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.

Yadi or Buster?

The two leading vote getters in the National League for this year’s All-Star Game are Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and Giants backstop Buster Posey. The two catchers have already combined for over 5,000,000 votes, but there can only be one starter on July 16 at Citi Field.

Whoever does not win, will become the most voted for backup in All-Star Game history, along with the creation of some very harsh feelings in either the Bay Area or Midwest. As of June 16, Posey was leading Molina by just over 600,000 votes, which is not as much as it seems.

Both players are having career years, excelling in different elements of the game and among the top of different stat categories. As the MLB’s leading hitter, Molina has a far higher batting average at .352, while Posey is at a modest .316. As of June 7, Molina had thirteen hits in thirteen more at bats than Posey.

Posey has however accumulated a higher slugging percentage of .515 compared to Molina’s .488. In support of his high slugging percentage, Posey has hit more homeruns than Molina with eight while driving in 41 runs. Not necessarily a power hitter, Molina has hit four homeruns and drove in 36 runs.

Posey has longer, more strategic at bats, while striking out more, but drawing more walks than Molina. In contrast, Molina takes a more aggressive approach, seeing almost 80 less pitches so far.

Molina has been a better defensive catcher, allowing only sixteen stolen bases on 27 attempts As a team, the Cardinals have allowed the least stolen bases in baseball Runners have had their way with Posey, yielding the second most stolen bases in the MLB with 38 on 47 attempts. The Cardinals backstop has also yet to allow a passed ball this year, as Posey has allowed three.

Though this may be a bit of an inaccurate way to measure a catcher’s talent, the Cardinals have been one of the best pitching teams in baseball. With three pitchers with over seven wins, the Cardinal staff also has an ERA almost one point lower than the Giant staff. The Giants have had an average year in pitching, a letdown considering all of their talent on the hill.

Despite being behind Posey, I think Yadier Molina is the more deserving catcher for the starting nod. “Yadi” has played better defensively while being a more complete offensive player. Posey is a good, young player with a lot of talent and potential, but he has more to do to become the National League’s perennial All-Star Game catcher.

Posey, the 2012 starting catcher, is not out of the race, considering the excessive voting habits of San Francisco fans, however Molina has had a better year by the numbers. This semi positional rivalry might be a preview of the MVP question later this year, but I think Molina will win out again, as he has been the heart of the best team and pitching staff in baseball, and as they say, “statistics do not lie.”