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Grading the Cardinals I: Management and Infield

The end of the season, especially one where St. Louis didn’t make the playoffs, is the ideal time to look back at what happened in 2008, both good and bad.  In an homage to those pieces of paper some of us didn’t want to see at the end of a term, many columnists and writers will give out “report cards” with grades for players and staff.   Never one to shy away from stealing other people’s material, I’ve done my first-ever grading of Cardinal personnel.  With so many to look at, I’ve broken it down into four days of posting.  Today, we’ll look at the management and the infielders, tomorrow outfielders, Wednesday starting pitchers and Thursday relievers.  (Granted, such arbitrary divisions are almost meaningless on a Tony LaRussa “play everyone everywhere” team, but I try.  If you don’t find a player in one section, look in another.)

So, let’s get started.  Grades are based on the typical A-F grading system.  I’m typically a lenient grader so many of you may have different ideas for their final grade.  That’s what the comments are for, folks!  I’m very interested to hear what other opinions are.  Also, there will be a thread for each of these over at CardsClubhouse.

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The Final Wrapup

Sadly, the season is now over.  Let's take a quick look at the last four games.

Thursday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  3-3, a HR, 4 RBI.....what else do you want from him?
Goat: Wow, tough to find one in a 12-3 win.  In possibly the toughest call yet, we'll go with Jason LaRue.  Even though he drove in two, he was 1-5 and left nine on base.
Notes: Really take no pleasure in eliminating the Diamondbacks, but that's the way it goes.

Friday
Hero: Troy Glaus.  You bring in the game winner, you get the tag.  Though Pujols and Felipe Lopez laid claims as well.
Goat: Ryan Franklin.  It wouldn't be the same without some bullpen meltdowns in the last week, would it?
Notes: Pujols ran his consecutive hits streak to seven in this game.  Too bad there wasn't about another week or two, or that Chipper had been healthy enough to play.  Albert might have gotten another batting title.

Saturday
Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  Two for three while filling a lot of columns in the box score.  Plus he didn't leave anyone on base.
Goat: Chris Perez.  They weren't earned, but he's going to have to do a better job of keeping runs from scoring if he wants the closer role next year.
Notes: You know, if the Cards could have played this well against teams they were supposed to beat, this might have been a different season.

Sunday
Hero: Felipe Lopez.  4-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI.  VEB's got a discussion of Lopez up today.  I'm in the "bring him back" camp, because something seems to have clicked for him in St. Louis.  He'd definitely be a step up from most of our middle infielders.
Goat: Kelvim Jimenez.  A good game all around for most everyone, but Jimenez gives up a HR to the first batter he faces.  Not good, even in a blowout game.
Notes: Awesome way to end the season.  Players get pulled for standing Os, no real drama, just a fun day at the ballpark.

And apparently Kyle Lohse will be a Cardinal for a while longer.  The team has a press conference today which should be to announce his long-term contract.  Leaving the money issue alone for the moment, two things about this struck me.  One, the Cardinals were able to get a Scott Boras client to sign without testing free agency.  Granted, Lohse's experience in the FA market last year wasn't quite what he was looking for, but still you'd have to think coming off a 15 win season instead of a 9-12 season would get a number of teams interested.  I wonder if this is a case of the client telling the agent, "This is where I want to be.  Make it work."

Secondly, in my mind it means they are very concerned about Chris Carpenter.  Getting Lohse now means that they have a bird in the hand, so to speak, when they go out into the free agent market.  They can get a #3 type starter and not have to go for broke on a Burnett or something like that.  You have Wainwright, Lohse, Wellemeyer locked in for next year.  Get a FA and the fifth slot could be filled with Carpenter, if his health issues actually clear up, Pineiro, Garcia, Boggs--there are a lot of options.  If you think Carp's going to be good to go from day 1, though, I think you wait and see what you can get on the market, maybe sign Looper back because he'll be cheaper.

