Matt Holliday Deserves Better

The second game of the Cardinals and Phillies series just this last weekend at Busch Stadium was a frustrating for all kinds of reasons.  Watching Kyle Kendrick cut through the Cardinal’s line up as if he were a Cy Young award candidate was painful to watch, and it was insanely frustrating for a fan to see the Cards line up take such incompetent swings.  By the ninth inning, this frustration was palpable at Busch Stadium as if everyone with a ticket was looking around, hungry for a place to set the blame for such a horrible offensive showing against a pitcher who came into the day with an ERA over 5.  With one out in the 9^th inning, Matt Holliday came up to take his last at bat, and this was the target that we all needed.

Holliday hit a line drive directly at the first baseman, Ty Wigginton, and he reacted the same as any of us in the stands would have.  He was as frustrated as any of the paying customers as he saw the ball that surely would be the second out of the inning make its way into Wigginton’s glove, and he made a half-hearted run towards first base as a result.  Of course, as if Wigginton had plans for adding insult to injury, the first baseman dropped the ball and appeared to fumble it just enough for the crowd to look back and see whether it was going to be a close play at first.  Of course, with Holliday frustrated and jogging down the line to first base, the reaction was not appreciative from the crowd.

I have been at Busch Stadium more times than I can count, and I can remember some amazing things that filled me with pride of being a part of the fan base that so many players rave about.  I have seen the fans give a standing ovation to So Taguchi when he made his return to Busch Stadium as a member of the Phillies.  Where else would a fourth outfielder get such a warm response?  The one thing that I had never heard at Busch before that Saturday game in late May where Kyle Kendrick became Bob Gibson was Cardinal fans boo their own player.  It was more than an isolated section too.  This was a stadium-wide booing unlike I have ever heard for any player not named Brandon Phillips in Busch Stadium.  I must admit that my first reaction was to join the mob, but before the sounds of disapproval could leave my mouth, I could not help but feel dirty.

Matt Holliday is one of the unquestioned leaders of this Cardinals team.  Next to Yadier Molina and Chris Carpenter, who deserves this leadership role more?  Holliday is the highest paid player in Cardinals history, and has been a perennial All-Star since coming over to St. Louis.  Holliday has and will continue to be a centerpiece of this lineup for years to come, and yet still, we in St. Louis seem all too willing to boo and criticize a man that should be treated with much more respect.  I do not mean to say that Holliday is being constantly mistreated in St. Louis, but as far as St. Louis baseball fans go, we seem far too willing to criticize a guy who has done nothing but the right things since he became a Cardinal in 2009.

 Before you disagree with me and claim that St. Louis simply demands a consistent effort, and this is why we boo when someone as highly compensated as Holliday loafs to first base, hear me out.  Albert Pujols, before he left for California rarely ran hard to first base during his last few years in St. Louis, and we seemed to reward this heads up strategy to save wear and tear on his legs with standing ovations.  Can you imagine anyone ever booing when we see Molina not run at his full speed towards first and get thrown out by half the baseline?  I can’t either.

Why is it that we are so hesitant to embrace Holliday as a player?  Is it because he dropped that baseball in the 2009 NLDS?  Is it because as the highest paid player on the team in franchise history, and still was the second best player on the team for his first two full seasons here?  Do fans see him as the guy that was chosen over Albert Pujols as the face of the franchise going forward and because of this hold him up to these impossible standards?  Is it because he struggled down the stretch last season in the playoffs and at times seemed to be swinging one handed before being taken out Game 6 of the World Series?  Whatever it is, stop it St. Louis.  This is ridiculous.

Yes, Holliday was off to a slow start this season before turning it on more recently, but anyone who criticizes this is looking at the box score and not watching the games.  I do not know if I have ever seen anyone hit more line drives all over the field only to have them find outfield gloves more than Matt Holliday has at the beginning of this season.  Other than Pujols at times, I do not know if I have seen a Cardinal player who hits the ball harder more consistently than Holliday, and while this is not measured in his batting average all the time, I can guarantee it is noticed by the opposing pitchers who breathe a sigh of relief every time one of his lasers finds a glove in the outfield.

Watching Matt Holliday play, especially last season when he was suffering from the inflamed tendon sheath in his hand that kept him out of games and sapped his production while in the line up, I could not help but think of a former Cardinal player, Scott Rolen.  Scott Rolen, like Holliday was a no-nonsense guy who did nothing but play hard and do the right things to help the team win.  Neither of these guys comes off as the type of player who is going to rally his team with great speeches, but these are the guys who will never complain when they can’t grip a bat because of a finger injury and accept the boos that come along with it.  I wonder how many of those Cardinals fans who had the audacity to boo Holliday would have also had the intestinal fortitude to put himself in the lineup when he could not swing a bat without pain while trying to hit pitchers who throw in the mid 90’s.  Holliday did this because it was what the team needed, just as he did not play in Game 7 because it was what the team needed.

I do not mean to say that Matt Holliday is perfect.  He has defensive lapses at times, and there will even be an occasional disappointed jog to first base.  Holliday is also the first guy to slide hard into second base to break up a potential double play or hustle his rear end off to get to a ball in the outfield even if he lacks the grace or instincts to look good doing it.  He is a big enough man to accept the occasional boo as a part of life and continue to hustle despite a lapse in our appreciation of his efforts.  I for one, will never be amongst those who boo a guy like this.  He deserves so much better than that.