A Crucial Time for Cardinals

Just inside the final two months of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are finding themselves in a position not to familiar to the eleven time champions: doubt.

The division rival and competing Pittsburgh Pirates have hosted the Cardinals for a five game set that may serve as a deciding factor for the NL Central title. Pittsburgh has won the first four games, including a double-header sweep on Tuesday. The Pirates have outscored the Cardinals 22-7 so far this series.

Losing both ends of Tuesday’s double dip was not even the worst part of the day for the Cardinals. In the second game, National League MVP candidate Yadier Molina left in the third inning with a knee injury. Molina’s MRI would later reveal knee inflammation which landed him on the 15 day DL.

Before his injury, Molina had put together arguably the best season of his eleven year career. The National League’s starting catcher for the All-Star Game, Molina was batting .330 with an unusually high 54 RBI.

2.5 games out of first place and without their biggest asset for at least the next two weeks, the aging Cardinals are riding a five game losing streak and are tasked with keeping pace with the much younger and scrappy Pirates.

If Molina can return on time, he should be available for the final game of the Pirates/Cardinals series occurring from August 13-15 in St. Louis. Until their next meeting with the Pirates, the Cardinals will venture through a difficult segment of their schedule without their best player.

After tonight’s concluding game of this rare five game series, the Cardinals will travel to Cincinnati for a three game series with the 60-49 yet third place Reds. While in Cincinnati, the Cardinals pitching staff will be tasked with containing the Reds’ power threats in Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Shin-Soo Choo, and Brandon Philips who combine for 65 homeruns.

Following the Reds series, the Cardinals will return home to face the National League’s hottest team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Though at home, this series will still be a test for the Cardinals as they encounter the explosive Dodger lineup who have the MLB’s best team average in July.

Without Molina, St. Louis can potentially face the impressive tandem of the 10-6 and ERA leading Clayton Kershaw and 8-3 Zach Greinke in the Dodger series and the 10-4 Mike Leake versus the Reds.

After meeting the Dodgers, the Cardinals will have somewhat of an easier matchup as they face off with the longtime foe Chicago Cubs.

Even without their All-Star closer, Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh has a much easier schedule before their next meeting with the Cardinals. The next three series for the Pirates will be against sub-.500 teams. The Pirates are slated to play the miserable last place Marlins in between two sets with the 51-58 Colorado Rockies.

Pittsburgh has it so good these next two weeks that when they play the Marlins, they will not even have to visit the hideous Marlins Park.

When the Pirates arrive in St. Louis for another crucial meeting, the standings could be determined by much more than 2.5 games. Although the Cardinals have the fifth best record in the major leagues, these next two weeks without Yadier Molina could be detrimental to their season.

The Cardinals will still have a strong team without Molina but they will be losing one of the lineup’s main catalysts. There will be added pressure on the aging bodies of Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran for Molina’s leadership and production while more emphasis will be placed on Matt Carpenter for Molina’s reliability.

In recent years, it was the Pirates who fell apart at this time of the year due to injuries and slumping bats, however the tables may turn.

Depending on how this next stretch goes for the Cardinals could help Molina’s campaign for MVP. Unlike the Heisman Award in college football the MLB does not grant the award to the best player, but rather to the player who was the most valuable to his team, thus the name Most Valuable Player. If the Cardinals struggle without their elite backstop, it will prove his worth as the most valuable player on the team.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Is This the Hat Trick or Will the Third Time be the Charm?

For the third year in a row, the Pittsburgh Pirates find themselves in the part of a midseason playoff race. In the past two seasons, the Pirates failed to get out of August alive, extending their almost eternal postseason drought. With a 51-30 record good enough for first place in the highly competitive National League Central, will 2013 be the hat trick for Pittsburgh or is the third time the charm?

It is a mystery how Pittsburgh has climbed to the best record in baseball considering they do not have a hitter batting over .300 and only two qualifying players are batting over .260. As a team, the Pirates have the 6^th worst batting average at .241. Unsurprisingly, Andrew McCutchen is the team’s leading hitter at .292 while young left fielder Starling Marte is batting .288.

Other than McCutchen and Marte, the Pittsburgh lineup has produced mediocrely at best, aside from third baseman Pedro Alvarez’s power. Alvarez has already clubbed 20 homeruns this season, however the rest of the team has combined for just 62.

Alvarez is also leading the team in RBIs with 53, but only three other players have more than 30, McCutchen with 42, first baseman Garrett Jones with 32, and catcher Russell Martin with 30. The Pirates have also struck out a fifth worst 685 times.

In the field, the Pirates have committed 56 errors as a team, tied with the miserable Chicago White Sox for seventh most in the MLB.

With a subpar lineup and a dismal defense, how does this team have the best record in baseball?

Pitching.

The Pirates pitching staff has the best ERA in the league at 3.11 and the second best WHIP with 1.20. Pittsburgh is also top ten in the league for strikeouts (636), walks (270), opponent’s batting average (.225), and homeruns allowed (64).

The Pirates have succeeded in bringing in thought to be washed out pitchers that have turned their careers around in the Steel City such as A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Jason Grilli, and Wandy Rodriguez. Pittsburgh has also been able to find young talented arms like Mark Melancon, Jeff Locke, and Bryan Morris.

Locke and Liriano have led the Pirates rotation, each with sevens wins. Both pitchers have ERAs under 2.30 and WHIPs below 1.30. Opposing batters have a microscopic average of .199 against Locke this season. Rodriguez also appears to have revitalized himself this season with a 6-4 record and 3.59 ERA.

