St. Louis Cardinals Yadier Molina slams his bat into the ground after lining out in the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox in Game 5 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on October 28, 2013. Boston won the game 3-1 and now leads the series 3-2. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter both won their first Silver Slugger awards. Molina and Carpenter were honored on Wednesday as the best offensive players at their positions in the National League in voting conducted among major league managers and coaches.
Molina hit.319 with a career high 80 RBI to go along with 44 doubles, which was second to Carpenter in the National League. Molina hit .373 with men in scoring position, good for sixth in the National League.
Carpenter hit .318 overall and .388 with men in scoring position, and scored a major-league high 126 runs, and had a league-high 55 doubles and a .392 on-base percentage. His doubles total broke late Hall of Famer Stan Musial’s club record for a lefthanded hitter. Carpenter finished the season with 199 hits.