DG’s 10@10: Intentionally Inviting Trouble
TOWER GROVE — In his office after Tuesday night’s loss, Milwaukee Brewers manager Ken Macha told a group of us reporters that the “second-most important” at-bat of the Cardinals’ 7-6 victory was by St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.
Apparently, Molina was the first to recognize that.
Of course, the most important at-bat of the game was Matt Holliday’s immediately after Macha opted to “pick his poison” and walk Albert Pujols ahead of the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter. You can read all about that in Post-Dispatch baseball writer Joe Strauss’ game story this morning – complete with a snappy lede about about another bit of damage inflicted on “BIG MAC LAND” — and elsewhere. But the first pitfall Macha made in the game with an intentional walk came as a surprise in the sixth inning and tied the game for the Cardinals.
In the sixth inning, Pujols popped up to the second baseman. Braden Looper got Holliday to ground out to third, and then it was Ryan Ludwick — who Macha repeatedly said was part of the trap the Cardinals have in the middle of their order — who doubled. With first base open and two outs, Macha elected to do something unexpected: He called for Looper to walk rookie Colby Rasmus ahead of Molina. It was the rookie’s third intentional walk of his career.
Let Macha explain why: “The second biggest at-bat of the game was Molina. Rasmus had had two hits off of (Looper) already, and he mislocated a cut fastball. It basically ran down the middle. That tied the game up. … Coming into the game (Rasmus) was 1-for-2 (vs. Looper), so he was 3-for-4 coming off that.”
Macha choose Rasmus’ 3-for-4 vs. Looper and .255 batting average (coming in) over Molina’s 1-for-4 vs. Looper and .283 batting average. Molina singled in his first at-bat vs. Looper on Tuesday.
Molina responded to the IBB ahead of him with a rope up the middle to score Ludwick, tie the game, and give him 44 RBIs for the season. A few steps from the box, Molina looked to the Cardinals’ dugout and pointed at his teammates as he ran the rest of the 90 feet to first base.
He knew.
Intentional walks can hurt. They can also illuminate. Which is where today’s 10@10 starts …
1. The intentional walk in front of Holliday’s homer was the 40th of the season for Pujols, extending his own franchise record, but also pushing a major-league record. Of the top 17 intentional-walk totals in baseball since the stat was charted, 14 are lefthanded batters — from Barry Bonds to Ryan Howard and onto Ted Williams. The IBB major-league record for a righthanded batter is … 40. It’s Pujols. His total is seventh all time, trailing Bonds’ 43 that the San Francisco Giants slugger had in 2007. Here, however, with help from the invaluable Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index database, are the top totals of IBBs in baseball for righthanded hitters (I’ve included more than 10 just to give a sense of how far down the list one former Cardinal is …):
Albert Pujols, 2009 … 40 — Sammy Sosa, 2001 … 37
Albert Pujols, 2008 … 34 — Vladimir Guerrero, 2002 … 32
Kevin Mitchell, 1989 … 32 — Frank Thomas, 1995 … 29
Dale Murphy, 1987 … 29 — Frank Howard, 1970 … 29
Adolfo Phillips, 1967 … 29 — Vladimir Guerrero, 2007 … 28
Albert Pujols, 2006 … 28 — Manny Ramirez, 2003 … 28
Ernie Banks, 1960 … 28 — Mark McGwire, 1998 … 28
2. After his decisive three-run home run in the seventh inning Tuesday, Holliday is 2-for-5 with five RBIs in at-bats after an intentional walk to Pujols.
