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Playing Pepper 2010: Pittsburgh Pirates

Last year before the season began, I posed five questions to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball.  I focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me by.  That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist.  Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set.  Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA.

We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order---ah, who are we kidding, we'll get them up when we get them up.

Pittsburgh Pirates
2009 Finish: 62-99, fifth in the NL Central  Continue Reading

Big Weekend, Big Innings, Big Players

In case you haven't noticed--and judging by the comments, you haven't--I took a long holiday weekend and wasn't able to work my way back to the blogging platform.  I may have watched more of the Cardinals than I have in a while, though, which was great.  So let's recap the last, well, almost week.

Wednesday vs. Milwaukee (10-3 win)
Hero: Skip Schumaker.  A nice 4-4 with a couple of runs and a couple of RBI?  Talk about doing it all!
Goat: It's tough to have a Goat in a game where the team puts up 10 runs, even if Chris Carpenter didn't have his normal spectacular outing.  That said, Mark DeRosa went 0-4, so that's where we'll go.
Notes: So nice to see that offense really click.  It's a tough task to go down this lineup when everyone is dialed in.  Heck, there was even a good game out of Rick Ankiel, so you know things are going the Cards way!  A nice outing by Jason Motte as well, as he struck out five in two innings.  If he can get to being a shutdown option, the post-season bullpen is even stronger.

Thursday vs. Milwaukee (4-3 loss)
Hero: Julio Lugo.  He led off the game with a home run as one of his three hits.  He also mixed in a double in there and looked sharp all the way around.
Goat: Albert Pujols.  Doesn't happen often, but he couldn't come through with the bases loaded in the seventh (which hardly ever happens this year), then had a chance in the ninth to at least tie it up and struck out to end the game.  Don't worry, though, he'll wind up on the plus side before this entry is done.
Notes: Tough game to lose, especially with an early two-run lead handed to John Smoltz.  You knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up what he'd done so far in Cardinal red, though he pretty much did for the first five innings.  He'll be in the rotation for a while now, so we'll get to continue to evaluate his results.

Friday at Pittsburgh (14-7 win)
Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  Five for five, two home runs, two doubles.  Even with Pujols's go-ahead three-run shot, it's hard to go against that line of work.
Goat: Adam Wainwright.  Talk about a terrible innings.  Everything that could go wrong for Wainwright in the fifth seemed to do so.  It was nice that AP bailed him out and got him a win, especially after so many tough-luck losses this year, but that wasn't the Wainwright we know and love.
Notes: Apparently everyone was big on football season starting, since they put up a football score.  (I'll rant about that in a bit.)  We got to see the return of Todd Wellemeyer as well, but it wasn't necessarily all we wanted to see.  A scoreless frame, but two walks.  You could be generous and chalk that up to some rust.  We'll have to see when he gets another opportunity.

Saturday at Pittsburgh (2-1 win in 10)
Hero: Albert Pujols.  Hit the game-winner, get the tag.
Goat: Rick Ankiel.  Most of the offense didn't show up, but Ankiel was the worst, striking out three times in his hitless four ABs.
Notes: Mitchell Boggs had his best game as a pro.  Of course, with Kyle Lohse returning, it might have been his last start (though he probably will get one later in the month as Tony LaRussa starts getting the rotation lined up for post-season).  Nice to see Blake Hawksworth not only coming in to a close game but being able to work out of a bases-loaded situation.  I think he's earned his October ticket as well.

Sunday at Pittsburgh (6-5 loss)
Hero: Rick Ankiel.  Most days, Rick's bomb would have been cause for joyous celebration long into the evening.  Unfortunately, this time it lasted less than half an hour.
Goat: Ryan Franklin.  Blown saves happen.  However, there are some worriesome tendencies in this second half that are a little scary for the postseason.
Notes: One bad inning for Joel Pineiro spoiled his chance to add to the win total.  However, all day he seemed to be getting pitches up more than he does when he's going well and that will eventually bite you.  Motte came into this one also and pitched well again.  In his last five outings, he's allowed no runs, pitched 6.1 innings, struck out 9 and walked two.  These are definitely encouraging signs.

