John Mozeliak dishes the dirt

Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak conducted a live chat via STLToday.com on Wednesday (it was apparently the second such appearance he’s made over there).

I just saw it for the first time yesterday, and I have to say that I was surprised.  Not by the typical Cardinal organization ‘non-answer/generalizations’ like this one:

Jason Winders: Greetings, JM. After watching the Cardinals’ big league talent slide every year since the final out of the 2004 World Series, I gotta ask what it will be this off season: “Market gone crazy” or “Keeping our powder dry” for that trade deadline 2009 pickup?

Be straight with us, JM, we won’t hate you.

But the fans are growing tired of these lines. Why does the Cardinals front office/ownership refuse to play it straight with fans regarding everything from injures to trades? We’re suckers, we’ll still buy tickets.

John Mozeliak: My hope is that I am straight with all of you (but specifically YOU) now saying that I look at this off-season as an opportunity to build on this year, we will have a stronger rotation and and our outfield will have a full year of experience. I do think we need to look for more offense from the middle infield and also add left-handed to strengthen our pen.

But if I fail to deliever it was not from being straight or candid…it was from not getting a deal done.

Now, I’m not completely naive - I know that he surely can’t dish out the Cards’ blueprint for the off-season, but I thought the question about being dodgy with injury reports, etc was a valid one, even if the seeming non-response was expected.

All of that aside, lots of Mo’s responses caught my eye.  At the risk of duplication, here are a few:

Steve Earp: Mr. Mo, who can we expect to see showcased from our increasingly, majestic farm system come September? Will you offer Cards fans a taste of the future with Rasmus, Wallace, Anderson, D. Jones, Freese, Barden, Greene, et al? BTW, thanks for being disciplined at the deadline.

John Mozeliak: I have a meeting scheduled for Friday to determine who we think deserves the call-ups. I have laid out certian criteria that I feel needs to be met before we begin the promotion process. I do think we will benefit from the expanded rosters. At this point I will wait until everyone has had a chance to weigh in before making any public annoucement. Our young players have had a strong year and that is good news for Cardinal fans.

Not terribly shocking, but refreshing to know that Cardinal management is on the same page with a lot of fans.  They have forty slots available come September 1.  I would hope that we will see, at the very least: Colby Rasmus, Brian Barden, and Jason Motte.  This is not to mention the guys who have already flip-flopped this season like Nick Stavinoha, Mark Worrell, Mitchell Boggs, and Brendan Ryan.  Hell, we may even see guys like Kelvin Jimenez and Josh Phelps get some love.

This one is interesting for a couple of reasons:

BDAx2: Mr. Mozaliak,

Thank you for doing these chats..it obviously goes above and beyond your duties.

3 REALLY quick questions

1. Where do you realistically envision Colby Rasmus April 1, 2009?
2. Assume Carp and Waino healthy to start 2009, do you see a need to try and go outside the organization to add to the major league starting rotation in the offseason?
3. Do you see the SS position as a position where you are willing to accept below league average offense in exhcange for above league average defense?

John Mozeliak: 1. Rasmus will likely find himself competing for a major league job next spring, where he starts will be based on how he performs.
2. Looking at our ‘09 rotation of Carp, Waino, Wellemeyer, and Pineiro it would make sense to add another arm. I do like what we have seen from Boggs but I do not want to rush him if we do not have to.
3. I would prefer above average offense and above average defense…that is much more desirable.

I’m glad to see the response to the first question.  Rasmus should get a shot, and I suspect he’ll wind up on the roster as the team heads north next spring.  Answer two is kind of another ‘duh’ answer - “we’ll add a pitcher if we see fit” - thanks for the insight.  And number three was another ‘duh’.  Great Mo, Cards fans would love to see that too, except there are only about three of those playing professional baseball right now.  Ok, so maybe only one of those answers was interesting for a good reason.

Finally, this was the one that spurred me to write this post.  This answer speaks volumes, in this scribe’s humble opinion:

Steve: Have you announced who will be replacing Izzy on the roster yet??

