Cardinal Commentary
Reggie Sanders is losing his hair, but not his desire to play.
His shaved head can’t hide his receding hairline, but his bat seems as lively as it has during any of his 14 Major League seasons.
The St. Louis Cardinals have overcome injuries and occasional erratic play to climb 21 games over .500 and hammer out a 9½-game lead over the Chicago Cubs after Tuesday’s games.
Sanders’ solid season has been essential to the Redbirds’ not missing a stride without Scott Rolen for six weeks and Jim Edmonds for a recent series of games on the road.
The 37-year-old outfielder is hitting a robust .290 with 14 home runs and 36 RBI. He is on pace to top his career averages in all three categories, which are .268, just under 23 home runs and 64 RBI.
If you throw in 13 stolen bases in 2005, you have one of the best all-around seasons of any outfielder in the National League.
A batter cannot hit a ball harder than he did on Monday when he laced a laser-beam double that topped the shortstop’s glove yet reached the wall in Cincinnati.
In fact, Sanders dominated the Reds, the first team he played for during his outstanding career.
He added a two-run home run and a single, leaving him a triple short of his first “cycle.”
It took an all-star type diving catch by Ken Griffey Jr. to rob him of that three-base hit in Sanders’ final at-bat of the game.
“I was hoping. When it went off the bat, I thought I might’ve had an opportunity,” the humble Sanders told mlb.com.
“But he made a great catch. It was one of those do-or-die plays that, if it got by him, then I possibly could’ve had a triple. But, nonetheless, he made a great catch.”
In what would certainly been one the lighter moments of the season, Sanders vows that he would have gone for the triple no matter what third-base coach Jose Oquendo signaled him to do.
“(I) wasn’t going to stop, no matter what.”
As Sanders keeps belting the baseball, the talk continues that the Cardinals must improve their outfield by adding a right-handed bat.
If Sanders continues to hit and play the outfield well, the Cardinals can concentrate more on a bench outfielder more than an everyday starter.
Oh, and note to the Cardinals: trading for the Reds’ Willie Mo Pena would be a mistake. Send him to Weight Watchers, and see what he looks like come next season.
Now, a better fit might be former Cardinal Dmitri Young. Young, a switch hitter, is batting .257 with 11 home runs and 32 RBI. He is the Detroit Tigers’ designated hitter, but can still play the outfield. He might fit the Cards’ bench perfectly.
In the meantime, Cardinal fans should enjoy the youthful antics of the 37-year-old Sanders. In a sports world full of spoiled punks, he’s a gentleman of style and grace.
And, to think, he missed a significant part of spring training when he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy.
As an American who still has his appendix, I doubt I’d be tearing up the National League a few months after going under the knife.
And, as a 44-year-old who can still turn a nifty double play, I say let’s drop the talk of Sanders being “an old guy.”
