There is no Joy in Mudville

The once mighty Redbirds are looking way up at the Reds with but one week left to play. What happened???

The Cardinals have two MVP caliber hitters, two Cy Young caliber pitchers, a Rookie of the Year candidate, Gold Glovers at catcher, first base, and short stop, and are just 5 games over .500. Is Tony LaRussa washed up? Has he lost his ability to keep his teams focused for the entire marathon baseball season? Was Mark McGwire's debut as hitting coach an unqualified disaster?

Here is my opinion: The 2010 Cardinals were deep sixed by the injuries to third baseman David Freese. Before his multiple ankle maladies Freese was batting .296, and had driven in 36 runs to go with a respectable .404 slugging percentage. Depending upon the matchup, the right-handed Freese occupied the 6th or 7th spot in the order. Those are both important spots for a lineup that features two high on base percentage sluggers in the middle of its order. When Albert Pujols or Matt Holliday hit doubles, it was often David Freese who drove them in. When Freese was lost for the season after ankle surgery, the Cardinals were forced to start Felipe Lopez at third for most of the rest of the season. With Lopez pressed into full time duty, there was no longer an oppurtunity to platoon him with struggling middle infielders Skip Schumacker and Brendan Ryan. Also, Lopez scuffled at the plate himself upon assuming the full time third base job, a job which he was defensively unprepared for. The Cardinals were left fielding a 3rd baseman who hit .230, a shortstop who hit .220, and a second baseman who hit .260. That's fully one third of the lineup. Toss in the pitcher and nearly half of the Cardinal's offense was marginally to completely ineffective.

Not long after Freese's injury the Cardinals traded slugging outfielder Ryan Ludwick for starter Jake Westbrook, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Cardinal Nation. Ultimately, though, GM John Mozeliak likely made the right move. The best case scenario would have involved the Cardinals finding a quality middle infielder who could provide some stability and production in the first or second spot in the order, thus giving Pujols and Holliday men on base in front of them. No such player was available, so the Redbirds choose to try to shore up their pitching and hope that they could prevail in enough low-scoring contests to contend for a playoff spot.

It's not Mozeliak's fault. It's David Freese's ankle's fault.