John Mozeliak: We have not made a roster as of today and with the off tomorrow it will likely wait until Friday.
Izzy had a great career with the Cardinals, he cared and wanted to compete at a high level. It is a disappointing ending but if he decides to pitch again, I only wish him the best.

Jason Isringhausen *had* a great career with the Cardinals?  I’m not saying I disagree, or that I’m upset at the implication that statement makes, but *had*?  That’s a major league slip of the tongue at this stage of the season and shortly after his injury, don’t you think Mo?  Especially with your manager apparently stumping for Izzy to rehab and pitch again next season?  You’re wishing him the best *if* he decides to pitch again, and wishing him the best?  Sounds like Mo has turned the page…

I’m not saying that Mo is wrong.  I suspect the Cardinal chapter has ended for Izzy’s career, regardless of whether his career has ended or not.  But it strikes me as unorthodox to make that statement now, with the guy, one who had a lot better career wearing the Birds-on-the-Bat than most fans will remember, perhaps riding off into the sunset.  It’s important for Cardinals fans to remember the good Izzy, the one who was dominant from 2002-2005.  Not the injury-plagued struggle it was for Izzy to even pitch, much less succeed in the last two or three seasons.

One way or another, this organization is clearly poised to move on with young players coming up through the system.  The self-sustaining program is likely going to be a must for the Cardinal organization going forward, and they have a great start on it.  I think it’s important though, not to forget those who have gotten the franchise to such an elite status in the Major League Baseball annals.  Let’s celebrate the Izzy’s of this team’s last decade.

Cheers Izzy - I hope you do pitch again.

Izzy Injured

You’ve probably all heard by now that Jason Isringhausen’s tenure as a Cardinal is likely coming to an end with the announcement of a torn flexor muscle and inflammation in his elbow.

I had previously speculated that Izzy had an undisclosed injury so this announcement comes as no surprise. The question is again one of disclosure. Was Izzy hiding this injury from the Cardinals in an attempt to achieve the 300 save milestone, or was the Cardinal organization hiding it? And how long has this been a lingering concern? Certainly Izzy was feeling discomfort and making a game effort to contribute to the club and pitch through the pain.

I for one applaud all that Izzy has done for the Cardinals. He has had a tremendous impact and despite a few injury plagued seasons where he wasn’t effective, he has been the reliable stopper that a team needs to have winning seasons.

Izzy left Oakland as a free agent and was signed by the Cardinals prior to the 2002 season. From 2002 through 2005 Izzy accumulated 140 Saves, 8W, 7L, 231K, 86BB, 175HA, in 241.2IP. Despite recent memory suggesting he would walk runners or always seem to have men on base, his W+H/IP ratio was around 1 except for the injury plagued year of 2006 and of course this year, seemingly another injury plagued year.

During his post season career Izzy pitched in 23 games earning 1 win and 11 saves with a 2.36 ERA. He pitched in 26 2/3 innings allowing 17 hits and 12 walks while striking out 23.

2006 seemed to be the turning point for Izzy and Cardinal Nation. We didn’t realize the extent of the injury that Izzy was dealing with and all we saw was one terrible performance after another. Hiding the injury hurt the relationship with the fans and did nothing to make him more effective against the opponents. Last year he rebounded nicely, but you had to wonder whether the hip would hold up. Turns out the elbow dealt the final blow. Yes, Izzy may still pitch again, but hard to imagine any scenario where he returns to the Cardinals next year given his huge salary.

So I guess it’s time to turn all of our attention to Mr. Chris Perez and see how he meaures up to the closer role. He will have big shoes to fill. I will conclude by saying that this recent announcement of Izzy’s injury has me a bit more concerned with the status of Chris Carpenter and even Adam Wainwright. How often did we hear the positive news about Mark Mulder and Matt Clement just to be frustrated when learning how far away they really were from joining any major league rotation.

The Cards and the Commandments of Sabermetrics

I’m sure a lot of you have seen this list before, but I just saw it yesterday for the first time, so I’m going to force it upon you again.