Monday at Milwaukee (3-0 win)
Hero: Chris Carpenter.  He tightened up the Cy Young race again by throwing a one-hit shutout.  He seems to like holidays in Milwaukee!
Goat: Ryan Ludwick.  An 0 for 4 with two strikeouts isn't exactly the way you want to spend  your Labor Day.
Notes: Albert Pujols again comes through, doubling in two when first base was open.  I know Matt Holliday had great numbers against Milwaukee, but you really want to pitch to AP with the game on the line?  You have to know that runs are going to be pretty scarce with Carp on the hill.  Whatever, it works for us!

So the Cards open today with a magic number of Ken Boyer and a solid 11 1/2 game lead on those Cubbies.  However, this puts us just one tick closer to the end of the season.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike postseason baseball, obviously.  I want to see the Cardinals playing in October every year.  That said, regular season baseball, in my book, is usually more likeable than postseason baseball.  I realize I could be the only person in the world that thinks that, but hear me out.

I'm a nervous kind of person.  October baseball often finds me flipping channels, not necessarily able to handle the stress of a possible unfortunate outcome.  I will watch the game, then head to another channel for a moment or two before coming back to the game.  (This is how I missed the Bartman play in '03, because I couldn't quite handle watching the Cubs go to the World Series.  Also was away from the TV in '05 with Pujols and Lidge for similar reasons.)  So the stress level of watching the game goes way up for me once the regular season closes.

Besides the fact that what I love about the regular season is its consistency, its daily grind.  You always know that there's a game tomorrow and it takes you throughout the year.  Playoff baseball has big gaps, is covered by announcers and media that have no clue about your team and are not the voices you've heard all year (unless you listen in on the radio, of course), and stops and starts depending on how the teams do.

Of course, if the Cardinals win the whole thing by routing teams, it's the greatest time in the world.

So Franklin blew the save on Sunday and in a fairly efficient manner.  Without the sacrifice that might have gone dreadfully wrong for the Cards if AP had been just a little slower to second base, Franklin wouldn't have retired a batter.  The public reasoning is that he needed some rest, that Saturday's long save got to him.  Hopefully this is true, but he's been walking people at a much higher clip lately, which can cause some fatigue as well.  The Cards need him to be reliable (and able to go whenever) in the post-season to make it very far, so losing some games now with Motte or Boggs or whomever in the ninth will have to be an acceptable tradeoff.

As mentioned above, Lohse looks to return Saturday against the Braves.  Since the five-man rotation is staying in place, John Smoltz will likely miss going against his own team, since Wainwright will go tomorrow, Pineiro the first game of the Braves series, and Carpenter the last.  So while it'd have been a nice story to see Smoltz take on Atlanta, it's probably nice for him not to have to worry about it.

Smoltz faces Manny Parra today in a rematch of that 4-3 loss from last Thursday.  Parra always seems to be one of those that cause the Cardinals trouble, though St. Louis has had some good numbers in the past.  Last year, the Cards would get on him early, but not be able to add on and the Brewers would come back.  You know, kinda like they did last week.  They'll need to keep pushing tonight to make sure the bullpen can be managed correctly.

Smoltz has a lot of data against the Brew Crew as well, but one guy he hasn't faced much is Casey McGhee, who is quickly moving up the "Cardinals Killers" list.  Let's see if the Cards can't keep him in check.

Should be another fun game as the Cards try to add to that winning series streak!

Using The Brooms

Nice to see the Cardinals finally get a sweep, even if it was against a team they should have swept and even if they had a little trouble in doing it.  Let's take a look at the highlights of this weekend's series against Pittsburgh.

Friday (6-4 win)
Hero: Matt Holliday.  An early two-run homer that you'd expect would have been enough for Chris Carpenter (but wasn't), then singling and working his way around the bases to score the go-ahead run.
Goat: Chris Carpenter.  Hard to believe it's possible, but Carp had the rare off game Friday.  And he still pitched eight innings and got the win.
Notes: Albert Pujols showed his stripes when dealing with the injured fan....Holliday, Mark DeRosa and Julio Lugo all had a hit in the game, though Lugo got picked off in the first on a terrible play.

