Nick Punto and the Walk of Destiny
With the bases loaded and the Cardinals down by one, Nick Punto drew a walk against Alexi Ogando (2.29 BB/9 during the regular season), to tie the game at four (Silly me, I forgot Matt Holliday had been picked off at third, so it was merely a very nice walk). Considering that Punto is a career .249/.325/.327 hitter, you would have thought Ogando could have put some fastball, any fastball, really, over the plate to draw the necessary out, especially considering that Punto started the at-bat in an 0-2 hole.
Except, Punto lead all Cardinals in career pitches per plate appearance at the start of the season, Albert Pujols included, and among all players with at least 150 plate appearances, Punto had the lowest percentage of swings outside the zone with 14.7%. While Punto may never be much of a hitter, he did the one thing he was born to do: walk. And he did it with great aplomb.
UPDATE: Naturally, before I could even hit publish on this post, Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz hit back-to-back home runs, giving the Rangers a 6-4 lead.
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