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The Bleeding StopsPosted on September 3, 2008 at 7:54 AM At least for one night, all was right with the Cardinal world.Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks | Baseball | Heroes and Goats | St. Louis Cardinals Casey Stengel once said, "I don't like them fellas who drive in two runs and let in three." The Old Professor would have been very fond on Adam Wainwright last night, then. Only allowing one run and he drove in two himself. It was a very strong start for Wainwright and you wouldn't have known he was having back spasms until he left the game early. I didn't get to see all of the game, but there was one point that I had to question exactly what LaRussa was thinking. The Cards were up 5-0 in the top of the sixth with Ryan Ludwick on second and nobody out. Yadier Molina then came up. He'd homered his last time up. Tony asked him to bunt. Now, I realize that the Cardinal bullpen isn't that impressive, though it's gotten better. I realize that perhaps a 5 run lead isn't as safe as it should be. But Ludwick was on second. It's not like Yadi was likely to hit into a double play. It's not like Yadi's strikeout prone. Shouldn't you just let him hit here? A ground ball works just as well, a hit even better. Of course, it worked out that the pitcher dropped Yadi's bunt and didn't pay attention to the fact that Molina was just jogging to first. It seemed to me that he was pretty surprised (and, honestly, not real thrilled) with the bunt sign. What do you think? It's a minor detail, but it just seemed like the wrong play to me. It was also good to see Chris Carpenter get an inning of work in. I figure he'll be used pretty sparingly down the stretch, but hopefully he'll be healthy at the end of the season and can look forward to 2009. Goatishly, let's look at Skip Schumaker. 0-5 in the leadoff slot, plus a double play that kept the big sixth inning from being bigger. Off the field, it looks like Joe Mather is done for the year and, more distressingly, Jaime Garcia may need surgery as well. That could really affect how Mozeliak goes about the offseason. He will be looking for pitching anyway, but that could increase the need to sign a mid-range pitcher. Today, the Cardinals look to put together a small winning streak before getting another day off. The afternoon start has Kyle Lohse going against Doug Davis. Lohse has a run of three quality starts going after a stretch of rough outings. He's done pretty well in the limited outings against the Diamondback hitters. If he gets the offensive support that the rest of his pitching mates have in Arizona, he should be alright. Davis has faced the Cardinals a few times, especially since he is a former Brewer. Pujols has hit him well (not surprisingly) but the rest of the squad is a little weaker. Looks like LaRue might get the start today due to his career numbers and the fact that Yadi played last night. The Cardinals look to salvage the end of this trip today before getting yet another day off. Leave a comment
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Sigh. If only Carp had come back as strong as Waino...
Wouldn't that have been nice? It makes you ready for 2009 to see them both in the rotation again, doesn't it?
Just imagine, though, where they might be if Wainwright had been healthy all year and they'd gotten even minimal contributions from Mulder and Clement.
I would've had Molina swing away for the same reasons you mentioned, plus, he is one of the fewer hitters these days that can actually hit to opposite field. In this case, a ground ball to the right side is what you want. For one, it advances the runner the same as a bunt, but with the added possibility of going through for a basehit, which gives you a chance to score Ludwick. So yes, in this case, the only people who should've been bunting would be pitchers. Then again, they bat eighth and may think that's only for the guy who bats after them.
Final analysis: Molina swings for the right side.
I didn't know about Garcia's injury. That's a darn shame, as he has shown some promise this year. At least he's still quite young.
Lots of what-ifs with Mulder and Clement C70, but surely enough to think about with Carpenter.
Could his arm strength have improved with another rehab start or two? Is the elbow really fully healed, or was the shoulder strain a function of severe overcompensating?
I was all on board for getting Carp back as soon as possible - but I'm a mere fan :).
The Cards will be depending on these arms for years to come - it's time to start taking some power away from TLR and Dunc determining when these guys come back (making a not-so-wild assumption here that it was their influence).
True, Mulder and Clement were what-ifs, but even if we'd gotten a quarter of what we thought we were going to get (which was conservative on its own), it'd at least be a couple of games in the win column, wouldn't it?
Chet, glad someone agrees with me! :)