SAN FRANCISCO — The phrase former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had for a hitter who couldn’t get his swing in sync with his stride, who was too early on off-speed pitches, too late on fastballs, and too off balance to do too much of anything was “caught in between.”
A hitter caught in between was a hitter who couldn’t get the facets of his game going all in the same direction so he didn’t have any game going at all.
The 2023 Cardinals are caught in between.
When they pitch, they struggle to hit. When they hit, their pitchers glitch.