Plain old stat to begin this piece. Matt Holliday has 20 game winning hits. Sure, take a shot at that stat but when the Cardinals have needed a big hit, Holliday has delivered. 8 of those hits have come in the second half of the season.
Yesterday, in an article after Game 1, I called out Holliday for being one of the reasons that the offense wasn’t consistent or threatening. Holliday had slowed down in August after a great start. His slugging for the month was .392 coming into Game 2 last night. That’s when Holliday, aka The Hulk Of Stillwater, Oklahoma, erupted with a string of hits and RBI that we have rarely seen from him or any other Cardinal all season long.
Holliday broke a 1-1 game on Saturday night with a three run home run. He added a solo home run later and ended the night with 5 RBI. Holliday got the Cards on the board with a solo home run today. He added an RBI double that somehow didn’t leave the ballpark and rocketed a base hit off the pitcher in the 8th inning for a 2 run go ahead hit. In two games, Holliday gave a tie or gave the Cards a lead in three instances.
Suddenly, Holliday is cranking and locked in. I saw it in Game 1 yesterday, where he smoked a pair of line drives that were caught. Holliday came into Game 2 last night slugging just .392 for the month. He finished August today slugging .457 for the month of August and .421 overall on the season. With 26 games to go on the season, Holliday has 16 home runs and 78 RBI. His batting average went from .261 before Game 2 to .267. People forget the man has drawn 64 walks and been hit with a pitch 15 times on the season. Holliday also has 32 doubles and 70 runs scored.
Unless his bat goes ice cold, the man could still finish with 22 home runs and around 90 RBI with 40 doubles and 80+ walks. Some will call it a down year but others may just call it another solid productive season. It wouldn’t be too far off from his 2013 season. Save me the batting average talk. I will take the .365 on base percentage and doubles over a bunch of singles. That’s what I look for in Holliday. Getting on base, getting big hits and cranking doubles with the streaky dose of long balls.
People compare him to Pujols all they want but it’s never been a fair fight. Since he has put on Cardinal Red, Holliday has been money well spent. Compare his overall WAR to players making similar money around the league and Holliday is worth it. He may not run every ground ball out or make every play in left but Holliday gets the job done when needed.
I hear this one the most. Matt Holliday gets meaningless RBI. He is hitting .328 with runners in scoring position and has collected 56 of his 78 RBI with runners in scoring position. He has drawn more walks(17) than strikeouts(16) with RISP as well. Soak that in for a while, cynics. I’ll be here waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Matt Holliday saves his best for last. He may go cold for a week or so, but right when you want to count him out(I called him out yesterday yet didn’t trash the guy), he strikes and does it in a big way.
The Cards don’t split the doubleheader without Holliday doing his hulk smashing routine. He is red hot and tomorrow isn’t an off day so I expect this to continue as the Pirates roll into town. It’s easy to root for guys like Holliday. He’s a good guy, does a lot in the community and gets the job done when others fail to do so.
Before Holliday came up in the 8th inning, Matt Adams and Randal Grichuk had struck out on 6 pitches. With 2 outs, Holliday broke through. People forget how consistent he has been in his time here. He isn’t as powerful as he used to be, but the man still gets the job done. Not bad for a guy who took a 96 mph bullet off his left elbow earlier in the game.
Holliday may not be flashy or qualify for the MVP anymore, but he’s still pretty good.
The Cards will very well be in first place by the time the sun goes down here in St. Louis. The Brewers are on the verge of losing their 5th straight game, down 14-2 in the 7th inning to the Giants. After all the drama and frustration, September 1st will see the Cards share ownership of first place.
That’s baseball folks. Remained seated. This ride is far from over.
Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter for more instant Cardinal takes, @buffa82.
2 comments
Holliday and some others really bailed Matheny out of a bad managing game in my opinion. First, Jay should have batted second and Grichuk should be batting 7th or 8th. Second, Choate should never have pitched to the right hander. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Matheny almost lost this one.
Hats off to Lackey, as bulldog as advertised.
Well said Carlin. Well said. Thanks for reading.
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