Speaking of, that should be the end of Looper in a Cardinal uniform, something that kind of surprises me.  Being that he was such a personal project of Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa and that he'd been basically as effective, mostly, as Lohse, I figured that the Cards would go after him first.  I guess it's possible they'd bring him back, but I think if they go into next year with the same starting rotation, people would be a little restless.  Though it's true that's not the weakness they really have to address.

John Mozeliak said that this offseason would be "aggressive and creative".  I'm not sure that Lohse counts on the creative side (unless it opens more options) but it definitely is aggressive.  We'll talk about the money when we are sure what it is.

Postseason baseball will be a topic here as well.  First off, I can almost guarantee that the Tigers win today.  Every couple of years, these scenarios come up where a game will have to be played Tuesday and things will be thrown out of kilter.  It never fails that something happens to keep that scenario on paper instead of reality.  If the Tigers win today, that would follow that script.

The Angels are going to be a tough team for anyone to beat.  With Beckett not getting to go twice, the Sox are already at a disadvantage, though it's not like they are a weak club.  That should be a good series, but I'd go with the Angels.

In the National League, I think you have to give Philadelphia the edge since Sheets is out for the Brewers.  Sabathia's proven his worth, but even he can't win three games in a five game series.  On the other side, I sincerely hope the Dodgers will take out the Cubs.  If Zambrano is more like the Zambrano the Cards beat around recently, there's a decent chance.  If he's on, especially in a short series, he and Harden will push the Cubs to the NLCS.

A big UCB project is in the works.  More on that later.

Stumbling Home

In a way, it was pretty emblematic of how this September has gone.

Eighth inning, down by two.  Brandon Webb is finally gone, replaced by Brandon Lyon.  Ludwick leads off with a single and Glaus a double that Ludwick had to hold up on to see if it was caught.  Still, second and third, nobody out.  At the very worst, it would appear the Cardinals would get a run in this one, if not tie it up.

Aaron Miles was up next.  A fly ball or a groundout would get the run home.  Instead, he hits a rope of a line drive, which would normally be great, except it was right at David Eckstein playing second, who doubled up Glaus.  One out later the Cards are done with no runs across the plate.

This season was like that, somewhat.  The first five months, the Cards got into scoring position, but September has doubled them up and sent them back to the dugout.

The tragic number is one now (the Mets, bless their hearts, keep us in there) so there's a good chance today is Official Elimination Day.  Still, as the refrain goes, if anyone had said the Cardinals wouldn't be mathematically eliminated until 6 days before the end of the season, we'd have said it was going to be a very good year.

Hero of last night's game would be probably a tossup between Felipe Lopez and Cesar Izturis.  Izturis gets the nod because he got his three hits in one less at-bat.  Goat?  I think I'm going to go with Albert Pujols.  He did draw two walks, but he struck out in a key spot.  There was a reference in one of the stories recently that the elbow is bothering him more than normal.  If that's the case, it wouldn't hurt for him to sit out a game or two.  I know better than to think he would agree to sitting out the rest of the season.

Speaking of injuries (and how do you talk about the Cardinals lately without doing just that), the team still really doesn't know what is wrong with Chris Carpenter.  He's going to see a specialist for the "non-baseball" injury, which as to be a little disconcerting for fans.  There seems to be a growing chorus of people that aren't sure he'll ever pitch effectively again.  That'd be sad for many reasons, but especially because he was just getting to the top of his game when he got hurt.  To see someone be a shooting star is always a little painful.

Let's take a look at tonight's game.  It's hard to believe that we are getting to the part of the season where we can say, "That was the last x".  After Kyle Lohse's start tonight, it'll be the last turn through the rotation.  Where does the time go?

Lohse pitched in the series in Arizona at the beginning of the month and did very well, though the team rallied to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  He threw six scoreless innings, but the bullpen couldn't hold it.  He's done well against them in the past, so perhaps he can continue that trend tonight.

Randy Johnson didn't pitch well when the Cardinals faced him last, giving up four home runs in another game that the Cards came from ahead to lose.  The Redbirds have hit him well in his career, so everything's in their favor tonight on paper.  They don't play the games on paper, though.

