke-
I’m with you on your Phd thesis theme, however you might learn how to use your apostrophe s’s…
I had to vote for Ryan Franklin. Think back to last year and what cost us any shot at the post season…the closer role. This year that role is Franklin’s and he has mastered it. What a difference it makes to have confidence in your closer, and now look at where we sit in the standings
There’s so much usable info in the 10@10 that it’d be remarkable if it were a weekly column. That it’s a daily column is nothing short of incredible. Great job, DG!
Great poll question DG. As the skipper likes to say ‘there was a bunch of those questions that were tied for first’. I think the bunching of the responses indicates agreement by your loyal readers. I was always a Pineiro believer so that was the one I threw out along with the Shelby Miller deal - FO is getting too much grief over the guy we passed up at Detroit to let that happen again.