St. Louis Cardinals: Four moves to get Cards back in the NLCS

Waiting for the St. Louis Cardinals’ offense to return is akin to waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Down 2-0 heading into D.C., faith is nice. But action is called for. What moves can be made, quick?

The St. Louis Cardinals need something to jumpstart their offense or it will be off-season before they know it. They are down two games to none in the NLCS heading into Game 3 in Washington. Only 12% of postseason teams come back from such a situation.

The problems are legion. The playoff baseball used is not traveling as far as the regular-season ball, claim the Cardinals. And they may be right. Even their 13-run rout of the Atlanta Braves featured no home runs. The team that relied heavily on the home run during the season is finding itself having to string together singles… or else.

But the hits just keep on not coming. They were no-hit until late in both NLCS ballgames and tallied only one run and four hits… two of them by a pinch-hitter. Eighteen strikeouts were yielded and many other kinds of frustrating at-bats have been seen, including tapping out into the shift or fouling out to the catcher. (Read Matt Graves two-game tale of woe here).

What if this lineup never gets back on track?

For the 2019 Redbirds, there is no tomorrow… just a 2020. Patience in midseason might be a virtue, but in October, with a team’s back against the wall, patience is a luxury they do not have. Sure, the Cardinals can go out gracefully, sticking with a) the players, b) the lineup, and c) the offensive strategy that brought them to the NLCS.

Or they can look at the fact that something is not working and that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Isn’t it nobler to do something, even if it does not end up helping than to do nothing and wish you had?

Here are four moves that could be considered:

Start Jose Martinez

Players are streaky, let’s face it. And when you’re hot, you’re hot. Jose Martinez started the season hot, and then cooled off, went on the Injured List, and stayed ice-cold. But during this playoff run, he is four-for-five with a double. And going back to the September 25th “scrubs game” against Arizona where Martinez was given a proper start, he was three-for-five with a double, a triple and two RBIs.

But most importantly, as a pinch-hitter in the first two NLCS games, he is two-for-two. It is almost like the Nationals studied a huge amount of tape on the Cardinals’ starting eight but ran out of time to view Martinez.

Play the hot-hand is practically Rule No. 1 of playoff managing. Playing Cafecito is Shakeup Option #1.

Move Dexter Fowler out of lead-off

I am not a big believer in batting order significance. But if there is one position that is symbolic, it is leadoff. Moving down in the lineup Dexter Fowler, who hit .091 in the NLDS and is 0-for-7 with a walk in the NLCS, would send a signal to the team that manager Mike Shildt is trying something, without having to bench anyone.

This pains me somewhat since Fowler’s taking over the leadoff spot seemed to be a catalyst for the Cardinals this season (as it was for the World Champion Cubs in 2016).  But it has to be depressing to the other players to see their lead-off man hitting at Mendoza-line levels that shouldn’t even be possible.

Fowler has hit the ball hard at times, but as TBS color-commentator Ron Darling pointed out, “unfortunately for Fowler, it is a results-oriented game.”

Pinch-hit for the starter sooner

This rule will depend on the score. But if you are not healthily in the lead, and your pitcher has between four and six innings under his belt, don’t give Washington a free pitcher’s out. You have to trust your bullpen more than your offense at this point.

To consider the immediate efficacy of this, let’s look ahead to the next two starters. Jack Flaherty was 0 for 5 with a walk in the NLDS. Flaherty for his career is slugging .189. Dakota Hudson, who is starting game 4, is career-slugging .077! Those are almost sure outs.

I know it is pitiful to have to count a couple of pitcher at-bats as crucial to a team’s offense. And it can cause major heartburn if either Flaherty or Hudson are dealing to take them out. But that is pretty much what the Cardinals are down to against the highly motivated Nationals who have never been to an NLCS and are tasting the city’s first World Series appearance in almost 100 years.

I might add that the Post-Dispatch’s Ben Frederickson is making a good case that Shildt sticks with his pitchers a little too long anyway, compared with his rival Dave Martinez (and Tony La Russa!).