There’s a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today about Ryan Theriot, his changing role on the Cardinals since the Rafael Furcal trade and the fact that he got a rare start at shortstop yesterday. This quote from Theriot sticks out more than a little bit:
The Cardinals led the division until July 27, four days before the Furcal acquisition. Speaking only about his own role, Theriot noted, “When I was playing shortstop we were in first place. I know that. It is what it is.”
Never mind that Furcal is better hitter than Theriot and has played far better defense. If you’re Theriot, correlation = causation and there’s no escaping that kind of geometric logic.
Not that a lot of people won’t buy this. There are people convinced that the Cardinals have been in the crapper for the past few years because David Eckstein isn’t their shortstop anymore. Hey, they won the World Series when he was there, and that speaks for itself, right?
