Cardinals defense: sometimes Jekyll, sometimes Hyde - A Hunt and Peck

Kolten Wong has made several good plays during his time wearing the Birds on the Bat. After seeing one such play occur a few innings after he made a silly error, a thought popped into my brain. This thought was:

Sometimes Kolten Wong bobbles routine grounders, and sometimes he does that 
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is not to pick on Kolten, mind you - he just embodies the Jekyll/Hyde defense of the Cardinals the most in my mind. The same could be said for several of the Cardinals fielders. Per Ryan Romano of Beyond the Box Score:

In one particular area, the weirdness magnifies. Through their first 40 contests, the Cardinals have excelled in the field, according to one metric. Their 21 Defensive Runs Saved trails only the Cubs out of the 30 major-league teams. But another metric disagrees: By Ultimate Zone Rating, the St. Louis defenders have been worth -16.8 runs, the second-worst figure in the majors. You have both ends of the spectrum — either the Cardinals are spectacular or terrible.

And this fits the eye test. Just check out the chart further down in the article. The Cardinals are one of the best teams in the league at making "Unlikely", "Even", and "Likely" plays, but are almost the worst when it comes to "Routine" plays.

So what gives? Is it youth? Lack of fundamentals? A need for more drills? Possibly. What is comforting about this is that the Birdos appear to have the defensive talent and that is something that cannot really be taught. Now, to clean up those rookie mistakes.

The Cardinals defense is either really good or really terrible | Beyond the Box Score

what else is going on in baseball...

• These were the 7 strangest scenes from Sunday's 17-inning Dodgers-Padres marathon | MLB.com
• Mike Trout's throw was so perfect he and Adam Jones couldn't help but laugh | MLB.com
• Yoenis Cespedes Is Still Playing Like a Superstar | FanGraphs Baseball
• Major League Baseball and the New Overtime Rules | FanGraphs Baseball
• Intentional walks are the worst. Long live intentional walks. | SBNation.com
• Lucas Duda is hurt and the Mets don't have a replacement | SBNation.com
• Bartolo Colon is such a nice guy he's giving away free stolen bases | SBNation.com

what the cardinals are up to...

• Holliday slumps to .237 but continues to bat third | St. Louis Cardinals | stltoday.com
• Ten Reasons Why the Cubs Lead the Cardinals by 7 Games | 101Sports.com
• Randal Grichuk hits walk off homer, gets soaked, gives heart palpitations | Viva El Birdos

KNOW THINE ENEMY...

the chicago cubs

• Marvel at this half-cub, half-human kayaking furiously through McCovey Cove | MLB.com
• Cubs rated Bullpen of the Week | cubs.com
• Ben Zobrist on Being in Sync | FanGraphs Baseball
• A Chicago Cubs Community | Bleed Cubbie Blue

the nl central

• Noah Syndergaard, Mets sweep Brewers | MLB.com
• Pirates outfield worthy of All-Star Game pick | pirates.com
• Pirates pitcher carted off field after being hit in the face by a pitch | SBNation.com