Cards Sweep Bucs, Roll Brew Crew

Speaking of awesome-hitting stud second basemen…

Guess who’s now the team leader in on-base plus slugging?

That’s right, Matt Carpenter. Carp’s been scorching in September, slashing .378/.452/.622 and now holds the team record for most hits at Busch in a single season. Carpenter leads the league in runs scored, hits, and doubles, and he also leads all NL second basemen in double plays turned. The fact that he’s done all this in his first season at second base should garner him at least a few votes for MVP, although that award’s likely going to go to Andrew McCutchen, a choice I couldn’t really argue against.

For me, though, the MVP of the last month and a half has been Matt Holliday, the much-maligned left fielder. Since July 29, he’s slashed .327/.410/.516 and hit six home runs and driven in 34 in 42 games. Matt’s had his share of critics for not coming through in the clutch, but take a look at his stats with runners on this year:

Runners in scoring position: 137 plate appearances, .364/.460/.536, 54 RBI

2 outs, RISP: 53 plate appearances, .381/.509/.571

Eh. That’s alright, I guess.

The Cardinals finish up their season against some relatively light competition, with Washington being the only opponent above .500. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati will play each other six times in their nine final games, giving the Cardinals a terrific opportunity to put some distance between them.

Before we go…

Please, take some time to remember the awful events that happened 12 years ago. This was not just a senseless loss of life; this was an event that shook the very core of our nation. I was in homeroom my senior year, waiting for the bell to ring when my teacher ran in and turned on the tv. “A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center.”

2,977 innocent lives lost that day.
Countless more in the aftermath.
A world forever altered.

We may not always remember, but we shouldn’t ever forget.

“Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

E pluribus unum.

From many, one.