Some questions (and a few answers) from the Cardinals’ weekend series victory over the Braves:

• How lucky did the Cardinals get in scoring 18 runs on Friday? In rapping out (and clunking out) 26 hits in Friday’s game, the Cardinals equaled the feat they last turned on Sept. 23, 1930. Of those 26 hits, not one was home run, and the 21 singles were two off the major league record set by the Houston Astros May 30, 1976. That performance has BABIP written all over it — an incredible .684, in fact (more than twice the normal rate of balls in play falling for hits). Indeed, we checked the Cardinals’ game logs from Baseball-Reference.com going back to 1956, and Friday’s game ranks as the team’s "luckiest" in the last 50 years and possibly ever:
  

  Date	Opp	Result	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BABIP
  08/22/08	ATL	W 18-3	55	44	18	26	5	0	0	9	6	.684
  09/26/04	@COL	W 9-3	45	40	9	16	2	0	1	3	14	.600
  08/26/61	SFG	W 8-5	43	31	8	13	1	0	0	8	9	.591
  08/13/08	@FLA	W 6-4	45	40	6	18	2	1	0	2	9	.581
  07/18/01	@HOU	L 11-17	47	44	11	18	5	0	2	2	14	.571
  05/25/63	NYM	W 6-3	39	32	6	12	3	0	0	5	11	.571
  05/17/75	@SFG	W 17-2	52	46	17	23	6	2	2	5	7	.568
  09/23/02	ARI	W 13-1	47	41	13	18	5	0	0	5	9	.563
  06/24/97	CHC	W 7-2	42	34	7	15	3	2	0	4	7	.556
  06/27/73	@PIT	W 15-4	50	45	15	22	6	1	2	4	7	.556

  We also checked that game in which the Astros set the record for singles. But the Astros had "only" a .568 BABIP. The other way of looking it, of course, is from the point of view of the Braves’ pitchers. The team DER for the game was a miniscule .350. Adam Wainwright perhaps didn’t know how right he was when he quipped, "That team had some bad luck. Everything that we hit fell. It was one of those nights where no matter what we did it was going to be right, and whatever they did was going to be wrong.” Well, not everything. Just around 68%.

• How much did Friday’s blowout impact the team’s Pythagorean Win %? Before Friday’s game, the Cardinals had a Pythagorean record of 70-59 (.543) and an actual record of 71-58. Though it was only one extra win for their real-life record (72-58), with the 18 runs added to their Runs Scored side of the ledger and only three to their Runs Allowed, the team jumped to a 72-58 (.554) Pythagorean record, a relatively large gain of 1.5 games.
• Anyone not convinced that the Save needs to be banished from baseball forever? Joel Pineiro "earned" the "Save" Friday for "being the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team," "not being the winning pitcher" and "pitching for at least three innings" (heck, even we qualified for the second criterion). We suppose it’s only a minor detail that he entered the game with a 15-1 lead with three innings to go. His Win-Probability Added? 0%. Leverage Index? 0.00. That’s right, he added nothing to the team’s chances of winning. Suffice it to say that it was the least deserved Save in all of baseball this season.
• When was the last time a pitcher had five plate appearances in one game? (Adam Wainwright on Friday)
• When was the last time a pitcher had five plate appearances in one game and only pitched six innings? (ditto, Wainwright)
• Who was to blame for the Lopez play Saturday? Felipe Lopez didn’t win any new fans this weekend. Saturday’s game was teetering close to the edge of the precipice for the Cardinals in the ninth, when, with the Braves batting with runners on first and second and two outs — and leading 5-4 — Martin Prado hit a simple grounder right toward second baseman Lopez. Lopez fielded cleanly, then paused — seemingly a full three-count — and threw to first. Safe! was the call on the field. Single! was the call up in the press box. What? Believe it or not, the official scorer made the right call in not giving Lopez an error, according to the rulebook. The relevant rule, which he calmly and resignedly pointed out after the game, is 10.12, clarified in a comment:
  

  Rule 10.12(a)(1) Comment: Slow handling of the ball that does not involve mechanical misplay shall not be construed as an error. For example, the official scorer shall not charge a fielder with an error if such fielder fields a ground ball cleanly but does not throw to first base in time to retire the batter.

