A mediocre strikeout rate has been a common trait. And that led to a lot of trouble – namely a 5.01 reliever ERA by St. The problem was a low total of innings – an average barely 5 IP per start – that shifted too much of the responsibility to the bullpen. In their last four postseasons the Cards starting pitching has been decent, posting a 3.55 ERA that was more adequate than dominant. And that’s OK, as long as the critics are paying attention to other areas of failure. Their sad trend of having a timid offense in the playoffs gets most of the attention and blame. The Cardinals have lost nine of their last 10 postseason games. When panic sets in, Gold Glove fielders can mishandle batted balls or make poor decisions with their throws. Philadelphia, even the finest of infield defense can come apart. (With the exception of the rare wild pitch on strike three that allows the hitter to reach first base.)Īs we saw with the Cardinals in the disastrous 9th inning of Game 1 vs. For the pitcher and his team, strikeouts can’t go wrong. He must depend on them and also benefit from favorable batted-ball luck. Sure a pitcher can hope for a double-play grounder, but even if he gets it he’s turning the game over to his fielders. Strikeouts can fix most problems when a pitcher is under duress. Timely strikeouts, flung in pressure situations, are extremely valuable in the postseason when every game is basically an emergency. The Cardinals do a swell job of keeping the ball in the yard by inducing so many grounders, but some situations require dominance. Pitchers coming in hot with nasty swing-and-miss stuff that amass scads of strikeouts. Hitters smashing home runs and base hits. The ground-ball obsession, backed by superlative infield defense, is a pragmatic and effective way to go through a 162-game regular season. If the Cardinals want to make headway in the postseason by actually winning games, they must reevaluate their goals in curating a pitching philosophy.
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