This has become an issue lately so I’d like to address why you’ll never see me blame a St. Louis Cardinals loss on a single player. I understand why many want to assign blame, but I have some serious reasons why I don’t believe in it.
When you think of some of Major League Baseball’s most infamous late game blunders, game 6 of the Boston Red Sox/New York Mets World Series probably comes to mind. Everyone remembers Bill Buckner’s error as Mookie Wilson’s ball went through his legs at first base allowing the Mets to win the game and eventually the World Series. Here’s something to consider. Do you know that the Boston Red Sox had 13 hits in that game, but stranded 8 runners on base? You never hear about all of those Red Sox RISP, but Bill Buckner lived with this moment the rest of his life and did it with grace, I might add.
A lot has been made of Riley O’Brien’s recent failures to close out games and those blown saves are real and deserve analysis and scrutiny. However, I still maintain that you can’t pin those losses solely on him or any other player in the Cardinals lineup. As much as I’d like to forget it, let’s look back at the Saturday night game when Riley O’Brien gave up a 2-strike 2-run homer to Randall Grichuk of the White Sox. During that game, the St. Louis Cardinals stranded 9 runners on base. Cooper Hjerpe allowed 4 earned runs in relief. However, it’s typical of a closer to bear the brunt of the blame when a game goes wrong. When I mentioned the Cardinals bullpen as being one of the most prominent problems in Saturday’s loss, I saw numerous comments on social media throwing hatred at just O’Brien. I will never tell anyone how they should feel about something, but this issue in particular is one I wish fans would rethink.
I have seen some in the past make reference to the infamous Donnie Moore 1986 home run he gave up to Dave Henderson in game 5 of the 1986 ALCS as being key to his eventual suicide. That is a grossly oversimplified story that doesn’t really do justice to the struggles that Donnie Moore dealt with in his life. He was apparently a very troubled man that dealt with depression before and after that infamous moment in 1986. One baseball game was not his problem, but it does bring to light the humanity behind all players.
Do I think that Riley O’Brien should be the St. Louis Cardinals closer moving forward? I’m in the camp that says no. Do I think he’s the lone problem in many of these late-game Cardinals losses? No way. We can discuss roster construction all day and I’ll never get tired of it. I will not, however, be a part of laying blame on a player when a game goes wrong, though.
I cannot think of any baseball game in history that has been solely lost by one individual. I also can’t think of any baseball game that has been solely won by an individual. I was always told that you win as a team and you lose as a team. Enough with this desire to scapegoat someone.
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