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Is the Cards ‘Do Damage’ approach hurting them?
Posted: 19 Jul 2025 17:33 pm
by cards53
Since their homerun barrage in games around the time of the Cubs series,
it seems to me their ‘Do Damage’ approach has been turned up a notch.
They seem to really switch to a ‘Do damage’ mindset with one or two runners on.
Now I see quite a few hard hit balls in the upper 90’s and some 100’s exit velocity still ending up as ‘popups’ to the outfielders.
Most of these end up as routine outfield flyouts and warning track outs, some near the walls.
At the same time I am seeing other teams drive us crazy with more well placed softly hit singles and doubles through and over the infield.
Lots of these are probably way below the upper 90’s exit velocity.
These are ‘keeping the line moving’ with a few HR’s scattered in. We are not getting many of these.
As I have posted several times in the past I favor this ‘Keep the line moving’ approach.
The key culprits in my mind are ordered by worst first : Contreras, Nootbaar, Winn, Scott and Burleson.
They are scattered in the lineup so disrupt successful ‘keep the line moving’ momentum.
It’s hard to ‘move the line’ with so many wanting to ‘do damage’.
I do really like what Brant Brown has done in other aspects of our hitting approach.
This has resulted in lots of AB’s where the pitcher eventually throws a ‘hitters’ pitch.
Right now it seems we are not taking advantage of that ‘hitters’ pitch.
Re: Is the Cards ‘Do Damage’ approach hurting them?
Posted: 19 Jul 2025 17:41 pm
by Hazelwood72
cards53 wrote: ↑19 Jul 2025 17:33 pm
Since their homerun barrage in games around the time of the Cubs series,
it seems to me their ‘Do Damage’ approach has been turned up a notch.
They seem to really switch to a ‘Do damage’ mindset with one or two runners on.
Now I see quite a few hard hit balls in the upper 90’s and some 100’s exit velocity still ending up as ‘popups’ to the outfielders.
Most of these end up as routine outfield flyouts and warning track outs, some near the walls.
At the same time I am seeing other teams drive us crazy with more well placed softly hit singles and doubles through and over the infield.
Lots of these are probably way below the upper 90’s exit velocity.
These are ‘keeping the line moving’ with a few HR’s scattered in. We are not getting many of these.
As I have posted several times in the past I favor this ‘Keep the line moving’ approach.
The key culprits in my mind are ordered by worst first : Contreras, Nootbaar, Winn, Scott and Burleson.
They are scattered in the lineup so disrupt successful ‘keep the line moving’ momentum.
It’s hard to ‘move the line’ with so many wanting to ‘do damage’.
I do really like what Brant Brown has done in other aspects of our hitting approach.
This has resulted in lots of AB’s where the pitcher eventually throws a ‘hitters’ pitch.
Right now it seems we are not taking advantage of that ‘hitters’ pitch.
Totally and entirely agree. I am also a proponent of “move the line” baseball. Especially when you don’t really have true, natural sluggers like Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, and the gang from the 2000-oughts. Seems like we are force fitting singles-doubles hitters into swinging for the 500 foot, 9 run homer.
And this has been a pet peeve of mine about the Cards for several years!
Re: Is the Cards ‘Do Damage’ approach hurting them?
Posted: 19 Jul 2025 17:44 pm
by cards53
Hard to believe that I am not alone. Thanks.
I'm with you on the several years.
Re: Is the Cards ‘Do Damage’ approach hurting them?
Posted: 19 Jul 2025 18:05 pm
by ramfandan
cards53 wrote: ↑19 Jul 2025 17:33 pm
Since their homerun barrage in games around the time of the Cubs series,
it seems to me their ‘Do Damage’ approach has been turned up a notch.
They seem to really switch to a ‘Do damage’ mindset with one or two runners on.
Now I see quite a few hard hit balls in the upper 90’s and some 100’s exit velocity still ending up as ‘popups’ to the outfielders.
Most of these end up as routine outfield flyouts and warning track outs, some near the walls.
At the same time I am seeing other teams drive us crazy with more well placed softly hit singles and doubles through and over the infield.
Lots of these are probably way below the upper 90’s exit velocity.
These are ‘keeping the line moving’ with a few HR’s scattered in. We are not getting many of these.
As I have posted several times in the past I favor this ‘Keep the line moving’ approach.
The key culprits in my mind are ordered by worst first : Contreras, Nootbaar, Winn, Scott and Burleson.
They are scattered in the lineup so disrupt successful ‘keep the line moving’ momentum.
It’s hard to ‘move the line’ with so many wanting to ‘do damage’.
I do really like what Brant Brown has done in other aspects of our hitting approach.
This has resulted in lots of AB’s where the pitcher eventually throws a ‘hitters’ pitch.
Right now it seems we are not taking advantage of that ‘hitters’ pitch.
Thanks for your analysis . I checked the MLB stats .
The Cards do quite well in overall hits.. They currently rank 11th (so nearly in upper 1/3 of baseball ) . As for other teams seeming to get more singles/doubles unsure on that as Cardinals rank quite high in doubles ranking 7th best in MLB with 167 doubles. One glaring problem though is our lack of team speed. The Cardinals rank dead last in triples with a measly 4 (the median number is 13 ) In our own division, the Cubs have 20 triples on the year.
The Cardinals rank 12th in runs scored . Not too bad ..upper half and they sure don't do it via the HR much as they rank 21st with 98 HR's. Despite fans lamenting at Gorman, Walker , etc strikeouts , the Cardinals strike out seldom compared to other teams..just 721 times ranking 9th fewest .
I do agree Brown is doing a good job overall .