A Welcome Return

Chris Carpenter took the mound last night.  If you could tell that it'd been over a month since he'd pitched, you are a better observer than I am.

Carpenter kept his perfect 0.00 ERA for the season, going five scoreless while striking out four.  He was never really challenged and threw 41 strikes in his 67 pitches.  I would have liked to see him get out there for the sixth, but it's not surprising that Tony LaRussa would keep a short leash on him coming back from injury.

If Adam Wainwright shows tonight that the corrections he made that were so effective against the Brewers are permanent, having Carpenter and Wainwright back to back in a rotation should keep the Cardinals from any extensive losing streaks.  The bullpen, in theory, will get some rest on those days as well, which may help them be more effective when needed.  It's a ripple effect that could spread throughout the whole team.

Offensively, again it was a quiet night.  It's a good thing that Carpenter and Joel Pineiro have kept the Cubs off the board, otherwise there'd be some problems.  The Cards have scored only 19 runs in their last 8 games, keeping the people at On The Run from giving out 25 cent drinks since last Monday.  We'll have to give the Goat to Yadier Molina, who went 0-2 and left three men on, not including the double play he hit into.

A man who could be part of the reemergence of the offense is Rick Ankiel, but he was not activated from the disabled list last night as was expected.  Ankiel is going to be reevaluated in the next day or so and hopefully will rejoin the team then, though last night was the first time I had heard anything about the oblique strain.  Not that it was surprising, just that it hadn't been mentioned.  It'd be good to see him back this weekend against the Royals.

There was a pregame interview with John Mozeliak on Fox Sports Midwest and he said something that was a little interesting, at least in my mind.  He was asked about Brett Wallace and his promotion and when we might see him in St. Louis.  Mozeliak, while saying it was premature to talk about it, did indicate that if Troy Glaus is out for the season and Wallace hits at AAA like expected, he could be in the conversation for the latter half of the year.  There's a lot of talk about Wallace around the net right now.  Future Redbirds questions the callup.  Jerry Crasnick puts him on the list of coming attractions.  Ken Rosenthal suggests he's the kind of guy Boston is looking for in return for one of their young pitchers.

Albert Pujols was ranked the top player in baseball by Sporting News.  Tell us something we don't know, why don't you.

Cards look for the ever-sweet sweep of the Cubs tonight behind Wainwright.  You have to hope that Wainwright's got whatever problems he had behind him, because the Cubs are a team that, in the past, he's struggled with.  He's been able to keep them in the yard, but they hit him at a good clip.  He's already seen the Cubs twice this year, going 1-0 in 13 innings but allowing 7 runs (5 earned).  Increased command will help as well, as he's walked five Cubs this year.

Sean Marshall goes for the Cubs and likely keeps the Cards under six runs yet again.  The Cards did get to him for three runs in five innings in his only start against them in '09, but historically the Cards are only hitting .260 against him and he's been one of the few pitchers to keep Pujols at bay.  Should be another low-scoring affair tonight as well.

A note that the UCB has its progressive game blog coming up on Saturday.  You can read more about it and see the lineup of blogs over here.


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