Having Randy Johnson go against St. Louis always reminds me of the first time I knew Pujols was something.  There'd been some prospect hype about him when he came up in 2001 (though at least in my mind nothing like we hype the prospects today) and the first Saturday game was on Fox, which gave me my first opportunity to see him play.  I actually taped the game, more because Rick Ankiel was pitching (kinda--this was after the 2000 meltdown.  He struggled through five innings and got credit for the win, the last he'd receive in the majors until his return in 2004 as a reliever) than for any other reason.

It was in the middle innings.  I remember that there were a couple of outs and Johnson got two quick strikes on Pujols.  Since he's a rookie, I'm thinking "here comes the strikeout".  Johnson throws a pitch that dives low out of the strike zone.  Not only does Pujols not get fooled, he ropes it for a run-scoring double.  That's when I knew there was probably something to this kid.  To drive a good two-strike pitch from a HOF pitcher in his prime in your fifth career game makes you stop and think.

We have a week more to enjoy Pujols and the rest of the guys.  Let's watch some baseball and try to stave off winter as long as possible.

Marking Time

That seems to be all the Cardinals are doing right now.  Going to the calendar and marking off one day closer to the end of the season.  Obviously, you can't know what they are thinking or feeling now, but looking at the results and how things are going, it's like they are just going through the motions.  Not much excitement in Cardinal Nation right now.

Where do you look for a Hero?  I guess you'd have to say Felipe Lopez, because he got two hits, which was a solid third of the offensive output.  Goat?  Tough to say Todd Wellemeyer because, despite the rough inning, he did only give up four hits and three runs.  I think we have to go back to Albert Pujols.  He left three on, grounded into the first-inning double play that quickly killed momentum, and really seems to be trying to do too much in the last few days.  The at-bats I've seen from him, he looks like he is lunging for pitches, not being patient and letting them come to him.  I'm thinking he's stepped out of the zone and it's going to be very difficult for him to win a batting title now.  Hopefully it won't affect his MVP standing.

So now what?  The Cardinals are 0-5 on a road trip against the cellar dwellars of the NL Central.  One more game against the Reds tonight, then they have to go to Wrigley for what could be the most agonizing series of all.

If I'm right, the Cubs magic number right now is 4.  Four wins by them, four losses by the Brewers, or some combination thereof and they win the NL Central.  They play the Brewers again tonight.  If they win, the number will be 2.  You do realize what this means, don't you?

It's extremely possible that this weekend the Cubs could win the Central on their home field against the Cardinals.  Exactly how painful would that be to watch?  It's bad enough when the Cubs win, but to be able to do it at St. Louis's expense?  It's enough to avoid the TV this weekend.

Before that, though, the Cards have to see if they can actually hit on the road.  This road trip, they've scored a total of 12 runs, six of which came in the extra-inning loss to Pittsburgh.  No matter how good the pitching is, you do have to have some offense to win a game.

The Reds aren't going to make it easy, as they run out this year's ace, Edinson Volquez.  Volquez, who made the All-Star team this year, has had a superb season, which has meant that the Josh Hamilton trade has had no clear winner, surprisingly.  A hope for the Cardinals, though: unlike Harang, Volquez has struggled lately, posting a 5.70 ERA over his last five starts, which may be a sign of a long season catching up to him.  He shut out the Cards over seven innings (with three hits) in his only appearance against them back in August, his last strong outing.

The Cardinals throw former Red Kyle Lohse into the fire tonight, hoping his career numbers in Great American Ballpark are accurate.  Lohse has a career 3.49 ERA in the ballpark, though only a 6-6 record to show for it.  He was on the other side of Vazquez's game (and pitches--that was the game that got him suspended after some chin music from both sides), allowing three runs in six innings in his only start against the Reds this year.

As many of you probably know by now, the Cardinals have broken with their recent tradition of not announcing their schedule until mid-winter and have it up on their official site. The PD breaks it down.  I can't say I'm all that excited about playing the AL Central next year.  Probably because we always play the Royals and this will be the fourth year in a row for the Tigers.  Not a lot of variety there.  Just another reason interleague play has lost its luster.

