NLDS Game 1 Disaster

I guess there are two ways to look at the first game of the NLDS this season.  On one hand, the Cardinals found themselves in the exact same situation last season when they lost an early lead from Lance Berkman’s three run homer in the first inning to fall behind the Philadelphia Phillies who were 2011’s National League East Division champions.  With the heroic help of Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals were able to come back in that series to win in Game 5 and the rest was history.  That, unfortunately is about where the comparisons between last year and this year’s game 1’s end.  The Cardinals lost Game 1 not due to the superior play of the Nationals or any great explosion in the bullpen, but despite all the help in the world that an inexperienced National’s team could offer.

All the talk going into this series that was a positive for the Cardinals spoke to the experience of this team which was able to have a magical ride through last year’s postseason compared to the relative inexperience of the Washington Nationals.  Any edge here was forfeited with a win in St. Louis during Game 1, however.  While the series is still far from over, and one game does not equal the experience of an entire postseason, imagine the difference in the clubhouse after this game had the Nationals lost the game.  The Nationals team would have looked around to see that their young ace let them down by falling apart in a situation where the game looked much larger than he was able to manage.  And imagine if the Cardinals had been able to add on another few runs after Zimmerman’s error.  They would be looking at the offensive face and first draft pick of their franchise as a defensive liability that cannot be trusted.  It is not difficult to imagine a young team having some doubt creep into their mind, and doubt like this could be crippling.  As it stands now, the Nationals made every mistake imaginable in their first playoff game, and they still got a win on the road against the defending World Series Champion.  It is dangerous to give a young team with the talent of the Nationals that kind of confidence as well.

In speaking of Nationals mistakes leading to Cardinal runs, this offense is embarrassing.  With the exception of a Matt Holliday homerun against the Braves, when was the last run they scored without the help of an error or a pitcher who completely lost all control for an inning?  The simple truth is that the Cardinals will not win a game with the amount of offense that they have been able to put together lately.  The Cardinal’s pitching did its job in Game 1 of the NLDS.  It is time for the offense to follow through.  The free runs are going to dry up sooner than later.  It would be nice to see some Cardinal batters provide the firepower for the team to move on despite that.

It is not difficult to pinpoint the time in the game where it turned from a game that the Cardinals were going to win to one that the team seemed destined to lose.  With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning and Allan Craig up with Molina on deck, the Cardinals were looking good.  They were still up by one run with the chances to add on some much needed insurance runs, but after two feeble ground balls, it felt more like the Cardinals were down by a run than up by one.  Let me make one thing clear here, if that same situation were to arise tomorrow, I would want Allan Craig and Yadier Molina to be the batters who are there with the chance to drive in some runs.  These two have proven over and over again that they are the talented and clutch performers that the Cardinals will need to ride if they are going to score runs in this postseason, but this is all the more reason that the failure of these two was crushing for the Cardinals team.

In speaking of a team’s fragile psyche, no one on the Cardinals seems more fragile and scared than Pete Kozma right now.  Furcal’s injury has forced Kozma to make the transition from struggling minor league shortstop to a major leaguer who is trying to fill the shoes of the starting shortstop for the National League in the All Star game.  His error today after the botched infield fly rule during the Wild Card game is further illustration of this fact.  I would point out his hitting as an issue, but with no one else on the team hitting either, it does not seem fair to point out the rookie in particular.  The truth is that Kozma is playing because he has the best chance to be a defensive anchor for this team at the shortstop position.  It is too much to ask from a young player with marginal talent.

And then there is the young manager who is in charge of steering the ship.  Like Kozma, Matheny may be in over his head.  He has done a pretty good job of leading the team to this point, but I wonder if the Cardinals have gotten this far despite their rookie manager as opposed to because of him.  I know that LaRussa had his own issues with bullpen management, but Matheny needs to know his personnel a little better as well as thinking ahead in a situation more completely.  Mitchell Boggs did a fine job in the 8^th inning.  He got a ground ball which should have been an out before giving up a bloop hit.  Then, with runners at first and third, Boggs got an out on a bunt before striking out the 8^th hitter. 

After getting the big strikeout after blowing a fastball right past the National’s catcher, Boggs had the look of confident determination on his face.  For a man who had to be sent back to the minor leagues last season after filling the team’s closers role with undeniable confidence issues, that was the look and the performance that Matheny had been trying to cultivate in Boggs ever since he took the job as the Cardinal’s manager, and in that moment, he decided to bring in Marc Rzepczynski instead of allowing Boggs to face a left handed pinch hitter even though Matheny had to know that the Nationals had other right handed batters available to pinch hit from the bench.  I wonder what the consensus would be if you polled the Nationals bench at that moment.  Do we really think for a second that they would rather face Mitchell Boggs, who was throwing in the upper 90’s with movement and a hard slider and had the confidence to be aggressive in the strike zone or the Cardinal’s lefty who has had as many games where he gives up runs as games where he is perfect.  I don’t think there is a doubt that the team would rather face Rzepczynski than a pumped up Boggs with good stuff and building confidence.  Shouldn’t that take some part in the decision making process for who to put in the game for Matheny.

And now that we are talking about Matheny, how about his management of the roster in general down the stretch?  We seem to be completely set on Daniel Descalso now at second base with no chance of seeing Skip Schumaker again to start at second base.  I know that Descalso is by far the better defensive player, but in a situation where this Cardinal’s offense is sputtering, no amount of defense is going to make up for the fact that their offense cannot put a run on the scoreboard.  The fact that Matheny could not see this day coming down the stretch has to be his biggest limitation as a manager.  I like Descalso as a player.  He is a solid defender and someone who puts together good at bats when they are needed, but he is not a starting player in the major leagues, at least not right now.  Descalso may one day grow into a productive major league starter, but as of now he needs to be a part of a platoon.  This is pretty bad timing to be realizing this.

The Cardinals may still have a chance to come back and win this series.  They may even have a chance to make a run in this postseason, but they are a team with issues right now that run pretty deep.  A few runs and a good start from Garcia will cure a lot of what ails the Cardinals, and these things are still a very real possibility.  They do need to make some adjustments though as an entire team, and unless they make them tomorrow, they will make them too late.