Looking Past Passed Balls (To More Serious Problems)

People have recently started to question the effectiveness of Yadier Molina.  After the Astro's series opener, which featured two passed balls and one wild pitch, I decided to check out some historical stats. 

Monday night's passed balls were only the first and second on the season for Yadi.  It is frustrating to see the brick wall we all know and love have a rough night, but at least it isn't as bad as Starlin Castro's horrible night at Wrigley.  Historically, Yadi has about 5-7 passed balls a season, which is about as good as any other catcher with 1,000+ innings.  I expect Yadi to have about the same this year.

Nothing to worry about then, right?  Last night was a fluke and once Yadi gets back on track, we'll be fine, right?  Not so fast.  The wild pitch, Boggs' first on the season, is the Cardinal's twelfth.  To put this into perspective, check out the wild pitch totals for March and April for seasons featuring Molina behind the plate.

• 2011 - 12 WP
• 2010 - 4 WP
  
• 2009 - 8 WP
  
• 2008 - 3 WP
  
• 2007 - 5 WP
  
• 2006 - 5 WP
• 2005 - 11 WP
• 2004 - 4 WP

We have to go all the way back to the 2005 season to find totals even close to this year.  And as far as this year goes, we are a mere 2 wild pitches out of last place for all of major league baseball.  Strangely enough, leading all of baseball with only 1 passed ball, are the Chicago Cubs. 

What could be causing this?  Six of these wild pitches are from two pitchers.  Jaime and Eddy have accounted for three a piece.  All three of Eddy's occurred on the same Friday night against the Reds, if I'm not mistaken.  Count those as Rookie Jitters  Jaime's have been scattered throughout his 30+ innings.  Count those as the Sophomore Shakes. 

But there was a time, people are saying, when a spry, bright eyed and bushy tailed Molina would have tamed those wild pitches into domestication.  Why is he not doing that this year?  Are these wild pitches that much worse?  Could it be a struggling Molina?  Could it be an increase in rainy games (Rain=Wet Balls=Loss of Control)?  Could it be a sign of global warming, the oncoming 2012 apocalypse, or the oncoming Iowa vs. Nebraska Farmageddon?

I cannot, in my Iowan backwoods wisdom, answer this.  I can say for certain that, regardless of the cause, they need to stop.  We have seen too many runners trot from third to home or make their way from second to third without forcing the opposition to take the bat off their shoulder.  If we hope to win this division, innings such as last night's ninth and Saturday's eighth against the Reds, must stop.  Winnable games must be won.  No ifs, ands, or Boggs about it.

The miscues are not fully contained in the pitching staff and Yadi.  For all of its success, this offense has plenty of room to grow (double plays).  Despite having the second highest percentage of extra base hits and the best hitting percentage in baseball, we have one of the lowest runs to hits ratios in baseball (and a lot of double plays).  Generally, when leading the league in doubles, a team should also lead in Sac Hits and Sac Flies, but we do not, and this is not from a lack of effort (did I mention double plays).  We have seen far too many failed bunts, all mustering up the pain of last year (Brendan Ryan).  We have also seen a painful amount of strikeouts and infield pop-ups when having a runner at second or third with less than two outs.  All of this leading to the fourth highest total LOB count in baseball (7.48 per game).  Oh, and we've ground into the second most double plays in baseball, almost double our total from last year (almost forgot).

Also of note, Molina has been up to bat three times this year with the bases loaded and two out.  He has struck out each of these three times.

Not trying to cut down our boys.  They are playing well, and despite losing a major piece of the clubhouse (Waino) and blowing six leads in late innings, they are tied for first in a division that I still believe is one of the best in baseball.  We're playing with heart this year, much more than last year.  What hurts so bad, is we are finding ways to blow games that our bats are rallying to win.  All the momentum of our (mostly) fantastic offense is being lost by a combination of bullpen and dumb mistakes.  My biggest fear is that, when all the hitting and pitching coming from unexpected places (Sanchez, Lohse, K-Mac, Theriot, Berkman) dry up, we let everything we're doing wrong bring this surprisingly successful season to a halt. 

P.S. For the record, and I'll always deny this, I kinda liked Brendan Ryan.