Over-thinking Over-thinking Over-thinking Over-thinking

-Holliday has A hit (singular) so far.
-Tulo has 2 errors and is going crazy at the plate.
-With 4 games played the Rox hitters lead all of MLB with 38 SO's.
-The Rox have a combined .185 b. avg. so far (2nd worst in MLB; worst in NL).
-They have the worst OBP in MLB
-With only 6 runs scored in 4 games, they are BY FAR dead-last in runs all MLB.
-Their first 3 games, against the Card's, have made the Cardinals bullpen have an ERA of 1.00 which leads MLB.
-And, here's a surprising stat, the Rox's bullpen leads MLB with the most BB's (21).
-If their first game against the Card's hadn't been rained out they likely would have the worst ERA in MLB (thanks to Francis) but luckily Wells helped keep it low (although still one of the worst in MLB).

What does all this MEAN?
Simply stated, the Rox are 1) trying to slug the hell out of the ball at the plate (instead of just getting hits) and not being defensive enough on 2 strikes, which leads to the high strike out numbers, and they're 2) pitching their way into worse and worse trouble by missing the plate and/or not getting ahead in the counts.

FYI, this isn't the first time Holliday has struck out 4 times in a game, the last time he did was 7/13/07 against the Brewers (of course in that game he also hit a homer); before that he did it against the Cubs on 10/10/06. So ya, these games are rare, very rare.

Anyhow with only 4 games played so far all these stats can still all change just from 1 really really good all-around game (pitching and hitting); but who knows if maybe they'll follow in 2005's footsteps and start off 6-21, or maybe the 2003 Detroit Tigers' 3-25 start (which led to the Tigers losing 49-119 season).

Of course we know they will get it together soon here to become the mighty offensive Hoss that they know they can be, it's just a matter of time and a matter of turning off their brains and just playing the game. Perhaps we fans should do the same and just watch and make them earn our praise all over again.

Here's what I know: Holliday has rarely been a sub-.200 (MENDOZAAA!!!) hitter in his career, Tulo only had 11 errors last season, the Rox had a .280 b avg. last year (best in NL) and the best OBP in the NL and the 2nd most runs scored in the NL. The MAIN thing that has changed is Matsui was replaced by Nix and the Rox overall now have more dollars in their own pockets.

So overall I think my point is that the Rox have to stop over-thinking/over-trying and realize that though these games are now 'real' they are nowhere near playoff time yet and so should relax and have some fun because looking in the dugout they all look waaaay too tense for it being so damn early.

Mrs. Mendoza and I would like to continue our amazing win/loss % we have in going to games (I believe we watched 20 wins and 2 losses at home last year) and so would like to see a couple W's tomorrow, the next day, the next day and the next day.

-Mendoza's 5280 (ways to stop over-thinking).