Slow and steady loses the race

Cardinals 5, Giants 3

The Cardinals are not a fast team. They entered Sunday in the bottom-third of the league in stolen bases. But against the Giants, you don't need to be fast to steal.

Alec Burleson, one of the slowest players on St. Louis, stole two bases. So did Pedro Pagés, the starting catcher.

So what gives? Patrick Bailey isn't the problem. It's the pitchers.

We know this because Statcast measures how well pitchers keep runners close to the base. The Giants are worst in the National League.

From the view of my couch, this is a coaching problem. I don't know how you teach pitchers to speed up their motions and keep an eye on runners. But the Giants didn't magically assemble a group of pitchers with slow deliveries. There has to be improvement.

Teams are running all over the Giants, and the Giants have no recourse. They have the fewest steals in baseball.

Up next: The Giants head back home to face the Cubs. Their next three starting pitchers are TBD, TBD, and TBD. Good stuff, starting at 6:45 p.m.