3. Quick poll interlude. In the eighth inning Tuesday, manager Tony La Russa used three pitchers to face three batters and get three outs. Rookie Blake Hawksworth got the first call and walked his batter (All-Star Ryan Braun) in arguably is toughest assignment yet in the role he’s found. Lefty Trever Miller (more on him below) did what he’s paid to do — strike out Prince Fielder. And then Kyle McClellan coolly coaxed a double play ball to get out of the inning after the Cardinals had just taken the lead. McClellan explained over the weekend how he’s reset his season recently, and that — coupled with other news (John Smoltz as starter; Kyle Lohse and Todd Wellemeyer remaining as relievers for now) — leads to a poll question:
Loading …4. And now back to Holliday. His homer Tuesday was the 20th of his season with nine for the Cardinals and 11 for the Oakland Athletics. It is the fourth consecutive year that Holliday has had at least 20 homers, and with 11 more RBIs he’ll have his third 100-RBI season in four years. With 89 RBIs this season, he’s already surpassed last season’s total. Combine his Triple-Crown numbers from Oakland and the Cardinals, and here is where Holliday would rank in both leagues:
HOLLIDAY … .310 BA … 20 HR … 89 RBIs
NL … 9th tied … 22nd tied … 7th
AL … 12th tied … 33rd tied … 8th tied
5. Some other quick Pujols tidbits, some of which were provided by the Cardinals’ media relations staff: With his home run Tuesday night, Pujols tied Joe DiMaggio on the career list with 361 home runs. It takes a Hall of Famer like baseball writer Rick Hummel to point out last night that Pujols has reached DiMaggio in less than 10 seasons, meaning Pujols is not yet Hall of Fame eligible already he’s matched one of the iconic Hall of Famers in the iconic stat. … Next for Pujols is Ralph Kiner, who has 369 homers. … On the game following his annual charity (celebrity) golf tournament, Pujols is 10-for-23 (.423) with two doubles, four homers, eight runs and seven RBIs. Not quite Buddy Walk Day. But close.
6. One of the things that drew the Cardinals to lefty Trever Miller was his success with inherited runners. Miller, who finalized what could be a two-year $4-million contract extension Tuesday, hasn’t disappointed in that ability. Miller has allowed just 30 of his 172 inherited runners to score in the previous four seasons. That 17-percent rate is the stingiest in baseball among relievers with at least 150 inherited runners. This season, Miller has allowed six of 47 inherited runners to score, and his 13-percent rate ranks fourth in baseball. He trails a teammate:
Kyle McClellan, STL … 2 of 25 (8.0 pct)
Jason Bergmann, WSH …4 of 35 (11.4 pct)
Joe Thatcher, SD … 4 of 34 (11.8 pct)
7. FARMNIK REPORT: The organization’s minor-league player of the month for August was outfielder Kyle Conley of short-season Batavia. He hit .387 with 16 doubles, six home runs and a .476 on-base percentage. The binge of extra-base hits led to a .753 on-base percentage. Conley was the Cardinals’ seventh-round selection from the University of Washington in the most recent draft. … The pitcher of the month was Daniel Calhoun, a lefty, who went 2-0 with a 1.03 ERA in 26 1/3 innings. He struck out 24 and walked just three. Calhoun was a 29th-round pick out of Murray State this past June. … Third baseman David Freese went 2-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and a home run in Memphis’ victory that pushed the Redbirds back into first place in their division. Freese has seven home runs in his 94 at-bats since returning from having his foot injury addressed. He also has 22 RBIs in the 27 games since his return. … Lefty Evan MacLane pitched the Redbirds back into the division lead, going eight innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out eight against Nashville. Milwaukee’s affiliate’s only run in 9-1 loss came on a home run off MacLane. … In Palm Beach’s 1-0 loss to Sarasota, young righthander Richard Castillo pitched seven strong innings. He allowed one run on four hits and two walks while striking out eight. Castillo is 5-13 this season despite a 3.97 ERA. … Catcher Audry Perez, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, three RBIs and a home run for rookie-level Johnson City. … In four innings of work, starter Mike Thompson allowed five baserunners (three hits, two walks) and struck out nine batters. That’s right: 12 outs, nine by K.
8. Last night in Los Angeles, Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez went 0-for-4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Why is that important? Well, it moved Julio Lugo up a spot in an interesting stat that could guide La Russa’s hand when making out a lineup in a possible postseason series. Spoke yesterday about newest Dodger slugger Jim Thome’s success against the Cardinals. As beefy as his numbers are, he doesn’t crack the top when it comes to opponent batting averages against a specific team. (Wouldn’t be surprised if that 1.010 slugging percentage did, however …) Ramirez did against Arizona before Tuesday night. He’s now 35-for-79 in his career against the Diamondbacks for a .443 average, and according to ESPN research that ranks sixth now among players with at least 75 PA against a specific club. Here is the list of top averages against one club, per ESPN research, and check No. 3 as that’s a number that will be hard for La Russa to ignore:
Alex Rodriguez vs. San Francisco … .478
Howie Kendrick vs. NY Yankees … .465
Julio Lugo vs. Philadelphia … .452
Troy Tulowitzki vs. Pittsburgh … .451
Manny Ramirez vs. Arizona … .443
Denard Span vs. Detroit … .430
9. Though he got a no decision in last night’s game, Milwaukee righthander Braden Looper is second all-time in victories at new Busch Stadium with 20. Quick trivia question — a little PostCards nostalgia — for you. Who is the leader in victories at Busch Stadium since it opened in 2006? I’m sure someone will have the answer below in the comments. …
10. Anybody else think the Cardinals should take a hammer to the “I” in “BIG MAC LAND” for the playoffs so that night games reveal the “I” that Pujols popped out earlier this season and the “A” that both Holliday and Pujols have both crushed in batting practice? Unleash the vowels. Let the puns ensue.