Saturday (5-3 win)
Hero: Adam Wainwright.  He didn't go as deep into the game as he has been, but still pitched a great one, allowing only one run in just shy of seven innings.
Goat: Jason Motte.  When is it going to click for Motte?  He can have a good outing, but it's pretty rare when he doesn't give up at least one long ball.
Notes: Pujols came up with the bases loaded again and got to 100 RBI.

Sunday (7-3 win)
Hero: Skip Schumaker.  His pinch-hit HR gave the Cards the lead, which they then tacked on to.
Goat: Colby Rasmus.  One of the only players not to get a hit in the game.
Notes: Joel Pineiro struggled early, but kept the Cards in the game....Kyle McClellan had a nice 1.2 innings to lock it down.

Coupled with the Cubs struggling against the Rockies, the Cardinals go into their homestand up two games in the NL Central.  With the Reds and Padres on the docket this week (compared to the Cubs hosting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), St. Louis has a chance to push that lead out a little further and give themselves some breathing room.

Fans, though, aren't sure that the team is giving it their all when Todd Wellemeyer is supposed to take the mound on Tuesday. On the face of it, it is a strange decision.  Yes, Mitchell Boggs struggled at AAA last time out, but he's been pretty good.  If we are making decisions based on one game, Wellemeyer would be far, far away from this team by now.  I'd still like to see Blake Hawksworth take the mound, though Tony LaRussa's assertion that he's too important to the bullpen does have some merit.

This has to be Wellemeyer's last chance, though.  If he can't contain a Reds lineup that is pretty weak, especially if Scott Rolen misses out on his return to Busch (and it looks like he will), then he's not going to be able to get the job done against anyone.  Hopefully this won't cost the Cards a lot to find out.

Kyle Lohse gets back on the mound tonight for the Redbirds.  It's a good thing Cincinnati is so down right now, because the Cards throw Lohse, who is pretty questionable right now with his results, and Wellemeyer at them.  This could be a dangerous series for the Cardinals if the Reds offense gets on track.

Lohse has had some issues with his former team.  He especially needs to be careful with Laynce Nix, who has peppered him pretty hard in the past.  He's had trouble with them this year, giving up seven runs in six innings when the Cards were in Cincy in May, then allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings when they were in St. Louis in June before leaving with the forearm injury that put him on the DL.

Opposing St. Louis will be Johnny Cueto.  The Cardinals hit him hard last year, which is reflected in his career numbers.  (You have to figure Rick Ankiel will be in the starting lineup tonight.)  Cueto has been struggling lately, but he's owned St. Louis this year, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA against them.  Maybe his recent issues will continue to be present tonight, because otherwise it might be a tough one.

If you are in the mood for a raffle, head over to Baseball Reflections.  They are giving away some baseball keychains from Wholesalekeychains.com.

Talking Cardinal Baseball

<phone rings>

Splashing To A Win

Did you see it?

I had other things on the schedule last night, so I only saw it online, but Colby Rasmus had the blast of the year yesterday.  When you put one into the river at Pittsburgh, you've done something.  He's only the 18th person to do it in the 8+ seasons PNC Park has been opened.  It gave the Cards an early lead and helped them breathe a little easier, I expect.

As much as I'd like to give Rasmus the Hero nod, though, I think we have to look at Trever Miller.  He comes in with the bases loaded and one out with the Cardinals holding a 3-1 lead and gets the next two guys, including one that was a right-handed batter.  That's a situation that could have easily gotten away from the Cards, but it didn't and that helped the team to the win.

Skip Schumaker had a good night as well, tallying three hits and scoring a run.  Albert Pujols made his one hit count by driving in two insurance runs, which always helps the fans breathe easier.

Joe Thurston has to get the Goat with an 0 for four and leaving two on base.  Still, Goat tags go down easier when the Cardinals get the win.

On the Post-Dispatch site, Bernie Mikalsz takes a look at Khalil Greene and doesn't like what he sees.  Right now, I can't blame him, though there are signs (like his extremely low BABIP) that indicate he could make strides sometime soon.  It'd be nice to see some offense out of him, because defensively, it's been rougher than expected.