In the bullpen, the Pirates have been phenomenal, most notably Jason Grilli’s National League leading 27 saves in 28 chances. Morris, the young right-hander, has held opposing hitters to a .162 batting average in 23 appearances, while Melancon has a major league best 23 holds and a 0.89 ERA in 41 appearances this season.

The Pirates may have one of the best pitching staffs in the game right now, along with one of the best bullpens ever, but the lack of offensive and defensive support will hurt the Bucos’ playoff hopes. Pittsburgh’s luck will soon run out and they will not be able to win purely from pitching.

The Pirates are in desperate need of a big trade deadline acquisition to complete themselves, both offensively and defensively. If this problem is not addressed the Pirates will lose numerous 1-0 and 2-1 games. Even if the pitching and luck holds up, Pittsburgh is not in an opportunity to vie for a World Series, as they will not be able to beat more complete teams like the Braves, Cardinals, and Reds in a seven game series.

Pittsburgh has the pitching to win but their offense and defense is holding them down, at the exact halfway mark of the season it looks like the annual collapse is quite possible and close.

Another Family Reunion..

As if the sporting world wasn't already in awe after Sunday when the Harbaugh brothers were destined to meet in Super Bowl XLVII, it was further in shock once the blockbuster trade between the Braves and Diamondbacks sent highly coveted outfielder, Justin Upton, to join his newly acquired brother, B.J. in Atlanta, earlier this week. The meeting of these two brothers may not be as monumental as the Harbaughs making their parents pick sides for the Super Bowl, but because these two players are among the most exciting in the game today, fans have room to wonder how they will compare to some of the best brother duos in baseball...

The Dean brothers- Dizzy and Daffy Dean led the pitching staff (Well, Hall of Famer Dizzy did at least) of the notorious Gashouse Gang in St. Louis to a domination of the National League in the 1930's, along with some help from the late Stan Musial. Originally named Howard and Paul, their nicknames perfectly fit their personality which is why, whenever I think of the Dean brothers, I think of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum from the original Alice in Wonderland. Notice how I said original, not the stereotypical big and stupid depictions from the newer version, as it was hard to not like these loveable brothers who were always good for a chuckle, helping them build the image of 1930's Cardinals baseball. The shenanigans of the Deans weren't like the crude hoaxes recent players like Manny Ramirez have became known for, they were more accustomed to a qoute Roy Campanella once gave, "To play baseball you need to be a man, but you also gotta have a lot of little boy in you too."  Unlike current players, the Deans recognized why they were playing, not for the check at the end of the year, but solely for the love of the game. Whether it was their goofy antics with the press and their teammates that could have landed them a role in a Disney cartoon or just because they were brothers dressed in the same uniform playing the same position, the Deans kept baseball laughing, something current players fail to do, unless at one's expense like Ryan Braun falling down rounding third after attempting an inside the park homerun last year.

The Waner Brothers- One of the few bright points in Pittsburgh Pirate history other than Bill Mazeroski's 1960 Game 7 walkoff homerun and the lasting legacy of Roberto Clemente, was their notorious brother duo of Paul and Lloyd Waner, nicknamed as Big Poison and Little Posion. Lloyd's nickname, (Little Poison) fit him more with his 5-9 stature than Paul (Big Posion) who was actually an inch shorter. (If any of my old timer readers know the reasoning behind the nicknames please comment!) Pitchers used to call which brother to pitch to "picking their poison" this rarely went in the pitchers' favor, as both Paul and Lloyd were career .300 hitters and remain as the only brothers to both be elected into the Hall of Fame.

The Alou Brothers - It is hard to think of a family that has contributed more to baseball than the Alous. With brothers Felipe, Matty, and Jesus all playing together on the San Francisco dynasty that never was. The Giants of the 1960's put together maybe some of the most talented rosters in baseball history, next to Murderer's Row of the 1920's Yankees. The Alou brothers were under appreciated on a team with Hall of Famers like Orlando Cepeda, Willie Mays,  Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal. What the Alou brothers are best known for is a game at the previous home of the Giants, the Polo Grounds, in 1963. Late in the game, San Francisco manager, Alvin Dark, pinch hit Matty and Jesus for the last two lineup slots, and with Felipe penciled in at leadoff, baseball history was made as they became the first, and to this day, only 3 brothers to bat consecutively, not really the most followed stat. The Alou brothers experienced their best taste of greatness after they went their separate ways, such as Matty winning 2 batting titles and leading the league in hits with the Pirates. Even though they were either premature or underrated when they played together, the Alou brothers are remembered for making history together by setting a record that may not ever be broken, with the odds of someone making it to the MLB being worse than 16,000:1, imagine what the odds of 2 brothers are, let alone 3.Felipe's son, Moises, played professionally himself also including a stint with the Giants, one of the two times Felipe stood as Moises' manager.

With the Uptons joining forces in Atlanta, there are a lot of possibilities on what they can accomplish. As much as I would like to see B.J. and Justin be dual threats like the Waners, who knows what kind of brotherly love and antics these two will display, or what kind history relating to brotherhood could be made. Despite losing longtime offensive backbone, Chipper Jones, to retirement, the Braves are anything but soft, heading into this season with the Uptons AND Jason Heyward playing the outfield and likely batting 2,3,4, looking to bring Atlanta its first World Series trophy since 1995.