It's been a while since we've had an Around the Blogs entry, so I'll probably try working that up for this afternoon.

The Final Nails

Wow.  Don't blog for a while and see what happens.  The Cardinals had been able to fool themselves that they were on the fringes of a wild-card race.  The last five days took care of that.

Wednesday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  Two for four, drove in one, scored one.
Goat: I guess I'll go with Felipe Lopez because of the costly errors, but Looper wasn't pitching that well in that inning anyway.  He'd allowed three straight hits to start the inning, allowing the tying run to score, before Lopez became involved.  And the way that Lilly was going, just one more run might have made the difference.
Notes: Momentum is your next starting pitcher.  After the late comeback against the Cubs on Tuesday, the Cardinals again can't continue it.  In fact, it's very similar to the comeback against Milwaukee, because then the Cards lost their next four.

Thursday
Hero: Wow, did anyone really play well enough to get that title?  Let's flip the above and give the Hero to Felipe Lopez, for his 1-4, RBI day.
Goat: Albert Pujols. To whom much is given, much is expected.  A chance to tie the game in the ninth but instead he ends it.  Toss in the error that lead to some unearned runs and a 1-5 day and there you have it.
Notes: If I were a Cub fan (and actually could live with myself), I'd be really nervous about taking Kerry Wood into the postseason.  Kinda like how Cardinal fans felt about Izzy this year.

Friday
Hero: Josh Phelps.  Why not?  Another game where no one really distinguished themselves.  Phelps was 1-2 and scored a run.
Goat: Joel Pineiro.  Seven runs in four plus innings?
Notes: If you ever wondered about whether this team was in decline, having a beatdown put on you by a team that hasn't been able to score since the trading deadline will pretty much confirm it.

Saturday
Hero: Felipe Lopez.  2 for 6 with a two-run HR that (I thought) had put the game away.
Goat: Adam Wainwright.  If he'd pitched as well as he hit (2 for 3) it'd have been a totally different story.  With a four run lead and Waino on the mound against Pittsburgh, you'd almost put your life savings on a Cardinal win.  But to not even get an out in the fifth?
Notes: Give the bullpen some credit.  They went 7.1 innings and allowed two hits and a run.  Unfortunately the Cardinals didn't score and that run was in the 12th, but still, a darn good performance overall.

Sunday
Hero: Brian Barton.  Two for three and a walk.
Goat: Brad Thompson.  For all the talk about who was going to pitch Friday and Sunday, it turned out it didn't really matter what order you threw Thompson and Pineiro in.  Six earned runs and he couldn't even make it into the fifth before blowing up like the rest of the rotation did.
Notes: I'm sure there was a lot of frustration building in that clubhouse, as evidenced by the brawl at the end of the game.  That said, looking through the box scores, you don't get the feeling of frustration but more of apathy, of weariness.  It looks like this team will be ready for the 29th to get here.

And, of course, we must talk about the fact that a team that was so blessed with outfielders that they couldn't find room for their top prospect is now using Aaron Miles in center field occasionally.  This is getting a little long, so more after the jump.


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No Holiday From The Losing

Wow.  Could that weekend gone much worse?  I don't think so.  Recapping....

Friday
Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  1-2, drove in one, scored the other.  When only two Cardinal runs get put on the board, that seems a reasonable place to look for the best player.
Goat: Russ Springer.  When you give up the game-winning homer in the ninth, it kinda gets you this by default.
Notes: A tough loss.  Immediately the momentum from the comeback win against Milwaukee was spoiled.  Lohse pitched a good one, giving up just two in eight innings.  Just a tight game that went the wrong way.

Saturday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  4-4 with a HR.
Goat: Braden Looper.  You blow a three-run lead and then some before anyone is out in the game?  That's a good sign things are not going well.
Notes: Good to see Ankiel run into one.  The bullpen pitched well too, though granted there wasn't anything on the line.