Also, the Cardinals seem to be pretty happy with how Schumaker is going at second.  While he's not the glove that Adam Kennedy was or perhaps even Aaron Miles, Skip's done a passable job out there.  He's not routinely botching plays, which is good, even if he's not necessarily getting to balls that past second basemen have.

Before I get into tonight's game against the co-leaders of the NL Central, can I rant for a minute?  Hey, it's my blog, what am I asking you for?

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a huge football fan.  I keep general track of what's going on, mainly to be able to follow conversations.  I watch a little bit here and there during football season, but my wife really doesn't care for it and usually we don't have it on. 

I've never understood the football mentality of rooting for a team that plays once a week and only 16 or so times a year.  You lose the first two games, you start thinking about next year.  How do people do it?  I have problems when there's an off day.  I can't imagine only watching the Cardinals once a week.  And, to me, if you don't have fresh data to discuss, you just get into the cycle of repeating all the same stuff.  I mean, how do you talk about your team from Tuesday-Saturday (if it's a pro team)?  All that's changed is if someone is getting healthy.  Trades are rare in football, you have to have an advanced math degree to compentently talk about the salary cap, I just don't understand the whole viewpoint.

That said, I know it's a popular thing.  I am not convinced there's not a correlation between the decline of our society and the rise of football, but that's neither here nor there.  In my opinion, though, ESPN takes it over the top.

Last night, I'm in the car.  There are Game 7s in hockey going on, there is playoff basketball going on, and of course there are a whole slate of baseball games.  But what's on the radio?  An hour-long football show that they have EVERY NIGHT.  Can you even fathom any other sport having any regular show in their offseason?  I mean, honestly, after the World Series you have to have a microscope to find baseball talk on the airwaves until mid-March.

The TV side isn't any better.  A half-hour of NFL Live every night?  I sometimes have trouble finding Baseball Tonight during the season!  What is there to talk about?  You'd think there's only so many days you can rehash Brett Favre, though apparently I'm wrong on that since they seem to be able to do it constantly.

At least with radio there's XM and a dedicated baseball channel and, for some people, they have MLB Network on their TV.  Honestly, if I had MLB Network, I doubt I'd ever turn on ESPN again, save when they had a ballgame on.

OK, enough of that.  Let's take a look at tonight's game against the Brewers.  Kyle Lohse against the very tough Yovani Gallardo.

Lohse has fairly good numbers against the Brewer hitters.  Craig Counsell has had his number and Ryan Braun is hitting .400 against him, but he's been able to pretty much contain Prince Fielder.  It's possible that the Cardinals will see touted rookie Matt Gamel tonight as Bill Hall has some terrible stats against Lohse.

Gallardo is an ace, as his latest run is proving.  His last three outings, he's posted a 1.80 ERA and is striking out more than one batter an inning.  He's not faced many of the Cardinals, which isn't too surprising given how many rookies are in the lineup, but he's done all right against the ones he has seen.  Pujols has gone deep on him, though, so there is hope.

It's going to be a tough one for this makeshift offense to win tonight, but that's why they play the games.  Stranger things have happened!

Stuck In The Mire

When your offense gets crippled and your pitching staff decides to reverse its early season goodness, chances are there's going to be a lot of losses in your future.  Right now, the Cardinals are stuck in a situation that doesn't have a lot of hope in it.

We talked a lot about this on the UCB Radio Hour last night.  With Ryan Ludwick, Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus out, a lot of the pop expected out of this year's squad is sitting in drydock.  The offense now is Albert Pujols (assuming he's not walked) and Chris Duncan, with Colby Rasmus potentially joining that group but still not exactly a threat in the minds of opposing pitchers yet.

Then you have a pitching staff that has put up a 5.40 ERA in the month of May.  That sits 13th in the NL in that span and could easily slip to 14th tonight as Pittsburgh has a 5.42.  You hope that Adam Wainwright has figured out his problem and that Chris Carpenter will be back at full force next week, but is Todd Wellemeyer ever going to make fans comfortable this year?  Will Joel Pineiro keep the ball down or are his latest struggles an indication of an adjustment by the league?