Now, obviously Sabermetrics is something not every baseball fan necessarily follows nor understands, but nevertheless, some of the basics ring true for basic baseball knowledge.  That being said, the list I am referring to (and posted below), is a Ten Commandments of Sabermetrics by the widely-acknowledged “father” of Sabermetrics, Bill James.

The Ten Commandments of Sabermetrics
By Bill James

1. Thou Shalt not Bunt.
2. Thou Shalt Have no Low On Base Percentages Before the Cleanup Hitter
3. Honor the three-run homer and the leadoff walk.
4. Thou shalt not steal at anything less than a 70% success rate.
5. Thou shalt make no idol of the light-hitting middle infielder.
6. Thou shalt not count to the credit of the pitcher that which is done by his fielders or by his hitters, nor charge him with their failings.
7. Thou shalt not abuse thy starting pitchers.
8. Thou shalt make no effort to ride the hot hand, for the hot hand is but a shape in the wind.
9. Place thy faith not in veterans, when youth be available to ye.
10. Thou shalt not pass freely thy opponent’s number eight hitter, nor his cleanup hitter, nor his left-handed pinch hitter, nor any hitter that is thy opponent’s.

Read that list once more, and let them all sink in.

Now let’s address this in the view of the Cardinals.

  1. Well, not everyone believes in this, especially playing National League-style baseball.  Good luck trying to convince Tony LaRussa of this one.  Doesn’t necessarily apply.
  2. For their part, the Cardinals are all over .371 OBP from lead-off to cleanup (with the exception of Brian Barton who has the second-most appearances in the lead-off spot this season - which I would’ve never guessed).  Not too shabby.
  3. The Cardinals are still close to the MLB lead in walks and have taken 86 of them leading off an inning.  Pretty good ratio, from my admittedly amateur point of view.  The Cardinal starters have been good about not giving up a lot of walks, but the bullpen has been horrendous.  I wish I could break out how many of the leadoff walks issued by Cardinal pitchers was by the bullpen.  The Cardinals have 13 three-run homers this season out of a total of 133.  Conversely, the pitchers have surrendered 12 three-run shots of a total of 126 allowed.  Not too bad comparatively.
  4. The Redbirds are 56 of 78 this season, good for 71.7%.  An acceptable percentage, but lots of folks (read: the author) would like to see them run more, situationally.
  5. This one is what really got me thinking about this list and how it pertains to the Cardinals.  Let’s go through the litany of players rotated through the St Louis middle infield in recent years.  Aaron Miles, David Eckstein, Adam Kennedy, Cesar Izturis, Brendan Ryan, Miguel Cairo, Felipe Lopez, Hector Luna, and on and on.  You could go back many years to find a middle infielder with much pop.  Edgar Renteria is the closest in recent history that I can think of.
  6. This one really hasn’t applied to the Cardinals until the last week or so as fielding goes, as their defense has been pretty impressive team-wise, a good reason for their success to date.  You could argue that the offense has had its share of unimpressive performances, leading to undue losses for the pitching staff - but I might extend this commandment a bit further to include not faulting the starting pitchers who have been victimized by the bullpen allowing inherited runners to score at an alarming rate.
  7. LaRussa and Duncan have a minor tendency to push starting pitchers beyond their limits and not pull them at signs of distress and trouble getting hitters out.  In their defense, it is hard to justify pulling  a starter who has cruised through six innings only to go to questionable arms (and mental states) in the bullpen.  To look at this a different way, you could argue that the pitchers have been abused by the consistent letdowns of the bullpen, costing them wins.  The Cards’ ‘pen has 25 losses on the season, exacerbated by 27 blown saves, the most in MLB.
  8. Tony and his merry band of Redbirds would never be accused of riding a hot hand.  It took almost two months before Ryan Ludwick could find himself a regular spot in the lineup, and all he’s done is put up MVP-quality numbers this season.
  9. This appears to be the biggest Cardinal sin (yuk yuk) committed this season (well, and who am I kidding, every other season in LaRussa’s tenure).  The same bullpen retreads are run out every night while youngsters like Chris Perez are “forced to earn their keep” or “made to earn their job” while guys like Jason Isringhausen and Ryan Franklin seemingly can’t do anything horrible enough to lose theirs.  Jason Motte has been filthy on the mound at triple-A Memphis this season, but can’t get a sniff with the big club, despite the massive amounts of shuffling being done this year.  Meanwhile, Kelvin Jimenez continues to get call-ups.  There appears to be a real rift in the organization between what the front office of John Mozeliak and Jeff Luhnow are trying to accomplish and what Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan want to trot out on the field every night.  Anthony Reyes pitched brilliantly for Cleveland the other night, was anyone surprised?  They allowed him to pitch how he was comfortable pitching and he had a great outing.  It will be interesting to see where this team goes next season as more youth is developed and more of the stopgap veteran players depart.  It will be perhaps even more interesting seeing what LaRussa does following next year, when is contract comes due again.
  10. This one kind of follows with number one - I don’t think there’s a team in baseball that would buy into this philosophy - especially if they had to face Albert Pujols at any point.  Of course, this also takes on special meaning when applied to a team facing the Cardinals, because as we all know - Pitchers Hit Eighth.