  As the OS noted, the rulebook is anything but specific on many rules. Why this one, especially when it seems to be just the opposite of logical? To further confuse matters, the rules go on to say that an error should be charged

  (3) when such fielder catches a thrown ball or a ground ball in time to put out the batter-runner and fails to tag first base or the batter-runner;
  (4) when such fielder catches a thrown ball or a ground ball in time to put out any runner on a force play and fails to tag the base or the runner;

  So the spirit of the rule seems to be that the player who is too slow to get to the bag is culpable for his play, but the letter of the rule inexplicably makes a distinction between the assisting player and the player making the actual putout (one is excused for his latent play while the other is responsible). At any rate, we’ll give one cheer to Lopez for sticking around to face the music (which was more than Albert Pujols did) and two cheers to Adam Kennedy, who defended the player who has pushed him even further down the bench. But Lopez’s explanation — "Obviously, I don’t want to hit him in the back while he’s still running to the bag" — wasn’t exactly self-flagellation, even if it was technically true. Being the new kid on the block (and essentially deflecting the blame onto the team’s leading hitter and longest-tenured player), Lopez might’ve taken some responsibility and let Kennedy do the explaining for him. We’ve noted before that Pujols is sometimes not always around the bag when a play is made, and his deep positioning (questionable, with the righthanded Prado batting) was at least partly responsible for the "single." Here’s a rough screen cap, via MLB.com:
  It’s taken at about the time Lopez fielded the ball; Pujols is well off the base at that point. It’s not entirely clear who was to blame, but one things is for certain: the rulebook regarding errors needs to be changed. We don’t care who gets the error, but that’s not a hit.

• Will anyone remember Pujols’s play an inning earlier?The ugly play overshadowed a daring and brilliantly executed play by Pujols in the eighth inning: With Mark Kotsay on second with a leadoff double, Pujols fielded Prado’s grounder and pegged Kotsay going to third. Pujols’s instinctive play turned out to be worth the risk; if, in the worst case, Pujols had failed to get Kotsay, the Cardinals’ WPA would’ve been 25.5%. Playing it “safe” and putting out Prado would’ve put it at 38.3%. But his success upped it to 51.7% — a risk-reward scenario of 12.8%-13.4%.
• What are the Cardinals going to do about their corner-outfielder glut? This season, including Sunday’s heroics by Brian Barton and Joe Mather, has been a reminder of that Jamesian proverb that "True shortage of talent almost never occurs at the left end of the defensive spectrum." The team has four corner outfielders — Barton (4.92), Mather (5.63), Ryan Ludwick (8.14) and Skip Schumaker (5.68)– who boast better RC27 than anyone at catcher, second base and shortstop (not counting Felipe Lopez’s 7.89 in 15 games). The point is that corner outfielders (at least average ones) are easy to find. Strong middle infielders — something that the team may want to do something about this winter — are not. Perhaps the best way for the athletic Mather to find a spot on the 2009 team would be to try his hand at second base next spring.

Some questions to consider, whether or not the Jocketty-LaRuncan regime is planning to move to Seattle or not (some answers to come mid-day now with answers!), in no particular order:

1. Is it feasible that Dave Duncan and/or Walt Jocketty would stay behind if La Russa left?
   Considering that Duncan has followed TLR in consecutive stints with three different teams — the White Sox (1983-1986), the Athletics (1986-1995) and the Cardinals (1996-present) — we find it hard to believe that he would serve a different manager, no matter what team it is (interestingly, Duncan was the Mariners’ pitching coach in 1982). Jocketty and La Russa have been less tightly coupled, Jocketty having left the A’s while TLR was still managing to move up to Assistant GM with the Rockies before coming to the Cardinals. Since Jocketty has one more year left on his current contract, he and TLR might flip the order in which they depart. But it’s no accident that the erstwhile A’s triumvirate of Jocketty, La Russa and Duncan have been together so long. As former Mariner manager Mike Hargrove once said, “John McNamara told me the most important relationship I’ll have is the relationship with my general manager. He’s right.”
2. Could someone else do just as good a job managing the Cardinals next year? If so, who?
   We haven’t seen any good research showing that managers make that much difference, relative to the players who actual hit, pitch and field, and Oakland, in recent years, has shown that Art Howe was certainly replaceable by Ken Macha. So Jose Oquendo, who, of course, is the conventional choice for either an interim or short-term fix as manager, might be as good as any.
3. With the trade of Dan Haren followed by this year’s ill-advised re-signing of Mark Mulder, does Jocketty still have a read on what it takes to excel in the current marketplace?
   To his credit, he hasn’t repeated the same mistake of trading the most precious commodity in baseball, a young pitcher with talent who is under the team’s control. But the extensions to injury-prone veterans Jim Edmonds and Chris Carpenter, along with the two-year Mulder miscalculation might have demonstrated an unwillingness to change with the times and not aggressively staying ahead of the curve in the midst of success (or perhaps an over-indulgence of fan sympathies).
4. Would Anthony Reyes have put up different results this year performing under different leadership? Would he next year?
   We’d have preferred that Iron Cap had been given an entire season in the bigs to pitch his way. Give him credit for downplaying the relationship of LaRuncan and his difficult season. Given Haren’s success in Oakland, we’d rather Iron Cap tried and failed in St. Louis next year than succeeded somewhere else.
5. How much has Jocketty’s complicity in the Ankiel Affair weakened his integrity and image among fans?
   Certainly in the esteem of this column’s writer, Jocketty has disappointed and fallen. Fans don’t follow teams because of their general managers, though, so it may be a moot point.
6. Short of winning another championship, would Cardinal fans tolerate another year with La Russa at the helm? Has La Russa worn out his welcome in St. Louis no matter how much he wins from here on out?
   Like Juan Encarnacion, TLR will probably be damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Though Cardinal fans slipped a bit in their "best" status (becoming less distinguishable from, say, Yankees or Braves fans), winning (or merely producing) still isn’t everything with them. As Whitey was popular even in losing seasons, so La Russa has and likely always will be polarizing in success.
7. Does TLR’s arrogance toward Sabermetrics and/or opinions from "non-baseball" people have a deleterious effect on his managing?
   Again, it gets back to how much impact a manager has on a game. But by limiting himself with his close-mindedness and arrogance, he can’t be helping.
8. Is now the time for the Luhnow era to begin? And how does that affect the roster for 2008?
   As it stands now, the core of the team is under contract for 2008. Here’s a look at the 2007 Opening-Day lineup and their contractual statuses for next year:

   SS David Eckstein	FA
   RF Preston Wilson	FA
   1B Albert Pujols	signed
   3B Scott Rolen	signed
   C Yadier Molina	controlled
   CF Jim Edmonds	signed
   LF So Taguchi	club option
   2B Adam Kennedy	signed
   P Chris Carpenter	signed

   So the team could look about the same. On the other hand, waiting in the wings are several young players, who, after the curtain closes on the 2007 season, will have had some experience on the big stage. Throw in a couple of trades to divest a veteran or two, and a new regime could bring a very different face to the team.