Sunday
Hero: Skip Schumaker.  2-3, which edges out Pujols's 2-4.  When no runs are scored, that's about all you can do.
Goat: Cesar Izturis.  0-4 with 3 LOB in the leadoff slot doesn't help the offense much.
Notes: Solid start for Wellemeyer, which is good.  Just couldn't get the offense going against Wandy Rodriguez, which is not too surprising given his history against the team.

Monday
Hero: Felipe Lopez.  3-5 and a HR, showing that maybe some of his talent is still there.
Goat: Kyle McClellan.  Anytime a reliever allows three runs, it's not a good thing.
Notes: As LaRussa said, Pineiro should have gone longer and not coughed up the big leads.  The bullpen is going to feel the brunt of it if that continues, though at least it'll be deeper with the expanded rosters.  Congrats to Pujols for hitting #30 for another year.

And, of course, not only were the Cardinals losing this weekend but the Brewers were winning, so the Redbirds sit 6.5 out, behind not only the Brewers but Philadelphia as well.  They have 24 games left.  They aren't eliminated, but I wouldn't worry too much about the October rotation.

It'd be nice if there were some intriguing callups to take our minds off of our troubles.  However, only Jason Motte really adds any intrigue to September.  We've seen Jimenez enough (some would argue too much).  We know basically what Brendan Ryan can do.  It'll be nice to see what Josh Kinney can do after his rehab, I guess, and Brian Barden has had a nice season.  It's not like it's Rasmus and Bryan Anderson, but I guess it'll do.

Tonight, Adam Wainwright goes against Yusmeiro Petit.  Petit hasn't gone against the Cardinals much, though Pujols will be glad to see him.  He's been fairly good this year, though he's mainly been used out of the bullpen.  He had an ERA just over 3 for the month of August, though.  There may not be many runs off of him this evening.

Wainwright has done OK against the D-Backs, though the most potent bat historically against him comes from the former Red, Adam Dunn, who has seen him more than most.  Dunn has the only home run out of the current Snakes crew against the ace of the Cardinals.  And, if he gets calls the way he got calls yesterday according to the Cardinals, he could have another good night.

A little hard to get used to September baseball that really doesn't mean much.  It's been a while since that happened!

Doing What Needs To Be Done

Twice this weekend I started on an entry, only to be interrupted by the family life.  So, our typical catchup entry:

Thursday
Hero: Tough call.  You either go with Ryan Ludwick, who drove in all three runs and had a home run, or Todd Wellemeyer, who pitched 7.2 scoreless innings.  I think I'm going to go with Wellemeyer, because he kept the bullpen out of the game and that's always a positive.
Goat: Albert Pujols.  Pujols seems to have been off lately, or was until he hit Cincinnati.  An 0-4 with two left on didn't hurt as much with Ludwick picking him up.
Notes: The Cards took three of four from a contending Marlins team, giving them a little momentum.

Friday
Hero: Rick Ankiel.  Very good to see him going yard and it gave the Cardinals an early lead, which was a help to Brad Thompson, I'm sure.
Goat: Tough one to pick, as everyone but Jason LaRue had a hit and LaRue drove in two runs.  I guess I'd say Ryan Ludwick for striking out twice and leaving two runners on, but it just shows that not all Goats are created equal.
Notes: The Cardinals put Chris Carpenter on the DL before the game, which was the easy way to get Brian Barton back on the active roster.  That said, unless they are about 110% sure that Carpenter is going to be OK, it'd probably be best to shut him down for the season.  Even the wild card isn't worth risking his long-term use.

Saturday
Hero: Pretty easy this time.  When Pujols hits two home runs, he gets the nod.  Though there were plenty of others in the mix (Schumaker, Ludwick, even Miles).
Goat: Felipe Lopez, though he did walk twice, still put up an 0-3.
Notes: Nice to see the bats come through.  There's not been a lot of power games this year (at least in a while) so it was good to see them break out.