Of course, this Cardinal Nation angst is nothing two or three solid wins in a row won't solve.  Hopefully that starts tonight, but right now it's hard to point to why you'd think so.

Skip Schumaker gets the Hero tag from last night's game.  Two for four with a home run, the only run of the game until the ninth.  If Pujols had been able to keep that ball a couple more feet fair in the ninth, he'd have taken it and there might have been a different result as well.

I hate to keep giving the Goat tag to the starting pitchers, but when you give up five runs and 11 hits in six innings, odds are you aren't helping the team, especially an offense as depleted as this one.  Joel Pineiro has had better games this year, though as (I believe) Matthew Leach Twittered, this is why he's not going to continue to be successful unless he misses more bats.

Tonight's matchup of Mitchell Boggs and Jeff Karstens could go either way.  Karstens has never faced the Cardinals, which has at times caused problems with the Redbirds.  That said, they've faced Zach Duke and Ross Ohlendorf for the third time the last couple of nights and experience hasn't helped there.  Boggs was OK against the Pirates last week, but walked too many and didn't make it through the fifth, even though the Cards won the game.  Better control (and an early lead) would help matters immensely tonight.

I got this e-mailed to me earlier in the week but forgot to put it up.  It's a comparison of the Molina brothers, in which Yadier gets the most favored son treatment.

Most of you have seen this by now, but Bill DeWitt placed third in the "best owners in baseball" list at SI.com.  People may complain about him in St. Louis, but overall, he's been good for the club.

Cards really need to take one tonight before heading home to face the Brewers.  Hopefully Boggs can keep them in the game and the offense can score enough to win!

A Painful Night In Pittsburgh

Losing by six to the worst team in the division is bad enough.  Losing your second-biggest bat is beyond icing on the cake.

Losing Ryan Ludwick to the DL, which hasn't happened yet but is a strong possibility, could be that proverbial straw.  Rick Ankiel is still a few days from returning and he'd have to step up his production anyway to cover Ludwick.  Will Albert Pujols see any pitches to hit for a while?  The offensive burden is going to really come down on Chris Duncan and, honestly, Colby Rasmus.

It was almost predictable, though, that this apparent surplus of outfielders the Cardinals had was going to be tested.  As the PD story notes, there's no obvious move to make.  You'd think Jon Jay would likely get a call, but he's been struggling, as has most everyone else that would make the jump.

Of course, you want to get real creative?  Why not think about Brett Wallace?

He's hitting .283 with five homers down in Springfield.  He hasn't hit any long balls in May, but his average is right in the .270 range.  I think the chances that Troy Glaus returns this year are getting slimmer by the day.  Let's see what we have with Wallace.

I know it's not going to happen, due to 40-man rules and arbitration thinking, but everything written about Wallace is that he could hit in the majors now.  The Cards have already had plenty of defensive problems, so it's not like he'd necessarily be the weakest link there either.  Anyway, just tossing it out there.

Last night's Hero has to be Albert Pujols, of course, for being responsible for the only Cardinal run.  The Goat is Todd Wellemeyer, for being responsible for all seven of the Pirates' tallies.

Has it come to the point where we just can't trust Wellemeyer anymore?  Every time he has a strong outing and it looks like he's turned the corner, something like this happens.  To me, there's some concern with the pitcher says that "they hit good pitches" and the manager says "they were right down the middle of the plate."  Someone needs to get their eyes or perceptions checked, and the way Pittsburgh was going at it last night, it's not the manager.

Positive news for the rotation, though, comes from the fact that Chris Carpenter threw off the mound yesterday and everything went very well.  It sounds like the rotation is going to be moved around and he'll pitch May 23, which would be great from the United Cardinal Bloggers' standpoint, since that's the date of our next project, but I'd still like to see him go against the Cubs earlier in the homestand.

The Cards try to get back on the winning track against the Pirates tonight.  Joel Pineiro goes up against Ross Ohlendorf.  Just the mention of that name probably makes Pujols's back twinge.  Let's see if maybe he can keep it over the plate tonight.  The Cardinal trainers are dealing with a lot of bruises this year, aren't they?

