August 12, 2013
Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez drives in a run with a single off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright during the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, July 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Since the beginning of last season only three National League teams have a winning record against the Cardinals: Atlanta (8-1), Pittsburgh (15-10) and Los Angeles (10-8.)
Since May 3 of last season the Pirates have won 14 of 20 games played against St. Louis, and that includes a 7-3 mark this season.
The Pirates even have the edge as the road team, having won their last three series played at Busch Stadium going back to late June, 2012.
The Pirates are back in town for a three-game series that begins Tuesday night at Busch. Pittsburgh leads STL by three games in the NL Central.
Even though the teams will play six more times after this set, the Cardinals are feeling a bit restless. This happens when you go to Pittsburgh and lose four out of five games, as the Cardinals did recently. That big series flipped the race in the NL Central, with the Pirates taking over the top spot and elbowing the Cardinals into second place.
As Cardinals reliever Randy Choate told MLB.com Sunday: "Well yeah, after they put a whooping on us at their place, it's nice for them to have to come here. But we're not necessarily playing our best, (so) you don't want to make too much of a series that's still in August, but it's kind of time to get going. But definitely getting on your home turf is better than having to go there."
With both teams off today for some down time, I thought I'd take a look at why the Pirates have successfully tormented the Cardinals over the past two seasons.
Let's count it down, and I put the emphasis on the last 20 games between the teams:
1. Pedro Alvarez: How devastatingly good has the Pirates third basemen been against St. Louis over the last two years? Well, here's an answer ... he's Stan Musial. Well, no he isn't really Musial. But he's put up Musial-like numbers against the Cardinals. Alvarez has a combined onbase + slugging percentage of .989 versus St. Louis over the last two years. Musial's career OPS was .976. By the way, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio each had a career OPS of .977. So when he swings against the Cardinals, Alvarez turns into (take your pick) Musial, Mantle or DiMaggio ... only a little better. Sick.
In 25 games and 107 plate appearances vs. the Cardinals since the beginning of 2012 Alvarez has pounded your favorite team for 8 homers, 32 RBIs, 5 doubles, a .313 batting average, .374 onbase percentage and a .615 slugging percentage. Over that time no other Cardinal opponent has more than 5 homers or 14 RBIs.
And with runners in scoring position over the last two seasons Alvarez has clobbered St. Louis pitchers for a .483 batting average (14 for 29) with 4 homers and 26 RBIs.
Alvarez has an overall career batting average of .237.
But if Alvarez can go from being Musial to Babe Ruthagainst the Cardinals over the next three nights, the Pirates will probably be pretty happy when they fly out of town.
For now, it seems that the Cardinals have no clue about how to pitch this guy.
2. Starting pitching: In winning 14 of the last 20 from the Cardinals, Pirates starting pitchers are 11-6 with a 3.42 ERA and have held STL hitters to a .234 batting average and 6 homers in 419 at-bats. They also have healthy strikeout rate of 8.5 per 9 IP.
And what about the Cardinals' starters over the last 20 against Pittsburgh? This: a 4.69 ERA and eight quality starts. Jake Westbrook, Lance Lynn and Adam Wainwright haven't pitched well _ at all _ against the Pirates during this stretch. And Wainwright and Lynn will pitch in this series.
3. Bullpens: In this 14-6 roll against St. Louis, the Pirates' relievers have a 2.30 ERA and are 4 for 4 in save opps. They've been better than that, actually. The last time the teams played the Cardinals did a lot of damage, scoring 13 runs (and beating up the bullpen) to win the final game of the otherwise hideous five-game set at PNC Park. Going into that game, Pirates relievers had a 1.79 ERA vs. St. Louis over the previous 19 games, and were nicked for only one homer in 269 at-bats.
And the Cardinals bullpen against Pittsburgh? Ugh: 5.14 ERA, 4 losses, and 109 base runners allowed in 68.1 IP.
4. A bizarre role reversal on offense: Since the start of last season the Cardinals lead the NL in runs (4.8 per game), batting average (.273), onbase percentage (.337) and are third in slugging (.416.)
Over that same time, the Pirates rank 13th in the NL in runs (3.95 per game), 13th in batting average (.240), 13th in onbase pct. (308) and ninth in slugging (.393.)
But when these two teams throw down, a strange thing happens.
The Pirates' hitters become the Cardinals' hitters.
And the Cardinals' hitters become the Pirates' hitters ... only worse.
The Pirates have scored an average of 5.4 runs over the 20-game sample, batting .285 with a .352 OBP and .444 SLG. They have out-homered STL, 20-7.
Over the 20 games the Cardinals have averaged 3.6 runs and batted .222 with a weak .292 OBP and .311 SLG. And even that's misleading; the Cardinals scored 23 runs in two of the 20 games _ meaning that they averaged only 2.6 runs against the Pirates in the other 18. The Cardinals have batted .174 with no homers in the 14 losses to Pittsburgh.
In the 20 games the Pirates have seven lineup regulars (and one semi-regular) hitting at least .297 against St. Louis. That includes the recognizable names _ Alvarez, Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Garrett Jones, Starling Marte, Jose Tabata, etc. It also includes light-hitting shortstop Clint Barmes, who has smacked the Cardinals around for a .308 average, six doubles and 11 RBIs. The onslaught doesn't end there; the Pirates even have had three bench players hitting over .300 against St. Louis (Alex Presley, Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer.) Is there no decency?
On the other hand, the Cardinals didn't have a single regular or semi-regular batting .300 against Pittsburgh in the 20 games. When Jon Jay is leading the way at .290, it tells you all you need to know. Cardinals hitters have rang up massive strikeout totals against Pirates pitchers in these 20 games -- 172 Ks in 704 at-bats. Good grief.
5. Manager Clint Hurdle: Since taking over the Pirates at the outset of the 2011 campaign, Hurdle is 22-19 against the Cardinals. Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning season since 1992, but that's about to change. And Hurdle deserves credit for cultivating a more positive mindset; he has his players believing they can win. The Cardinals have been a special target.
A young, ascending team can't get to where it wants to be unless it can knock off the bully. And the Pirates have been brash and bold when facing St. Louis. The days of the Pirates being intimidated by the Cardinals _ and deferring to the Cardinals _ appear to be over.
Confidence is not an issue on the Pirates' side.
Hurdle made that clear Sunday when asked about the upcoming Cardinals' series.
"We know we can play with them," he said. "We know we can beat them."
And they have.
I wonder if the Cardinals have finally had enough of losing to the Pirates. It should be an interesting three games.
Thanks for reading ...
— Bernie
No comments:
Post a Comment