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3-7, 6.19 |
5-5, 4.66 |
GAME TIME 7:10 CDT
by now you've probably heard that edmonds and looper have both gone to the DL, with troy cate and skip schumaker being recalled. i can understand the various reasons why they didn't bring up ankiel --- they don't have an option on him, he's still learning, they want him playing every day. but what the hell does john rodriguez have to do to get a call? he's slumped the last week, yes --- 4 for his last 29 --- but even taking that into account, his june OPS is .924, and since may 1 it is well over 1.000. he could credibly step into the st louis lineup batting 2d, with duncan dropping down to edmonds' accustomed slot at #4 or #5, and the lineup wouldn't miss a beat; on the contrary, it'd probably improve. against right-handers encarnacion would play center, flanked by duncan and j-rod; vs lefties juan'cion would slide back over to right, with gooch in center and ludwick or duncan in left.schumaker admittedly had a nice month down at memphis, but his career minor-league OPS is .729, which is consistent with his career big-league OPS of .546 in a small sample size. rodriguez has a career minor-league ops of .833 and career big-league OPS of .812 (also small sample). this is not an insignificant decision; whoever comes up is likely to get lots of playing time. i think they're calling up the wrong guy.
the royals are 8-4 against national league competition this year and have won all 4 series, 2 games to 1. they've scored 91 runs in the 12 games, or 7.6 runs per. 9 of those 12 games were at home, however, and the royals' hitters are a far more productive group at the K:
| avg | obp | slg | r/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| home | .265 | .328 | .414 | 4.67 |
| road | .246 | .320 | .368 | 4.00 |
meanwhile, the cardinals as a team pitch much better at home than on the road:
| era | whip | hr/9 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| home | 4.60 | 1.422 | 0.87 |
| road | 5.67 | 1.474 | 1.15 |