The offense is horrible right now. They haven't been able to hit left handed pitching for the past few years, let alone a young lefty pitcher like they faced today against the Pirates. You have to give the Pirates credit. Their starting pitchers have looked decent this year, especially Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. They also took advantage of mistakes by the Cardinal pitchers and defense, something that the Pirates seemingly haven't been able to do in the past few years.
With that said the Cardinal offense has self-destructed the whole year. They've hit into some 18 double plays already this year, hitting into three today. The hitters have been extremely anxious at the plate, and perhaps none more so then Pujols. Cardinal fans know that the offense isn't this bad. But with the struggles that the offense has had the past few years, I wonder how effective of a hitting coach that Hal McRae has been. A lot of things have changed since the power filled 2004 lineup. Larry Walker and Reggie Sanders are no longer with the team, Rolen and Edmonds have both suffered big injuries. You can't put sole blame on him, but it makes one wonder why such the drastic change since McRae has taken over. It will always boil down to the players being the ones that actually takes the swings. But it is the job of the hitting coach to fix problems with the swing of his players among other things. Would the Cardinals be just in dumping McRae this early in the season? In my mind it has to at least be considered. You hate to see a coach take the fall when the players are struggling. Something has to be done though and that might be the cheapest and easiest solution. How 'bout some talk on this. What do you guys think???
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here here. some will certainly say that we may be jumping the guns here, but i think i am in agreement on this one. we have a ton of potential in our bats - not just power, but i think the wisdom to be able to put the ball where it needs to be hit. i see flashes of it with eckstein - he is the greatest hitter, but he know how to place a ball. i'd be happy to see Hal go and to get someone else in there. The last couple of years have been a real struggle for a team that has as much upside and experience as what we have. true, the players are the ones swinging, but it takes a good teacher to learn the tricks of the trade.
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