What does all this mean?  Eh, virtually nothing, other than I found the list interesting and thought I could throw together some entertaining comparisons and ideas as they apply to the Cardinals.

How would you apply these axioms of Sabermetrics to the hometown club?  Leave a note below…

One outing does not a closer make

Fresh off of a two-inning, one hit, no runs performance yesterday afternoon, Jason Isringhausen is hopefully feeling a little better about himself.

I hope that Tony doesn’t feel the same. Sure, Izzy finally put together some pitches, even throwing most for strikes. This does not in the slightest form mean that he should be allowed back near the closer’s role. LaRussa has maintained that he will employ a closer-by-committee approach, but that committee should not in the near future (or perhaps ever again) include Isringhausen.

Yesterday’s outing for Izzy was a good sign, nothing more, nothing less. It came with the Cards already facing a 4-1 deficit, the Cardinal offense rendered inept by Dodgers rookie Clayton Kershaw. Kyle Lohse pitched admirably in taking his fourth loss of the season, and giving further rest to this bullpen by logging another seven inning start.

Isringhausen threw twenty-five pitches in his two innings of work yesterday, with and astonishing twenty of them for strikes, even striking out three. This is a huge step in the right direction. Izzy seemed more relaxed out there (no doubt aided by the “no pressure” situation, knowing he couldn’t take the loss) and more confident in his pitches.

I believe that if he really refocuses, lets go of the prospect of returning to closer this season, lets go of the 300 save plateau that, at this point, seems just out of reach - he can still be a contributor for this ‘pen. Think of him in the seventh or eighth inning, with a little less pressure than the closer role, and Ryan Franklin opposite him in the other inning. Folks have quickly forgotten how effective Franklin was in the setup role before Isringhausen went on the DL and he was thrust into the closer role. At this point, it seems safe to say that Izzy and Franklin will be with this team for the duration, so rabid haters can bag their “DFA them” routine. If Izzy can build on yesterday’s outing, I would love to see him get the ball in the seventh or eighth. Sprinkle in some Kyle McClellan and Russ Springer and those two innings could, dare I say, turn into positives for this club.

Think about it this way. The starting rotation is beginning to pick up its game - Braden Looper is going for his third straight seven inning start today in Chicago. Lohse has been routinely going seven. Joel Pineiro went seven on Wednesday, perhaps feeling the pressure of the return of the Cards’ top two starters, Chris Carpenter (who looked like he could’ve gone nine Tuesday night, if not for rain) and Adam Wainwright.