9. Regarding the roster composition for 2008, has LaRuncan already burned too many bridges?
   TLR has always had, for better or worse, a detached relationship with his players. He’s had his favorites, to be sure, as well as his betes noires (see Scott Rolen), but he’s managed to assemble a group who understands their roles. As for the chafing from veterans like Rolen and Edmonds this year, it’s probably best to allow for some leeway, as the 2007 campaign has been an aberration in many ways. Still, a different manager might allow the team to acquire a different type of player, one who might not have been a La Russa type.
10. Which players would follow LaRuncan to Seattle or wherever?
    In the immediate years after TLR took over in St. Louis, the team saw an small influx of bench/role players with Oakland on their resumes: Mike Gallego, Craig Paquette, Rick Honeycutt and Bobby Witt. But the Cardinals also acquired key pitchers like Dennis Eckersley and Todd Stottlemyre, as well as Mark McGwire. With the team holding a 2008 option on Jason Isringhausen, depending on their direction, we can see Izzy following La Russa as Eckersley did (though perhaps not to Seattle, who already has a reliable and considerably easier-to-spell closer in JJ Putz).

1. Could Andy Cavazos, with five Ks in 2 2/3 innings last night, be a candidate for a spot start?
2. How much longer will Babyface stay in the rotation? After all, his GB-FB ratio last night was 7-6.
3. Was TLR right when he said “You got the ground ball by German and a ground ball by LaRue and the fly by Teahen in the corner there, so based on the contact they made, it should have been something less than what they got. But that’s baseball.”? The Royals’ BABIP vs. Thompson last night was .345 (AL average: .300), and the Cardinals Defensive-Efficiency Rate was .565 (Cardinals’ average: .693). Right you are, sir!
4. With all due respect, isn’t it more of a relief that Preston Wilson’s (.199 GPA) season is over? Looks like Ryan Ludwick (.242) might stick, after all.
5. Is Jorge Sosa’s emergence for real? And if so, does it mean that Rick Peterson is a better pitching coach than Dave Duncan?
6. Has anyone forgiven Don Denkinger?
7. Has Chris Duncan improved his fielding so much that he’s now a better option in left field than Scott Spiezio? If the fact that both were in the lineup but Spiezio was the DH means anything, then yes. Then again, Duncan already might have been a better fielder in 2006,with a better zone rating in LF than Spiezio last year (.851-.844).
8. When will Iron Cap return? Or will he, since he had a 9-8 GB-FB ratio last night despite striking out six and walking one?
9. Isn’t it time for a great platoon at second base? With Adam Kennedy at .147 GPA and Aaron Miles .249 vs. LHP, couldn’t the Cardinals do better with Edgar Gonzalez (.265 at Memphis vs. LHP)?
10. Instead of mocking the NL Central, why aren’t more people talking about the parity in the National League, in which the best teams (Mets and Padres, .571) are separated from the worst team (Reds, .400) by less than .200 percentage points, or a mere 11 games (compare with AL at .651/.359./18.5 games).

Ten questions from the weekend debacle at Houston, some rhetorical, others not so much:

1. With seven games left and a magic number of five, the team can’t possibly blow this division championship, can it?
2. Is Phil Garner trying to give Brad Lidge a complex by having him pitch to Pujols?
3. Why is the majors’ 3rd-worst ump still umpiring?
4. Speaking of “The Call,” we’re glad that Joe Morgan saw things our way, but is it a good thing to have him on your side in an argument?
5. Was that Roger Clemens’s final game?!Does anyone really care if that was Roger Clemens’s final game?
6. Given Aaron Miles’s superior approach against power pitchers (last night’s performance notwithstanding), shouldn’t he be getting the starting nod at 2B over Belliard (.738 OPS/.590), especially come playoff time?
7. Do the Astros get more than their fair share of favorable calls because of their stadium atmosphere?
8. Why do Astros fans boo Preston Wilson?
9. Since it was unlikely that Berkman was going to ground out (though, yes, we are aware that he is slightly more prone to groundouts as a righty), why not simply walk him?
10. Where’s Ken Dayley when you need him? Or Tony Fossas? Or any of the pitchers with the Top 10 LOOGy seasons in Cardinal history (by Fielding-Independent Pitching/qDIPS):
    