Sunday
Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  Two for four with an RBI in a game where there wasn't just a lot of offense.  Apparently, it all got used up on Saturday.  Doesn't help that they were facing an All-Star pitcher.
Goat: Jamie Garcia.  Garcia's done well out of the pen for the most part, but apparently Cincinnati figured him out, as he allowed three runs in less than an inning.
Notes: The Cards haven't won on Sunday since the Sunday after the All-Star Break.  It would have been very helpful to have won this one, but you knew facing Volquez it'd be a challenge.

So, after all that, the Cards are still 7.5 games behind the Cubs, who have looked like the class of the NL Central lately (as much as it is terrible to say).  They did cut into Milwaukee's lead, though, and trail the wild-card by two games.

Can the Cardinals catch the Brewers?  Sure, they can.  If nothing else, they have two games left with the Brew Crew.  But the schedule the rest of the way isn't all that kind to the Cardinals.  Adding up the current W/L records for the teams coming up (and counting them each time they play), the rest of the St. Louis schedule is playing .505 ball.  That's a little skewed by the fact they have two more series with the Cubs, but 7 of the remaining 12 series are against teams over .500.

The Brewers, on the other hand, have a schedule that is playing .501 right now, skewed also by two series with the Cubs.  Of their 10 series left, five of them are with teams over .500.  They also get games with San Diego, which will be helpful to them.

The Cardinals do have a 2.5 game lead on the Phillies in the wild-card standings, so at the moment, they can just focus on the Brewers.  Winning four of five this week against Pittsburgh and Atlanta at home would be helpful because the Brewers have three with Houston and three with Pittsburgh at home.

Good to see Adam Wainwright have a very strong rehab start.  It seems like we've watched a lot of these this year, from Mark Mulder to Matt Clement to Chris Carpenter to the Wagonmaker, but Saturday's game for Springfield was the best of the bunch.  The organization, though, really needs to stop pulling him in various directions.  (That's a good way to keep him on the DL!)  Why you don't want him in the same rotation as Carpenter is beyond me.  Especially with the off days and the potential for a four man rotation (though I don't think they'll ever go to that) why not have your best pitchers take the lion's share of the innings?  That seems like winning baseball to me.

The bullpen really seems to have stablized somewhat.  Until Garcia's flareup yesterday, they were just rolling along, getting outs.  Having McClellan and Perez in their roles seems to be working.  So why toss Wainwright into that?  Let him start, I say!

Off day today, so we'll come back tomorrow and take a look at the Pittsburgh series.

Bouncing Back

Hope everyone enjoyed the live blog trial last night.  chet did a great job with the descriptions and general running of the whole thing.  He'll be doing that most every game, so be sure to check out his site when you can and we'll try it again soon, most likely.

Good game to do it with, as the Cardinals were able to make things very interesting and still be able to get the win.  There are a few players to choose from for the Hero tag, but I think I'll go with Braden Looper.  He pitched a very solid game and didn't allow the Marlins to pull away, keeping them close enough to let the offense finally break through.  Chris Perez also had a pretty good game.  He wasn't perfect, of course, but he got the job done, which is more than we can say for many of the other relievers this season.

In fact, another reliever gets our Goat award.  Kyle McClellan has, on the whole, had a very solid season in the pen.  But last night wasn't one of those nights.  McClellan almost gave back the entire Cardinal lead in less than an inning of work before being bailed out by Perez.  Thankfully, the Cardinals had scored an insurance run in the top of that inning, because they needed it!

Unfortunately, all that win did was really keep pace with the Brewers and, due to the doubleheader sweep, they lost a half game on the Cubs.  With 39 games to play, the Cards sit 7.5 out of the divisional lead and four out of the wild card.  It's going to take a run like we've not seen out of this team to get back into serious postseason contention.

In other news, Colby Rasmus is continuing his rehab, looking to return at the end of the month to Memphis.  I hope that, since he's not going to the Olympics, the plans have changed and he'll get a look in September.  I'm really interested to see how he'll do against some major league pitching.