Spun the right way, I really do believe that LaRussa can make shine out of spit here. The less work the bullpen has to do in the coming weeks, the more flexibility he has. Izzy comes in and walks the first batter? No worries, yank him for Springer. Ron Villone gets a lefty in the seventh, Jaime Garcia gets one in the eighth. They could even employ a bullpen rotation of sorts (obviously there are a lot more variables than I’m caring to acknowledge here, but…) where Isringhausen gets the seventh one day, and McClellan the next. Springer gets the eighth one day, and Franklin the next.

You’ll notice I have yet to discuss the ninth. Chris Perez has got to be the man. The ninth inning should be his to lose at this point. Now, that being said, the same opinion I issued for Isringhausen earlier applies to Perez here. One outing does not a closer make, but damn was CP63 impressive on Wednesday. He’s got to continue to do it, but if that save didn’t instill confidence in LaRussa and Dave Duncan to use him in that role, the kid is up against it worse than I thought. Isringhausen and Franklin have been offered the chance to fail over and over again this season, so I would hope that the same opportunity would be extended to Perez. Sure, he’s going to struggle at some point - but let him work through it.

I’d love to see this trial by fire be Perez’s audition for the 2009 closer role. Imagine the flexibilty offered to John Mozeliak in the off-season, with arguably a lot of free agent cash to throw around, if he has his closer locked down at the league minimum before spring training even starts. I cherish the thought.

So, with all of this said - I guess you can put me squarely in the glass-half-full camp. I’m still just like any other Cards fan, I cringe when the bullpen comes in with a “less-than-one-swing-lead”. Anything less than five runs, I’m wary. Yet I think there is a real opportunity here for LaRussa to do the right thing. Sticking with Perez in the closer role seems to just set the rest of the bullpen up almost too nicely. We’ve seen what Isringhausen can do with the pressure off - give him some more two or three runs down (or preferably six or seven runs up) situations to get the kinks worked out, then install him in that almost as valuable setup role. Let Franklin throw some earlier innings no runners on to get his head straight, and then let him loose back in what should’ve been his role all season.

This just might work out yet, kids…

Joel Pineiro and seven innings

Cardinal starting pitcher Joel Pineiro gave the team a much needed seven inning start last night against the Dodgers.  Pineiro wasn’t particularly sharp early, surrendering three runs in the first three innings, but the big Cardinal fourth inning - puntuated by back-to-back home runs by Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick (is there an internal MVP race heating up?) - seemed to settle Pineiro down.  He pitched well from the third on, allowing another run in the seventh before being pinch-hit for in the bottom of the seventh.

It led me to wonder (because my memory is apparently that short) how often Pineiro had gone seven this season, if at all.  He has been so pedestrian of late, I found it hard to recall.  Much to my surprise, tonight was his sixth seven inning start in nineteen total games started.  One was a mercy killing, with LaRussa allowing him to take a beating from the Royals in order to rest a weary bullpen.  In each of the other four previous starts, Pineiro allowed two runs or fewer.  His ERA in those 35 2/3 innings of work?  2.78.  Heck, if you take away the start where he probably should’ve been pulled, the ERA number drops to a miserly 1.29 over four starts.  He only got two wins out of those four, but that’s another story that we’ve all heard too many times.

Now, obviously it stands to reason that if he is in the game that long, he is probably pitching well, but we’ve seen plenty of pitchers try to go deep only to take a beating late in the start.  The difference is, that the Pineiro we’ve seen of late is not even giving his team a chance to win.  The 7 2/3 he pitched when giving up the seven earned runs versus KC was the last time he’d gone seven, on June 27th.  Since then, in his last six starts, he has one start in which he pitched 6 1/3 scoreless against the Phillies, but gave up at least three in his other five starts.  His four most recent starts, not including tonight, he hadn’t gone longer than six innings, he surrendered ten hits in each, and compiled an 8.31 ERA.  Not exactly the stuff that I think the Cardinals were expecting when they gave him a two-year deal this past off-season.

Could Pineiro be feeling the heat with the return of Chris Carpenter and the impending return of Adam Wainwright?

