Five Fingers and a Thumbah

After scoring just 15 runs in the first 6 games of the season, it’s fairly safe to say that the Cardinals are not lighting anybody up on offense.  With the Redbirds sitting at 2-4, I’m willing to look at the bright side of things for a moment, though.  They’ve wasted two pretty good outings by Chris Carpenter, and I’d argue that they can’t really play much worse than they have so far.  There are some reasons for optimism.

• Skip Schumaker is hitting .318.
• Allen Craig has 4 rbi.
• Colby Rasmus has a .458 OBP
• Jaime Garcia was unreal on Sunday (0.67 WHIP)
• Chris Carpenter has surrendered 3 runs in 13 innings for a 2.08 ERA
• Say what you will about the outing that Lohse had, but 4 runs in 7 innings from the team’s 4th starter  is something that most teams can live with on a regular basis.  There are a lot of nights that the Cardinals will put up more than 4 runs and win those games.
• With the exception of Westbrook’s blowup, the Cardinals have been fairly competitive in every single game so far this year. 

Of course, there is a downside as well.

• Skip Schumaker is leading the team with a batting average of .318
• Allen Craig is leading the team with 4 rbi.
• Opponents have the Cardinals in slugging % (.345 to .296) and OPS (.647 to .609)
• Albert Pujols has the same batting average as Ryan Theriot (.182)

I keep thinking back to something that I wrote on January 12th.

• David Freese – .319/.374/.469/.843 when hitting 5th in 2010
• Yadier Molina – .316/.381/.400/.781 when hitting 6th in 2010

With Lance Berkman reaching base at a .391 pace, why not hit him 2nd?  Theriot has an OBP of .308, so why not scrap the traditional leadoff concept, and just hit Berkman leadoff? 

1. Lance Berkman – RF => .391 OBP
2. Colby Rasmus – CF => . 458 OBP
3. Albert Pujols – 1B => .240 OBP
4. Allen Craig – LF => .412 OBP
5. Freese – 3B
6. Molina – C
7. Skip Schumaker – 2B
8. Pitcher
9. Theriot – SS

I know that it seems really extraordinary, but look at the OBP numbers for Berkman and Rasmus.  Certainly it’s unlikely that Berkman, Rasmus, and Craig will all 3 keep up those numbers, but it’s highly unlikely that Pujols will continue to hit .182 for much longer as well.

Sure, they are only 6 games into the season, but it’s been a rough 6.  That’s what?   Five fingers and a thumbah? 

Never too early to start tinkering……and to hit the pitcher 8th, either.  It worked on Sunday.  😉

Follow gr33nazn on Twitter for more absurd lineup suggestions!

Cardinals fan since I could hold a fishing pole steady. Accidental blogger. Opinionated. I could care less about what you think of me. Constantly confounded, bemused, and confuzzled (ie I'm a pc and a mac). I'm an IT infrastructure analyst with a penchant for breaking tech toys. I ate a sabermetric primer for breakfast. I love playing "All-powerful GM of MLB". The 2010 Cardinals represented a good, practical definition "cognitive dissonance". The 2011 version got by on duct tape and a prayer, and I'm fine with that. They just need new tape for #12 in 12.

Dennis

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