UCB Radio Hour is back tonight at 9:30.  Our professional hosts are back, so you don't have to listen to me stammer around.  Feel free to call in and slam my Wallace idea!

Two Series, Different Results

Wow, my blogging has gotten bad lately.  I mean, Nick heads to Europe for a week and still Pitchers Hit Eighth is updated at least once a day.  Bear with me and I'll try to get back into a blogging routine this week.

Let's hit the high points of the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati series before discussing what they actually mean.

Wednesday vs. Pittsburgh (Win 4-2)
Hero: Albert Pujols
Goat: Brian Barden
Notes: Pitcher was back to the eighth slot temporarily.  Barden went ofer in the leadoff slot, which is always a good way to get the Goat tag.  Chris Duncan was pretty solid as well, smashing a key triple.

Thursday vs. Pittsburgh (Win 5-2)
Hero: Skip Schumaker
Goat: Chris Duncan
Notes: Duncan was 0-3, though he did have a sac fly.  Ryan Ludwick got his RBI the harder way, taking one for the team with the bases loaded.

Friday at Cincinnati (Loss 6-4)
Hero: Chris Duncan
Goat: Joel Pineiro
Notes: If you want to go with one play, Joe Thurston might have gotten the Goat being caught stealing in the ninth.  Pineiro had the Cards in a big hole early, though, and it was at least good to see them battle back.

Saturday at Cincinnati (Loss 8-3)
Hero: Ryan Ludwick
Goat: Albert Pujols
Notes: Kyle Lohse gave up seven runs, including a bases-loaded single to the pitcher, so it was a tough call on Albert.  Still, 0-4, five left on and an error is an all-around bad night.

Sunday at Cincinnati (Win 8-7 in 10)
Hero: Colby Rasmus
Goat: Ryan Franklin
Notes: Tough to blow a save on two home runs, but that's what Franklin did.  I know Micah Owings is a good-hitting pitcher, but two outs, full count, and he goes yard on you to tie the game?  That's a Goat move.

More links and talk after the jump.


  Continue Reading

What's Wrong With Wainwright?

If there was one constant expected in this 2009 season, it was that Adam Wainwright would be the rock of the rotation.  He'd stop the losing streaks, give a solid outing every time out, and generally be the joy of the rotation.  After six starts this year, though, he's not quite been there.  The question is, why not?

I don't have any answers to that, but I wanted to see if it really has been that bad.  I mean, Wainwright did go into last night's game with a 3-0 record and a 2.76 ERA.  What more can you expect out of him, huh?

Still, watching him, you know there's been problems.  He's walked 20 batters this year against only 30 strikeouts.  Batters are hitting him for a .274 average and reaching base 36% of the time.  Some of his problems might come from the fact he has a .327 BABIP, but that's not extremely high.

For comparison's sake, in his first six starts of 2008, he was also 3-1, but he had a 2.60 ERA, a BA against of .207 and an OBP against of .256.  Even if you mark that down to a fast start, you wouldn't expect the numbers to increase as much as they have.

Another way to look at it is game scores.  A Bill James invention, game scores are used to note how dominant a pitcher is.  Last year in the span we are talking about, Wainwright had only one game score that was under 60, and that was a 51.  This year, Wainwright has only hit 60 twice (exactly 60, even, not over it) and has three starts that were below 50, including last night's 29.

On Twitter last night, Matthew Leach opined that he liked this start more than some of Wainwright's other, nominally more successful starts because he didn't walk batters.  He did only walk two, including a unintentional-intentional pass to Ryan Howard with two outs in the fifth which was completely justifiable, if moot when the next batter, Jayson Werth, went yard to land another punch on the Cards' comeback.  If he's going to throw strikes (something I believe we all want to see), they definitely need to be better than the ones he threw last night.

Last night's game felt like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill.  Just when the Cards would look like they were coming back, the pitching staff would give up more runs and make the boulder roll back down.  When they were able to rally to 4-3 after home runs by Hero Ryan Ludwick and Yadier Molina, I thought they had a chance, but those hopes were pretty much dashed by Werth's blast.