Pineiro has previously stated his distaste for coming out of the bullpen, so is it possible that he’s going to actually bear down and concentrate?  Try to be a solid guy at the back end of the rotation?

Let’s think about the Cardinal rotation for a minute.  Carp has almost locked his spot down as the returning ace.  Kyle Lohse is clearly entrenched in his spot.  I’m still convinced that the Cardinals will do the right thing and return Waino to the rotation instead of bowing to pressure and making him the closer, despite reports to the contrary.  Chris Perez should be in that role until he does something Jason Isringhausen-like.  Todd Wellemeyer did well last time out, and could hopefully be over his elbow/arm fatigue issues for the stretch run (wouldn’t we all love to see another May out of Welley?).

That leaves one spot for two guys, Pineiro and Braden Looper.  Looper has stepped up his game with back-to-back seven inning starts.  Could we be seeing some old-fashioned, good-natured competition here between Joel and Braden?

The rotation sets up for Looper to start in Chicago against the Cubs and Pineiro in Florida against the Marlins, both crucial games if the Cardinals are to remain relevant in the Central Division and NL Wild Card races.  Is it possible that as these guys battle each other to retain their respective rotation spots, they could drive each other to help this team win some really big games in the next two weeks?

Only the Cardinals win in that scenario… (as long as it doesn’t make them feel like Wainwright is expendable from the rotation).

Viva Chris Perez

First big-league save tonight for Chris Perez!

This was a big one for the Cards, and it was even of the multiple inning variety (1 2/3)!

Perez bailed out the bullpen after a marvelous seven inning start by Joel Pineiro.  My boy Brad Thompson was ineffective in one-third of an inning, proving I should never try to prop up anyone in this bullpen (oops, sorry Chris).

Here’s hoping Tony has turned the page on Jason Isringhausen and Ryan Franklin.  I’m hoping his kid is going to prove that he deserved a shot a long time ago.

Going to bed early

You may have noticed by the lack of my wit and knowledge around here that I have already, by the middle of the week, had one of the longest weeks of the year to date.  Work is keeping me hectic and on-the-go.  Last night, that was a blessing in disguise.

Having already listened to the first four innings on my XM radio in the car (love that thing, by the way), I proceeded to sit through both rain delays on my MLB.tv subscription once I got home.  I saw Adam Kennedy’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.  I saw Rick Ankiel get hit with the bases loaded (good thing too, I don’t think he had a chance to hit Joe Beimel in that at-bat).  Finally, I saw Albert Pujols redeem himself with a two-run home run, after leaving Skip Schumaker hung out to dry stealing third when he struck out flailing at a couple of bad pitches.  I know, I know - it was pretty clear the hit-and-run was on for that last pitch, so he has to swing - so maybe that one is on Tony.  Let the guy take a walk, LaRussa.

After the Pujols home run, facing an early morning flight, I decided it was time to hit the sack.  After all, the Cardinals appeared to be cruising.  Surely they would add another run or two, and make it out of reach even for this bullpen, right?

Wrong.

I awoke to find the Cardinals had won after all, but it took them eleven innings.  Thank goodness for your National League Player of the Week, Ryan Ludwick.  Luddy has really carried this team lately, and it manifested itself in a truly MVP-worthy way last night.

Unfortunately, again, it shouldn’t have been necessary.  Ron Villone gave up a shot to otherwise useless at the plate Andruw Jones.  It would be the only batter he faced, to LaRussa’s credit.  Jason Isringhausen quickly made the decision a moot point, as he proceeded to continue his dog and pony show this season.  It is truly a shame that baseball’s statistical system puts the blown save last night on Ryan Franklin, because while he should shoulder just as much of the blame as anyone in that bullpen, last night’s implosion was the Izzy Show.

Since I can barely stomach to continue on about the bullpen, let’s focus on some good developments in last night’s game:

Ludwick (or Studwick, depending on your preference) has broken out of his mid-season lull in a big way, earning NL Player of the Week honors for last week, and not letting off the gas last night.

