Anyone else totally stunned at the total lack of production by the St. Louis offense? Only 87 runs in 28 games, through May 5. That's 3.1 runs per game, which is historically bad for any stretch this long.
The canned banner ad on the Cardinals' MLB.com webpage shows the Cardinal hitters at each position, encouraging the fans to vote them to the All-Star game. But the fact is, not even the mighty Albert Pujols is hitting well right now. His current .274 average has lowered his all-time average down to .330 (!). He's slugging a career-low .491 (still good, but not near what he's proven capable of). And, more puzzling, he's walked only 13 times ... at first glance, I'd wonder why teams weren't simply pitching around him more.
Other Cardinal hitters? -
Jim Edmonds - .200/.281/.275 ... a horrible slump at any age, but positively deadly when you're almost 37 years old ...
Scott Rolen - .211/.268/.333 ... truly puzzling. Just turned 32 and shouldn't be far away from his prime as a hitter.
I could continue to list names and figures, but what's the point? When Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen are hitting like this, there isn't much hope of anyone in the lineup scoring runs. The one positive exception has been Chris Duncan, who hit quite well in 2006 and has turned it up a notch (.323/.387/.542) so far in 2007. He's scored a team-high 15 runs. But he obviously can't do it alone.
The hitting should get better before it gets worse ... but they're digging such a hole right now, it's becoming more and more impossible to see them even challenging for the wild-card, even in this year's weak National League.
Tori Praver
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