Off the Wagon

If Wednesday's win was a step toward recovery, St. Louis fell off the wagon on Thursday and landed with a thud that might be felt for days to come.  The same problems reared up on Thursday afternoon--a lack of the big hit, the inability to continue to pile on, and the shakiness of the bullpen.

This game was very similar to the one Ian Snell started against the Cardinals earlier.  They got out to the big lead, couldn't add to it, and lost it late.  It's possible the game turned in the first inning.  If Adam Kennedy's bases-loaded, two-out hit gets down, there's a couple more runs right there and the game could have gone quite differently.

From what it sounds like, this could be the last time for a while that Jason Isringhausen gets the goat.  Some sort of decision apparently will be made today, and it has to be.  Odds are there will be a DL move, especially since you'll note in that story people are now saying he's still getting treatment for his hip, something that hadn't been mentioned before now.  But Izzy did make that a little harder on them with his blunt honesty:

"I don't know what we're going to do," Isringhausen said. "I wish I could say I was hurt, my arm was falling off, or I couldn't land. I can't do that. People (hitters) standing at home plate tell you what the end result should be. I'm not getting any swings and misses, so that says something about my stuff. I feel healthy. But maybe my 'healthy' just isn't good enough."

While Izzy gets most of the brunt, most of the bullpen can come under the same indictment.  I ran the numbers since the middle of the Colorado series, when Izzy blew the win late.  Here's what the bullpen has done since then (again, apologies for formatting):

Randy Flores: 2.2 innings, two hits, one ER, three walks, two strikeouts, 3.37 ERA, 50% inherited runners scored (1-2)
Ryan Franklin: 3 innings, two hits, 0 ER, two walks, one strikeout, 0.00 ERA, no inherited runners
Jason Isringhausen: 3.1 innings, 8 hits, 6 ER, four walks, one strikeout, 16.22 ERA, 100% inherited runners scored (2-2)
Kyle McClellan: 3.1 innings, four hits, 2 ER, three walks, three strikeouts, 5.41 ERA, 67% inherited runners scored (3-2)
Mike Parisi: 5 innings, seven hits, three ER, two walks, three strikeouts, 5.40 ERA, no inherited runners
Russ Springer: 3.1 innings, one hit, 0 ER, two walks, 1 K, 0.00 ERA, 0% inherited runners scored (2-0)
Ron Villone: 2.2 innings, nine hits, eight ER, two walks, one strikeout, 26.97 ERA, 0% inherited runners scored (1-0)
Total Bullpen: 23.1 innings, 33 hits, 20 ER, 18 BB, 12 K, 7.72 ERA, 50% inherited runners scored (10-5)

Save for Franklin and Springer (and, to a lesser extent, Flores), everyone is struggling out there.  It doesn't seem to be overwork--that's an average of just over 2.1 innings per game over the nine game stretch--but something does need to be done.

I'd expect that the first thing that is going to happen is the promotion of Chris Perez when they do whatever they do with Izzy.  That should give the bullpen another look and a good power arm to help in some situations.  As you can see above, the relievers are only striking out one every two innings during that stretch.  That many balls in play is going to lead to some problems.

Villone obviously needs some time off as well.  He had a 0.90 ERA in April, but in half as many innings in May his ERA is close to 9.  The decision needs to be made soon whether he's going through a rough patch and needs to tinker or he's run out of gas and needs to be released.  There are a few other relievers in Memphis that might be worth taking a look at in St. Louis.

As for the offense, I don't know what you can do about that.  It's not that people aren't hitting--the team racked up 14 hits yesterday and they hit .313 for the Pittsburgh series--but the team can't seem to get them when they are needed.  37 men were stranded in three games in this series.  A couple of hits in the right spot and it's a sweep by the Cardinals, possibly rendering some of this bullpen angst moot.

We still need a Hero out of yesterday's game.  It's a tough call, really.  The pitching's out, either because of ineffectiveness or they didn't have a chance for a big moment play.  Numerous batters had multiple hits yesterday, which makes it a bit hard to narrow down, but I think I'll continue to honor the resurgence of our third baseman and select Troy Glaus for his 3-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB day. His bounceback is one of the reasons the offense is at least getting runners on.  Though we may have to use John's excellent Photoshop more often than we'd like!

It promises to be an interesting day whenever the decision on Izzy comes down.  But until then, there's also a ballgame to focus on for tonight.

The Cardinals and Rays were the last two of the current teams to meet, facing each other for the first time down in Tropicana in 2005.  The Cards swept that series 3-0 and haven't seen the Rays since.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this version of the Tampa Bay squad is much better than the previous incarnation.

Braden Looper is going for the Cards tonight.  Not surprisingly, there's not much history between him and the current Rays batters, being that most of them are homegrown ALers.  Looper's pitched fairly well since his shelling by the Giants and hopefully can continue that.  He's pitching a little better in Busch than on the road, so that may help out some as well.

Andy Sonnanstine goes for the Rays.  You have to figure the team is going to lean on Troy Glaus a lot this weekend, since he's the only player that's faced Sonnanstine and likely any of the hurlers that will be going for Tampa Bay.  Sonnanstine hasn't had the best of seasons, but being that he's a fresh face to these guys, it could be a long night.

With the Rays coming to town, Troy Percival gets to return to St. Louis.  We'll see what kind of reaction he gets when he comes into a game.  The Rays have some young hitters that should be fun to watch as well.

Just as long as they don't go beating around the bullpen like everyone else.


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