Consonants beware.
-30-
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. 
Wainwright was my first guess and Baseball Reference confirms he has 22 Wins at new Busch.
I wanna know why that scrub Joe Thurston is still on this team?????
Reared in Bootheel cotton fields when I knew every Cardinal ERA and batting average…still proud to the bone to be a Cardinal fan…I hope Mr. Duncan can settle down and resume being a classy Cardinal coach because 98 percent of us true Red Birds’ to the bone, honor and respect him and his family….
Wow, can any old timers here enlighten me on just why a decent hitting CF on the 67 Cubs (a team with Ernie Banks and Ron Santo and Billy Williams)garnered 29 IBB? I am going down the list and I am like Pujols, right, Sosa, OK, Vlad, yep, Mitchell in 89, OK yeah he had a good year, The Big Hurt, makes sense, Dale Murphy, sure, Frank Howard, yeah, he would have scared me too, Adolfo Phillips, WTF??? Who the H is he?? What is he doing on this list?
I’m gonna take a wild guess and say Braden Looper, because I believe he was here when the team moved in 2006. With regards to Thurston, he is a cheap, speedy, shore-handed, classy guy off the bench. He’s not a head case like Kerry Robinson, who got bent out of shape for not playing everyday. I don’t mind seeing him in there when Derosa can’t go.
Brent–
Always love any Adolpho Phillips mention! I was only 8 in 67 but I believe that Leo Durocher had him hitting 8th most of the time, despite his speed and power.
The intentional walk should be banned from baseball. I realize that it’s part of the “strategy” and I also realize that if it were banned there would just be more “unintentional intentional walks.” However, the intentional walk violates the very basis of the game which is the match-up between the pitcher and the batter. Every pitch matters because you never know on which pitch a batter will turn and either hit it out of the park, get a base hit, hit into a double play, or strike out. And it is inherently unfair. The batters don’t get to choose who pitches to them. Why should pitchers (or their managers) get to decide who they’re going to pitch to? And, to me, it also shows a great disrespect to the pitcher, telling them that their manager doesn’t have faith in them to get the batter out. More than anything, however, it shows disrespect to the fans who don’t pay their hard-earned money to watch the best players in baseball walked intentionally. I’m glad that it’s something Tony doesn’t call for often. When I see some of these managers who have intentionally walked Albert in the first inning I really seethe. Ban it!
Mr. Goold-
I made the mistake of watching the Cardinals broadcast last night instead of the Brewers…I would GLADLY trasfer one hundred dollars from my paypal account to yours if you would explain to Albert Hrabosky that the rookie outfielder for the Cardinals is named Colby (like colby jack cheese) and not Kobe (like Kobe Bryant). So annoying!
JT
johntraveler@rocketmail.com
Tone-Dog
You have a good memory. BR.com advises me that Phillips did bat 8th all year for the Cubs that year. Instead of his .384 OBP batting at the top of the order, Leo the Lip instead opted for Don Kessinger’s (.231/.275/.271, OPS+ 55) bat leading off ALL YEAR. I could understand if Durocher thought that Kessinger would snap out of it keeping him there for a while, but by August 1, you would think maybe he would have realized that Kessinger was killing his lineup. Even when Kessinger got on base (which as shown above, wasn’t that often), he was almost always on first base, because he only had 17 XBHs all year and was 6 for 19 in the SB department. Which is why, despite some really good players batting after him, he only scored 61 runs.
Cubness, gotta love it!!!
-Something old (Pujols), something new (Holliday), something borrowed (Boston Red Sox Lineup) and something blue (Cubs tears)
-An “I” for an “A” and a swing for a ring
-Big Mac is spelled: I before A except after BP
I got a million of em… and not one of them is any good. I wonder if you can get a custom jersey with underscores? B_G M_C would be amazing. Also, someone should tell the p_rty p_rch to watch out, Ludwick is getting jealous.