    Year	Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	FIP
    1985	Ken Dayley	57	65.3	4	4	11	2.76	2.86
    1995	Tony Fossas	58	36.7	3	0	0	1.47	3.21
    1988	Ken Dayley	54	55.3	2	7	5	2.77	3.62
    1991	Bob McClure	32	23	1	1	0	3.13	4.03
    1987	Ken Dayley	53	61	9	5	4	2.66	4.16
    2002	Steve Kline	66	58.3	2	1	6	3.39	4.24
    2004	Ray King	86	62	5	2	0	2.61	4.26
    1983	Dave Rucker	34	37	5	3	0	2.68	4.27
    1996	Rick Honeycutt	61	47.3	2	1	4	2.85	4.28
    1989	Ken Dayley	71	75.3	4	3	12	2.87	4.30

At last night’s roundtable meeting, we asked the Bob Broeg SABR chapter membership their opinions on the 10 questions we posted yesterday. The poll was far from scientific (we think all the percentages add up to 100, but can’t promise anything), but the results reveal the general attitudes of the local club. Some of the answers surprised us (like #2 and #8), and some were predictable (like #4). And former chapter president Mark Stangl was even so bold as to pick a specific date for question #9! Sorry, Mark, no prizes are available, though we’ll give you props if you’re right. So without further ado, here’s what the group last night thought, with comments:

1. Should Bruce Sutter’s #42 have been retired? 55% Yes
   Comments: “Who cares?” “It was already retired.”
2. If Jason Isringhausen never pitches again, who was the better closer for the Cardinals, Isringhausen or Sutter? 100% Sutter
3. Who should win Cy Young? 80% Carpenter, 20% Webb
   Comments: “Cy Predictor says Carp.”
4. Who should win MVP? (hint: Dan O’Neill knows the answer) 91% Pujols, 9% Howard
   Comments: “Too early to tell.” “Howard will win if he hits 60 homers and the Phils win wild card.”
5. Who should close games the rest of the year?
1. Wainwright 46%
2. Looper 38%
3. Hancock 0%
4. All of the above equally 15%
5. None of the above 0%
   Comments: “Looper, as long as he’s hot.” “I wanted an ‘either Wainwright or Looper’ option.”
   
6. If Jim Edmonds can’t return, who should mainly play CF?
1. So Taguchi 8%
2. Preston Wilson 25%
3. Juan Encarnacion 67%
4. All of the above equally 0%
5. None of the above 0%
   Comments: “Wilson’s career Rate in CF is 94, and in RF is 83, while Encarnacion is 91/96, respectively.” “Encarnacion is going to be the starting CF in 2007.”
7. Which batter should definitely be on the playoff roster?
1. John Rodriguez 23%
2. Skip Schumaker 0%
3. Jose Vizcaino 0%
4. So Taguchi 15%
5. Preston Wilson 62%
   Comments: “Wilson, since he’s going to start.” “Schumaker will need to be on the team if Edmonds is out.”
8. Which pitcher should definitely be on the playoff roster?
1. Jason Marquis 46%
2. Anthony Reyes 31%
3. Jorge Sosa 0%
4. Brad Thompson 0%
5. Jeff Weaver 23%
   Comments: “Sosa is Esteban Yan with a different name on the back of his jersey.”
9. When will the team clinch the divison title (current magic number is 8 )?
1. at Houston (Sep. 21-24) 18%
2. vs. San Diego (Sep. 25-27) 55%
3. vs. Milwaukee (Sep. 28-Oct. 1) 27%
4. They won’t win the division title this year. 0%
   Comments: “Friday, Sept. 29″
10. Should Tony LaRussa manage the Cardinals next year?
1. If the Cardinals win the World Series, yes; otherwise, no 15%
2. Regardless of the rest of the season, yes 46%
3. Regardless of the rest of the season, no 38%
   Comments: “There is a managerial opening in Memphis.”