Starling Marte makes a risky but successful diving catch in the bottom of the third on a ball hit down the leftfield line. If it gets by him, no one gets to it. In the top of the fourth, Pete Kozma gets airborne to snare a liner, and both teams are playing excellent defense tonight. The Cardinals still lead 2-0 in the top of the fourth.
Pete Kozma is suffering the slump to end all slumps. He has not collect a hit since early August, going 0 for 27 in his last 12 games with five walks., eight strikeouts and one GDP. For the month of August, he collected just three hits and eight walks. The slump is worse than that, however, as it goes back to the start of June. In that time, among players with 200 PA, he owns the lowest BA, the lowest OBP, and the lowest slugging percentage. It’s the triple crown of bad! To add insult to injury, his slugging percentage is actually lower than his OBP, basically indicating he has more walks than extra bases.
Should the Cardinals be surprised by this? Kozma’s minor league batting numbers were poor. Yet, St. Louis gave him a full-time job based on a great end to the 2013 season. It’s a classic mistake, rewarding a small sample size because it led to a good outcome. What I find most interesting is that the Cardinals didn’t prepare for this. They should not have seen Kozma as their shortstop of the future. I suspect they don’t have a better option at the position right now, and at least Pete catches the ball, but not well enough to make up for his lack of offense. Right now, he basically gives St. Louis a second pitcher in the lineup, putting pressure on the rest of the batting order. Maybe they should have competed with the Tigers for Jose Iglesias.