The St. Louis native Earl Weaver, who captured pennants and a World Series title as Baltimore’s manager, famously won games because of “pitching, defense and three-run homers.”
The St. Louis Cardinals, in their first 34 games of 2023, infamously lost games because of pitching, defense and trying to hit three-run homers (sometimes even with no one on).
“When we get down, everyone wants to go up and hit a home run and score, right then,” Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong shared after his team's 10-5 win Sunday over the Los Angeles Dodgers. “But when we're playing well, we're trusting that we can hand the baton off to the next guy. ... Using all those outs so we have, trusting that we can take a walk or (get a) base hit and then it leads to a big inning. ... It's just about doing the little things, putting pressure on the other team ... and using our baserunning that we work on.”