Chris Carpenter really deserved better, having pitched an excellent game up to the first rain delay.  I think that LaRussa and Duncan made the correct move in pulling him after the delay.  There was no need to run him back out there, when he is still working on getting his stamina back, and risk injury.  Brad Thompson once again performed quite well taking the ball early in the game, pitching a scoreless sixth.  You can be virtually certain that Thompson would have gone another inning or two, had the Cardinals not threatened in the bottom of the inning, forcing TLR to pinch-hit for Thompson.

Kyle McClellan had another good outing - I struggle with KMac on a daily basis.  He is seemingly one of the Cards’ best options to get a shot at the closer’s role, but he does the middle relief job so well.  Which is more important at this stage?

I really think it’s time for either KMac or Chris Perez to get their shot.  Izzy has blown his two chances (just like all the saves), Franklin was no better, and I don’t think Russ Springer has the gun anymore to go even a full inning night after night.

Why not let Perez learn on the job?  I know it’s not typical for a rookie to be thrust into that role without easing him into the majors first, but Perez has been a closer all his life.  Let him adjust and be ready to be the man next year.  It’s not typical for MLB teams to blow thirty saves in a season either, but the Cards seem to have no problem heading in that direction…

And the Magic Number is…

5

Pretty obvious that the number 5 would be significant for the Cardinals as one of the best hitters in the game wears that number for the Redbirds. But I’m talking about another number 5. This goes back to a post game interview when the bullpen let yet another game slip away. In that interview the fearless skipper was a bit incensed at the mention of a bullpen meltdown costing the Cardinals the game when they had only scored 2 or 3 runs that game (I’d just as soon not look that up and bring back bad memories!)

So that led me to think, just how many runs do the Cardinals need to plate in a game in order to win? The number seems to be 5. There have been a total of 56 games to date in which the Cards have scored 5 or more runs and in those games where they score 5 or more they are an impressive 51-5.

Uh-oh, as I was typing this somehow the Dodgers have managed to score a run and now have the bases jammed, and the Cardinals have only scored 4 runs. The nemesis Kent is at the plate to boot facing Izzy. Sure enough, 4-3 as Izzy is being Izzy and now 4-4. Kind of highlights the importance of that 5th run, while at the same time demonstrating that you shouldn’t have to score 5 runs to win a ballgame! Just glad I was spared the misery of seeing that unfold.

I guess you have to wonder if this is it for Izzy? Probably still gets another shot or two, but I’m sure the fuse has to be getting shorter. Franklin doesn’t look like the man either. Springer blew it the other day. Kind of leaves McClellan and Perez if you ask me.

Looking at games where the Cardinals score less than 5 runs they are 11-47. An interesting exercise would be to look at how many games the Cardinals have lost to the bullpen. Without calculating that myself I think that blown saves would answer that question and unfortunately that number is 26. I guess the real test would be to know how many of those 26 blown saves were ultimately lost. So I guess Tony has a legitimate point. If the Cards can score 5 runs in a game they are likely to win despite the bullpen woes. However, just think where they might be if they actually could win some of those games where they don’t score 5 runs a game!

Looks like the magic number for the Cards could once again be to score 5 runs to win tonight’s game. So don’t go blaming this one on the bullpen ;-)

In other news I see that Clement has been given his walking papers. That reminds me of another topic I’ve been thinking about and that is the signability of Lohse. I’m guessing we can just say goodbye to him right now. Just look at Weaver and Suppan of recent past. Once the contract is up and the pitcher has had a good year he is basically gone if he isn’t in the long term plans. I guess we’ll be looking for another reclamation project or two next year to fill out the rotation unless Garcia, Boggs, and or Parisi or someone else are ready to step in from the minor leagues.

Ludwick actually doesn’t swing at the first pitch, works the count to 2-1 and blasts one to center for the game winner. Sweet! In an ironic twist of fate, the bullpen blows Carpenter’s first win of the year, but sets it up to give Garcia the first win of his career.

StLCards

Next Page →