"Skip Schumaker left the Cardinals' 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves last Sept. 12 sitting on a .290 average. The Cardinals had 18 games remaining to run out the NL Central. Schumaker, the team's leadoff hitter, who had pulled off an unlikely conversion to second base, knew he had three weeks to reach a personal goal: a .300 average. Through talent and force of will, Schumaker needed only four days against the Braves and Florida Marlins, two of the league's tougher pitching staffs, to raise his average to .302 with a 10-for-15 binge. Schumaker finished the season at .303 by hitting .397 during the team's offensively challenged final 2½ weeks. "In this game it's hard not to think of yourself based on what your numbers say," Schumaker said. "Sometimes they can push you. But you don't want to let them beat you up. That can be hard." This season has offered little give for Schumaker and many of his teammates, who were expected to form one of the league's most imposing lineups. Two tough months have left the Cardinals a half-game out of first place and Schumaker only an occasional occupant of the leadoff spot. "We're so much better than what we've shown. Everybody knows that," Schumaker said before Wednesday's irritating 2-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. "Except for Albert (Pujols), most of us aren't performing up to what our careers would suggest." Of Schumaker's 138 at-bats, 73 (52.8 percent) have ended in a first- or second-pitch result. Last season only 173 of his 532 at-bats (32.5 percent) ended that quickly. Pressure tends to mount on a player who is batting .240 but is accustomed to much more. "Every at-bat you want to feel better," said Schumaker, who batted leadoff in 120 of 128 starts last season. "You can't change the past. Things happen. But positive results certainly put you in a better frame of mind." The batting order intrigue that has flowed through much of this season has bumped veteran Felipe Lopez to the leadoff role for all of his starts since May 17. Lopez is hitting .263 with a .348 on-base percentage hitting leadoff but has scored only four runs in 47 plate appearances as a starter this month. The buck doesn't necessarily stop at the top. Largely because of what was — or wasn't — happening lower in the batting order, the Cardinals went seven games without scoring a first-inning run earlier this month." http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sp...19560987D32408C08625774600096B08?OpenDocument
