Rob Rains Inside Baseball: Freese hopes for good September, for himself and Cardinals

By Rob Rains

David Freese knows first-hand how important one good month can be for a baseball player.

His success with the Cardinals in October 2011 made him more than a hometown hero, carrying Freese onto the national stage, where he sat on The Tonight Show couch next to Justin Bieber and got to experience more than 15 minutes of fame, all because of some key hits at the right time.

Freese also has played baseball long enough, however, to know that memories fade, and the success he had in helping the Cardinals win the World Series doesn’t matter at all when he steps in the batter’s box 23 months later.

“I think expectations are so high in this city and for this organization that every year you have to come in and produce,” Freese said. “This is a business. You’ve got to come in here and do your job. 2011 was awesome, and winning that ring was great, but we are here to win more.”

Freese is the first to admit that the first five months of this season have not worked out as well as he had hoped or would have liked. He arrived at the start of September Sunday with a .263 average, only six homers and 48 RBIs, all significantly less than his totals at the same time a year ago – a .296 average, 17 homers and 71 RBIs.

“That’s the way the world works,” he said. “Sometimes you have better years than others. This is my second full year, and it’s one of those things. I’m learning a lot this year on how to go about it, how to play this game, how to evolve in this league. Pitchers and teams are evolving with me.

“It (the season) has had its ups and downs. It’s been frustrating, not really putting everything together. But we’ve got a month left and the important thing is where we are as a team, in the hunt to win the division.”

Having that goal in front of him helps ease some of Freese’s frustrations about how this year has gone, a year which began with a fall into a camera well in spring training which may have affected him more than he realized at the time.

“I think spring training is very important,” he said. “I haven’t really clicked since. I’ve had spots where I can kind of see it coming, and then it kind of goes backward a little bit. It is what it is. We’ve got a month left, and I’m fortunate that we are in the position to win the division and get to the postseason.”

The spring training injury forced Freese to begin the season on the disabled list, and no doubt contributed to his .163 batting average in April, when he did not hit a home run and drove in only three runs. A hot stretch in early June raised his average to a season-high .292 on June 15, but it has stayed in the .270s and .260s since the All-Star break.

“You want all those balls to fall because the numbers look better, and people don’t question it,” Freese said. “You just go out there and try to play your hardest and be a good teammate and hopefully at the end of the day you’ve got the W.

“Numbers are a freaky thing. I buried myself the first six weeks of the year, and it was tough to look at the scoreboard and see the numbers. There can still be some good things that can happen with the rest of the season we have left. That’s the cool thing about this game. It’s a long six months, and hopefully there is a seventh month in there as well.”

For the Cardinals to enhance their chances in October, they certainly could use a good month of September from Freese. He hit .265 in August with only one homer, but did drive in 14 runs, his highest total in any month this season.

He started September on a positive note Sunday, hitting a two-run double as the Cardinals won in Pittsburgh to move back into a first-place tie with the Pirates.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’m liking where I am, and I am going to keep playing hard. This is about getting to the postseason, and any way I can help the team.”

Freese’s situation has changed somewhat in the past couple of weeks, after rookie Kolten Wong was called up from Triple A Memphis. A left-handed hitter, Wong has started several games at second base against right-handed pitchers with Matt Carpenter moving to third and putting Freese on the bench.

He said he honestly does not know from one day to the next if he is going to be in the starting lineup.

“We don’t know,” he said. “That’s the way Mike (Matheny) is kind of doing it. We just wait for the lineup card to come out. Both Kolten and I come in ready to play every day. That’s the way it’s got to be.

“Being in this spot is a good thing. We’re fighting for a playoff berth, and that’s what this is all about. This is a good team and the best guys are going to play. Hopefully we are playing in October.”

What Freese won’t discuss, and says he honestly is not worried about, is whether he is playing in September to try to hold onto his spot as the Cardinals’ third baseman for 2014 and beyond.

Knowing that Freese will be headed toward his second year of arbitration this winter, knowing that he has not had a great offensive year, knowing that Carpenter can play third, and knowing the team would save money by installing Wong as the second baseman has led to speculation that Freese might be on the trading block this winter.

“I can’t think past tomorrow,” he said. “Today is what it’s all about. I don’t worry about all that.

“I think I’ve been very good about worrying about the now. Especially in the minor leagues, that’s a good example of not looking too far in the future. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s up to them (the front office). That’s for people to speculate. I can’t control that.

“I’m a Cardinal, I want to be a Cardinal and I plan on continuing to try to help the team.”

Freese, who will turn 31 next April, does know that a good month of September could go a long way toward changing how his 2013 season is viewed – by himself, by fans and by the front office.

“You just have to go out and do your part,” he said. “I’ve done a lot to contribute to this team this year and in years past. We’ve got some ball left to play, and I’m happy about that.”

Freese has said often in the past that he believes he has always handled the highs of his career, and life, much better than he has handled the lows. Unfortunately, he has gotten more practice in the later during this frustrating season.

“I’m still hard on myself, and I always have been,” he said. “I think I’ve gotten better at it because I’ve had to. The frustration has been there this year, but I look up at the standings and that’s comforting.”
---------------
Rob Rains is the editor of StLSportsPage.com
Follow @RobRains on Twitter
For complete coverage of St. Louis sports follow @StLSportsPage on Twitter
For your chance to win a book signed by David Freese and 3 other players plus a ball signed by Red Schoendienst: http://stlsportspage.lockerdome.com/contests/108996995