When a team records 2 hits over the course of 9 innings, it’s hard to focus the sight on one player in particular. Very few times in the history of baseball has a team won a game with 2 hits.
But last night the Cardinals were #Mossed.
https://twitter.com/tmckernan/status/633999570981257218
0-2 with RISP, Moss batted cleanup and finished the night 0-3, dropping his average since joining the team to .154 and his SLG to .179.
- In the 4th inning, Jhonny Peralta led off the inning with a double. Moss failed to move the runner over and popped weakly to shallow right field.
- In the 6th inning, Matt Duffy flied to left field, and while Moss was able to get to the ball, he couldn’t catch it, setting up the Giants first (and winning) run.
- In the 9th inning, with Chris Carpenter on 2nd and a chance to tie the game (or at least continue it to Molina), Moss popped weakly to center field.
Again, no position player on the Cardinals is without blame for this loss. But the fact remains that the Cardinals knew their major deficiency heading into the trade deadline was offense. And Brandon Moss was the player they tapped to fill the void.
So far, it’s been nearly 3 weeks of non-contribution.
https://twitter.com/MattSebek/status/633820663329910784
Worse, the Cardinals don’t have any options other than to wait out the injuries to Heyward, Holliday, Adams and Grichuk. They have to turn to guys like Lance Lynn – with a straight face – and tell them that 2 runs surrendered isn’t probably going to be enough to get a win.
The Cardinals are now 6-4 in their last 10 and are 5 games up on the Pirates. The sky isn’t falling, but damn it’s getting dark on the horizon.
Moss (and many of his teammates) have hid under the cover of excellent pitching for the past several weeks. Baseball, though, has a way of eventually exposing the things you’d rather not talk about as a team.
Will they be able to provide?
Or has the seam already burst and we’re just now watching the mess spill out?
Photo: FOX
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