carp's one-hitter last night was so captivatingly beautiful that you may not have noticed david wells did the same thing against cincinnati. well, almost -- carried a no-no into the 6th, yielded just one hit in 7 ip, and won the game 7-0. kind of puts the cards' futility v wells last week in another light -- the reds, 2d in the nl in runs, were just as bedazzled by his slop as the card'ls. so altho stl has been shut down three times in its last eight games, they are still av'ging 7 runs a game over that span against pitchers not named wells, halladay, or unit. . . . in 13 games this month they have scored 5 runs or more 8 times; they're hitting .287 with a .346 obp and .429 slugging pct. they continue to score runs without rolen, despite significantly depressed avg / obp / slg in his absence:
| pre-injury | since may 13 | |
|---|---|---|
| runs/game | 5.2 | 4.9 |
| average | .270 | .262 |
| on base | .342 | .322 |
| slugging | .449 | .402 |
i've tried but failed to explain this; thought by now their runs per game would have dropped in accordance with their other stats. but they just keep putting runs on the board.
eck'n 2-strike report: jinx. last week i noted eckn's brilliance on two-strike counts; he has since gone 1-9 in said situations. . . . my bad. but he's not exactly clobbering the ball with less than two strikes -- 3 for 15. last night he went 0 for 5, with all five outs coming on the 1-1 pitch. . . . on a related note, a royalsblog called warning track power says early-count hitting has energized the kansas city offense. i quote: "Plate discipline doesn?t mean looking at two strikes and then deciding to swing the bat. Plate discipline is about waiting for a good pitch?your pitch, and then putting the ball in play." and: "We are seeing the tangible results from a change in philosophy. Batters have gone to the plate with an aggressive, not a reckless, attitude. That means more runs." couldn't have said it better myself. . . . thanks for the link, cardnilly.
another perspective, somewhat related, at dan agonistes, who weighs in with some tardy but worthy reflections on 3 nights in august in the context of the moneyball paradigm. i quote: "if you make OBP the most important thing in all situations [emphasis mine], then you are not playing the game strategically."