When he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, Brandon Moss could hardly contain his excitement to join the organization–and contribute. That had been difficult in Cleveland where a slow start buried him deep in a hole that he was never quite able to dig out of. Despite some good at-bats, especially early on when Busch Stadium swallowed some balls on the warning track, Moss was starting to fall into the same rut in St. Louis.
“It was definitely repeating itself,” said Moss. “I knew it wasn’t so much that I was terrible or anything like that. It’s just that I was inconsistent and I wasn’t as strong as I’d normally been. It’s just one of those things where you know that over time it will fix itself, you just hope you’re able to correct it before the end of the season and help out the team because they brought you here for a reason.”
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Moss helped out in walk-off fashion on Tuesday with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to give the Cardinals an 8-5 win over Washington.
He has now hit safely in six straight games and since August 24th, is batting .400 (8-20) with three home runs and six runs batted in. Not to be overlooked, he’s also drawn six walks in the stretch.
“That’s a huge thing,” Moss agreed. “When you’re up there and you’re not recognizing pitches, you’re giving the pitcher a strike every time–whether it’s swinging or taking. You’re not sure what it is that you’re looking for. You’re not really sure where the zone is and you’re not recognizing spin out of the hand, so you’re just trying to get in a good count and guess. When you do that, it really doesn’t really pay off very well–you get a lot of weak contact like I was getting for a little bit.
“When you’re able to finally start recognizing the ball and you’re on time–you’re not just that click off, that click late and fouling pitches back–that’s when you’re able to let yourself get deeper in the counts. You don’t have to swing at every strike they throw you, you can be a little bit more patient. But when you’re not feeling it and you’re not recognizing pitches, then anytime you see a strike in the strike zone, you’re trying to react to it to try not to get to two strikes. That’s really the big difference.”
Getting back to full strength has also been a contributing factor as Moss, who had surgery for a hip impingement in October, has been able to train his legs harder the last month.
“I don’t know how much strength is actually built back, it’s probably more just getting the muscles to fire again–but confidence wise, to know that they’re actually firing and I can feel them and I feel in them, that goes a long way too,” said Moss, who notes he developed some mechanical flaws to go with the weakness from not being able to lift during the off-season.
But now the strength, the mechanics–and the results are finally starting to come together.
“Really, it couldn’t happen at a better time,” said Moss. “At the same time, you wish you could’ve done it earlier because it’s been a really inconsistent year.”
REYNOLDS DAY TO DAY
–Mark Reynolds was forced to leave the game after being hit on the right wrist during his at-bat in the 3rd inning. X-rays were negative and he is listed as day-to-day with a contusion.
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
