Three-true-outcomes fielding sinks St. Louis Cardinals?

When the 6-6 St. Louis Cardinals met the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park Apr. 16, the Phillies were seemingly on the ropes after a 1-5 road trip. With two good, early season series at home a fading memory, the Fightin’s Phils were also 6-6 that evening.

Reader advisory: This is not a game story, or at least not as such. Rather it is about a game that first suggested to this MLB observer that a problem previously commented on, baseball’s current three true outcomes “issue,” may be more than simply a fan boredom problem. This question now begs: Is the growing predominance of strikeouts, walks, and home runs doing more (and worse) than boring fans?

Could the cause of a very bad St. Louis Cardinals inning in the field have been current batting practices?

Spoiler advisory: The Phillies won this game going away, 9-2, but the focus here is on the disastrous bottom of the second inning for the visiting Redbirds.

With one out in that Philadelphia frame, the St. Louis Cardinals suddenly became a team seemingly determined to set some sort of record for gift-wrapped “hits” in an inning.

First, shortstop Paul DeJong failed to properly set his right foot after fielding a ground ball to his right by Alec Bohm, resulting in a ruled single after that foot slid from under the infielder.

Then, second baseman Matt Carpenter, a veteran, muffed a Didi Gregorius grounder because he may have been thinking about a double play. (This was the view of John Kruk, the retired player turned announcer, and that looked more than plausible.)

And finally, rookie center fielder Dylan Carlson lost a flyball by Jean Segura in the twilight, and the Phillies had a “double” and a run.

In other words, the Cardinals looked for all the world like a team that didn’t expect batters to do anything but strike out, walk, or hit homers. Oh, surely, it could be argued that the inning was a mixture of bad luck and a seemingly bad decision, but the eyes said something else.

The infield wasn’t wet and yet DeJong didn’t plant his foot well enough to make his throw. There was an out, and yet Carpenter apparently didn’t consider simply getting one out after ranging into right field with a Phillies baserunner well on his way to second. And Carlson looked as though he’d never caught a ball in fading light before.

In a flash, pitcher Carlos Martinez was on his way to losing focus, partly because of a decision to walk the next Philadelphia batter. He then hit Zach Eflin, the Phillies pitcher, forcing in a run. After another single and another (unintentional) walk, he surrendered a hard-hit double to right center to Bryce Harper, and the Phillies were up 6-0.

Let’s circle back. Were the St. Louis Cardinals back on their heels in part because they simply don’t expect that many balls to be hit on the ground anymore? Does the currently high number of walks and strikeouts keep outfielders even more flat-footed than infielders? This seems unlikely, but….

The rest of the game may have offered some clues. Despite a wind blowing in for most of the contest, reportedly at 13 mph, many players were swinging for the fences and failing. Harper had two near home runs knocked down. DeJong had one as well. Philly’s Rhys Hoskins had perhaps another.

In the sixth inning, Nolan Arenado struck out swinging for a home run instead of a single with two men on and two outs.

When the wind died down a bit, two home runs were finally hit, but both were line drives. The first of those was hit by Philly’s catcher, J.T. Realmuto (who, by the way, ended the six-run breakout in the second inning by – drumroll, please – striking out).

Or maybe the St. Louis Cardinals really aren’t a very good fielding team. They had entered the game with a .981 team fielding percentage, which ranked 21st in major league baseball.

However, it may be that something is happening to MLB fielding because of what happens now with MLB batting.