So the Cardinals finally lose their 10th game of the season and have now lost three in a row with Pittsburgh coming in tonight.  Mitchell Boggs goes up against Zach Duke.

The Pirates haven't seen Boggs before (well, Brandon Moss has, but that's it), but the Cardinals are well acquainted with Duke.  I believe he will be the first pitcher St. Louis has seen twice in 2009, as he gave up three runs (one earned) in 6 1/3 in the season-opening series, getting a 7-4 win against Todd Wellemeyer.  In his career, he's struggled some against the Cardinals, though he's usually kept them in the yard.  Duke seems to have recaptured some of that promise that he had early in his career, as he sports a 2.21 ERA coming into tonight's game.

Various other things.  It looks like Rick Ankiel won't be out for an extended period of time.  Thank goodness that crash didn't happen at Wrigley, because I'm thinking the padding was better on Ankiel's head than bricks would have been.  While he's OK now, as it happened, Ankiel wasn't quite as sanguine about what was going on.

Krylon is running a sports trivia contest and the winner gets tickets to the World Series.  Head over here and try your luck!

Jay from Riding the Pine hasn't done a lot of blogging lately, but did want me to mention that he's got a forum for St. Louis autograph hunters, no matter the sport.  If that's one of your interests, head on over there and see if you can make some connections.

Finally, it's Wednesday, and you know that means UCB Radio Hour.  I'll be hosting it tonight as most of the regulars are out of pocket, so tune in and call in with questions or comments to try to keep the dead air to a minimum.  Tonight's featured blog is Baseball Digest and we'll be talking to Andrea at the top of the show.  Hope to see you there!

Carpenter Is A Craftsman

Chris Carpenter returned to the mound yesterday.  All those that were holding their breath can breathe a whole lot easier now.

Most everyone would have been happy of six innings that kept the team in the game.  But taking a no-hitter into the seventh?  Really?  I'm sure he wouldn't have finished it (though after reading the possibilities at Pitchers Hit Eighth about fewer pitches, I guess there was a possibility if things had gone just right), but even the fact that we were talking no-hitter so deep into the game is a tantalizing preview of the season to come, I hope.  Assuming he doesn't have any problems when he gets out of bed this morning, we should be able to go forward and accept that he'll pitch every fifth day instead of holding our breath every time.

Thankfully, the Cardinals didn't blow the opportunity to get Carp a win, even though they did their darndest.  Ross Ohlendorf was either a very good pickup from the Yankees (something that the Pirates bloggers that have called into the UCB Radio Hour have indicated is a possibility) or the "new pitcher blues" have returned for 2009.  I'm wondering if a new pitcher causes the team so much problems because there aren't any stats, charts, etc. on him like they use on other pitchers, so they are just guessing more than having a plan.

Offensively, there wasn't much to write home about.  Yadier Molina did crank out two hits and drove in one of the two runs, so at least so far in 2009, it looks like the offensive strides he made last year have stayed with him.

Our Goat for the day is Skip Schumaker.  His wide throw in the seventh took away the double play chance and led to Carp having to face another batter, who blew the no hitter.  I know Albert Pujols had an interesting day in the field, but I tend to cut him a bit of slack because they were aggressive errors.  Perhaps they weren't the best of ideas, but there was a thought behind them and he was trying to do something.  Skip was just performing his job but he didn't do it as well as he should.

The other goat, if I gave them, would have been Jose Oquendo.  Why you send Molina, the man you time with a sundial, on a medium fly ball with the bases loaded and Pujols coming up is beyond me.  If Pittsburgh had scored again, that play would have loomed large.

Notably, Dennys Reyes got the save yesterday instead of Jason Motte.  I don't think we can read that much into it, though, since two of the three scheduled batters in the ninth were lefty pitchers.  Tony LaRussa has said that the closer job isn't necessarily Motte's, and using Reyes in this way I think reinforces that.  I would expect to see Motte out there in the ninth before Franklin, though, so if Franklin gets a save when Motte was available this weekend, there's something there.

There were a few other things I was going to get to, but computer issues have led to this taking longer than it should have.  Come back in a little while for five questions with James of Astros County as we look forward to this upcoming series.

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