GWRBI
« Goin' to Kansas City | Main | The Matheny Line »They say that the Game Winning Run Batted In is a pointless stat, but tonight's game proves that there are instances in which it can be very important. Yadier Molina got off to a rough start on the season to say the least, and although he's already shown significant improvement, driving in Sanders from 2nd in the 12th after having been 0-5 on the night is a big deal for him. Seeing that ball squeak into LF and Sanders rounding third promted me to make a victorious fist pump in the air, but seeing the team rush the field and crowd around Molina at 1st put a huge smile on my face.
In general, you could say the Cardinals struggled tonight, getting outhit 11-6 as Marquis struggled to get in 5 innings on 112 pitches, and Wells held the Cards to 4 hits in 7.1 innings, but there were a handful of bright spots as well. For one, Molina had already put on a show defensively prior to his GWRBI by throwing out 3 baserunners, including the final outs in both the 7th and 11th innings. Also, the Cards bullpen combined to pitch 7 innings and only allowed 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 3. Tavarez and Reyes both brought their ERAs down below the 3.00 mark, and Thompson brought his below 1.00. On top of all that, Izzy didn't even pitch, so he's available tomorrow night while the Cards go for thier 5th sweep of the season and their 13th straight win over the Pirates.
Posted by John at May 24, 2005 11:17 PMDon't forget the four(!) double plays the Cards inflicted upon the frustrated Buckos...
As far as GWRBI, I personally think it carries more weight than the Win for the pitcher. Wouldn't you agree that Yadier had more to do with tonight's victory (as an individual performer) than Al Reyes? But Al gets the Win, just because he happened to be the last pitcher! That's just plain silly, and sportswriters, fans, and sabermetricians everywhere should feel embarrassed that we we even assign such a dubious honor.
I say, abolish W-L records for pitchers. If you must assign a W, figure out who had the greatest Win Share for the game, and give it to that player, be they in the lineup or on the mound.
Not that it will ever happen...
Posted by: Nate at May 24, 2005 11:50 PMAnybody know where Molina ranks in number of thrown out base runners? He's gotta be up there; quite a gun on that guy.
Posted by: at May 25, 2005 06:32 AMAccording to ESPN's player stats, Molina is tops in the MLB with 68.4% (13/19) caught stealing percentage. By comparison, Matheny is at 29% (9/31).
Posted by: Brian Wahoff at May 25, 2005 09:22 AMAnd Molina's only 22!
I was reminding myself of that when he was looking lost at the plate early on. He's only 22 and holding down a job as a starting catcher. Not bad.
Posted by: Levi at May 25, 2005 10:40 AMThat's odd... last night during the game I could swear they said he was 6/12 at one point, and I think that was after the second baserunner caught, which would make him 7/13 by the end of the game. I wonder why FSN and ESPN's numbers are so far off.
Posted by: John at May 25, 2005 11:08 AMLooking at mlb.com stats, it says Molina has allowed 6 stolen bases and caught 13, so that makes baserunners 6-13 against him, or 6/18, for a 12/18 caught stealing percentage. Maybe the FSN stat guy made a little error in reading the stat sheet. :)
Posted by: John at May 25, 2005 11:15 AMLet's not get crazy here. Molina needs a couple of more hits to get me too excited. Just because he sqeaked some groundball through the infield against the pirates (the pirates!), let's not wet ourselves.
Posted by: Frank at May 25, 2005 11:27 AMI said I smiled. I don't smile when I wet myself.
But since you seem to need some convincing of Molina's potential, consider that Molina has hit .305 in the month of May. I think in time we'll find that he's better than Matheny in both fielding and hitting. Now if only he weren't so slow on the basebaths...
Posted by: John at May 25, 2005 11:42 AMAgreed. I think the speed thing is a lost cause. Slowness is in his genes. Just check out his brothers as well...
Posted by: Frank at May 25, 2005 11:50 AMHmm - how fast is Yadier compared to Bengie and Jose? Neither of them are known for speed either, and all three of the brothers (according to ESPN.com) are 220-225 lbs with Yadier and Bengie at 5'11" and Jose at 6'2".
Posted by: at May 25, 2005 01:09 PMThat is a good question and possibly a great pre-All-Star game exhibition. A footrace between Bengie, Jose, Yady and the Itallian Sausage from Miller Park.
John, I hear ya man, I never smile when I met myself either.
OH yeah, and how much does Yady cost vs. Matheny (I'm not trying to cast a shadow over poor matheny, I loved the guy).
Posted by: Ryan at May 25, 2005 05:40 PM