Cardinals aren’t maximizing opportunities on offense

Reporting from St. Louis — Tony La Russa left Busch Stadium early Wednesday evening with a plan for his unexpected free time. He was headed to the movie theater to see “Moneyball,” which is based on a book that he has long criticized.

But with the St. Louis Cardinals’ World Series survival depending on the reawakening of their stalled lineup, a couple of hours studying the importance of on-base average made perfect sense.

Among the concepts in Michael Lewis’ book, which La Russa doesn’t like because of its portrayal of Art Howe and baseball scouts, the importance of generating baserunners — along with not giving up outs on bunts — has universal value. The Cardinals have not maximized their opportunities against the Texas Rangers, getting men on base but too often failing to drive them in.

La Russa’s managing was the focus after St. Louis’ 4-2 loss in Game 5, but two uncharacteristic at-bats by No. 6 hitter David Freese might have played as big of a role in the game’s outcome as La Russa’s letting left-handed reliever Mark Rzepcynski pitch to right-handed-hitting Mike Napoli in the eighth inning with the score 2-2.

Rangers starter C.J. Wilson walked Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman to start the second inning, bringing Freese to the plate. He attacked Wilson’s first pitch, hitting a fly ball to right fielder Nelson Cruz for the first out.

La Russa had no problem with the at-bat, however.

“On-base percentage is one of the most dangerous concepts of the last seven, eight years because it forces some executives and coaches and players to think that it’s all about getting on base by drawing walks,” La Russa said. “And the fact is that the guys that have the best on-base percentage are really dangerous hitters whenever they get a pitch in the strike zone. … So the question about Dave Freese is, did he get a good pitch to hit?

“If he didn’t get a good pitch to hit, then that was bad execution and we should coach him better. If he got a good pitch to hit, then maybe he tilted and the pitch he had was a real good pitch to hit. He just hit a fly ball. … Did he get a good pitch to hit?”

La Russa said he did.

The same thing was true in the seventh — a crazy inning against Rangers reliever Alexi Ogando that featured the first of two instances in which Allen Craig was caught trying to steal second base on a botched hit-and-run. Freese again came to bat after a Berkman walk, this one intentional, which loaded the bases with two out. He swung at the first pitch and hit a fly ball to center fielder Josh Hamilton for the third out, leaving the bases loaded.

La Russa said that too was a good at-bat.

In part because Rangers Manager Ron Washington has become liberal with his use of the intentional walk, the Cardinals have turned a .229 batting average in five World Series games into a .351 on-base percentage. But they’re batting .186 (eight for 43) with runners in scoring position after hitting .303 in those situations in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The key to forcing a seventh game against Texas lies more in getting big hits than in how well the bullpen phone is working.

progers@tribune.com