Watching MLB Tonight (again with these people being dumb!) and Greg Amsinger and Dan Plesac are talking about how the Angels have been shut out a lot this year. Amsinger asks Plesac how that could be. The correct answer? The team has a .299 OBP (12/14) and a SLG of .379 (11/14) entering play today. So they aren't getting guys on base and when they hit, they don't do so for much power. I mean, even David Eckstein could cobble together a 701 OPS in his career, they aren't even doing that well.
What does Plesac say is the reason? Because Albert Pujols is struggling! I mean, that's close, right?
As a Cardinals fan, I can understand why that would seem so. For 11 years, it seemed that as Pujols went, so did the Cardinals. But, really, that isn't true. If no one were getting on base besides Pujols, and no one were hitting for power besides Pujols, the Cards would have had poor offensive teams in the 2000s. Think of Adrian Gonzalez on the Padres all those years, big bat with no one around him. In the glory years of the Cardinals, they had guys like Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Matt Holliday, Ryan Ludwick, Troy Glaus (for a year), and a bunch of other guys hitting well around Pujols. Not, as Danny P claims because of Pujols, but because they were good hitters in any situation. Having that dominant bat helps, but if the rest of the Angels lineup continues to OBP under 300, Albert could put up Bonds-like numbers and they still wouldn't score many runs. Because, and I will type this in big letters so Plesac can understand it:
A BASEBALL TEAM IS MORE THAN ONE PLAYER!
I'm sleepy.
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