Rasmus isn't the only one pushing through rehab.  Josh Kinney--remember him?--wants to pitch for the club in September, saying he thinks he'll be ready.  I don't see any problem with that, because as we all know, we could use the bullpen help.  Plus it'd be nice to know if Kinney is going to be a contender for next year's bullpen or if he still needs some work.

Let's look at today's game.  It's really important the Cards win this one.  Then again, it's pretty important they win most all of their remaining games.

Todd Wellemeyer gets the start against Scott Olsen.  The Marlins haven't seen much of Wellemeyer, which hopefully will play to his advantage.  Olsen doesn't have quite the same edge against the Cardinals, though he's not faced them an awful lot either.  Felipe Lopez will probably be back in the lineup, having 20 ABs against the Florida hurler.

On paper, this could be a close win for the Cardinals.  Let's see if real life plays out that way. 

Nothing Doing

Boy, if you left the game after four batters, you were just sure the Cardinals were on their way to a romp.  Apparently, that's just what the rest of the offense did--left.

I hate to give the Goat tag to Kyle Lohse, what with the offense as impotent as it was last night, but he did give up four runs in just over four innings.  Whether he could have righted himself without the rain delay, I don't know.  He does have an ERA of 5.94 this month and 7.48 over his last four starts.  It could be a course correction--he had a 5.66 ERA in May before turning it around--but it could be that the Cardinals are glad they've not talked contract extension with him yet. 

I noted yesterday that Pineiro had blown 13 leads this year.  I did the same analysis with Lohse and found that he's given up 8 leads in 26 starts.  Last night was the second time this year--but also the second time in five starts--that he's given up a three run cushion.  (I realize this isn't all that significant and I'm trying to think of a way to weight it for how long the lead lasted, etc.)

Besides, I've made a policy to name a player and not a group for the Goat (and Hero) labels, so the general offense gets off the hook.

Heroically, we'll go with Ryan Ludwick, since we can't give it to the bullpen as a whole.  Without his three run double, the Cards might have been shut out.

And we had another instance of Izzy being Izzy.  I watch the sixth and see him get two outs.  I flip the channel.  I come back, the bases are loaded before he strikes out the last out of the inning.  Always keeping it exciting......

Looks like Chris Carpenter's injury is going to keep him out a little bit--not surprising--and that it's finally gotten the front office to plan for the potential of Wainwright coming back to the rotation.  At least Wainwright now knows what players like Felipe Lopez feel like on a TLR team.  You never can be sure where you are going to play.

Remember, for all Cardinal information, ride the Joe Strauss Live! tsunami this afternoon at 1:00.  One of these days I will do a breakdown of his answers as a blog post.  Who knows, maybe today!

Cards look to get back on track today behind former Marlin Braden Looper.  It's a homecoming of sorts for Looper, who was traded by the Cardinals to the Marlins in the Edgar Renteria deal.  Even though he spent some time on a divisional rival, Looper doesn't have a large body of work against these young players.  It'll be interesting to see if Luis Gonzalez gets a start tonight.  The Cardinals were thought to be a team that had contacted Gonzalez in the offseason.

The Redbird hitters, hopefully fully rested from their night off, take on Ricky Nolasco.  The few Cardinal hitters that have seen Nolasco haven't fared well.  Felipe Lopez has the most ABs, but he'll almost assuredly get the night off with that ugly 1 for 14 against the Marlin hurler.

Cardinals really need a win to stay in this thing.  Losing today means at best a series split, which isn't exactly helpful to the cause.

Also on the Network: √ Doing Our Part [Depressed Fan] √ A Quick Question [Depressed Fan] √ Lineup Suggestions and The Bulls (Again) [Depressed Fan] √ Arb Surprises [El Lefty Malo] √ What's In A Name (Besides Taxpayer Money)? [Loge 13] √ None? None At All? [C70 At The Bat] √ Holiday Quick Hits: Too Much Turkey [Arin It Out] √ The Yankees Hate Draft Picks [Depressed Fan]