Harry Potter and the Deathly Pitchers

This weekend, as you most likely know unless you've been hanging out under that proverbial rock, the final chapter of the Harry Potter saga is released upon the masses. People will be hanging out at bookstores at midnight with wands and brooms. Too bad none of these are real wizards, because the Cardinal pitching staff has been hit with the crucio curse, invoking much pain among the members of Cardinal Nation.

If you were going to sort yesterday's news into the good, the bad, and the ugly, you'd have to really stretch to have anything in that first category. At best, I guess you could say that given the news that we'll go over in the bad and the ugly, Walt Jocketty should have been able to once and for all surrender any ideas of a quick fix for 2007, which should mean no prospects-for-short-term-veterans type of trades. Hopefully this will also mean that some of the young guys will get called back up and given more of a look as the team prepares for 2008.

The bad news is obviously Chris Carpenter having to go through Tommy John surgery. News reports keep saying he'll be out "part of 2008". That's the most optimistic scenario possible, and as we've seen with the Cardinals and injuries, those scenarios really never pan out. Mark Mulder was supposed to be back by now or very soon, and right now there still is no timetable for when he returns. I think you can safely say that you won't see significant innings from Carp until 2009, which could leave '08 to be a long year. Not only does this have the obvious effect on the team, but it's a demoralizing blow at a time when the Cardinals don't need any more of those. Having him so close to returning only to have this happen really can take out the couple of puffs of wind that were still in St. Louis's sails.

And then there is the ugly. When the Mike Maroth trade was made with Detroit, I thought it was a good move. For one thing, you hear so much about how pitchers from the AL should get noticeably better when they move to the NL. Second, he'd been a serviceable pitcher in the past, with real flashes of ability. I expected that he could put up some quality starts, at least keep the team in the game. I didn't expect a Carpenter replacement, but I also didn't expect that he'd pitch so badly it appears I could at least scratch a single off of him. The home runs are flying out, which is something he's been prone to in the past, but he's not limiting the damage. Last night, he gave up nine runs when two were out in the inning. That should never happen.

With the loss and the Brewers' win, the gap is 9.5 games. It might as well be 90.5, because this team is done. Hopefully they'll still win some games, especially against the Cubs to keep them out of the postseason, but right now, the Brewers have to become our second favorite team so as to keep that Cubs streak alive.

7 Comments

7 Comments | Leave a comment

amy | July 20, 2007 11:10 AM | Reply

um... i think the good could be that jimmy baseball was back in the lineup and he made a couple of really outstanding defensive plays.

but beyond that... i got nada.

cardinal70 | July 20, 2007 12:10 PM | Reply

Good point. Having Edmonds back is a nice thing, especially defensively.

I'm not sure I'm sold on him being much of an offensive force the rest of the year, but it was nice to have close to a regular lineup out there.

Oberkfell3B | July 20, 2007 12:39 PM | Reply

It is a tough time to be a Cardinals fan. On the heels of a World Championship, I do not recall things being this bleak since the Torre/Jorgenson era. Where do we go from here?
I know, Scott Trade Center, The Blues look to be on the upswing!!!!

cardinal70 | July 20, 2007 12:53 PM | Reply

It definitely has been a while since things were this rough. At least in '98 and '99 there was McGwire.

You'd probably have to go all the way back to 1990 for a year as all-around disappointing at this one. Coming off a year that that they challenged for the divisional crown (against the Cubs, of all people), you'd think they'd have been ready to go. Instead, everything fell apart, McGee was traded, and Whitey resigned.

amy | July 20, 2007 2:24 PM | Reply

its hard isn't it... we are so used to being on top, that when we suffer meltdowns like yesterday (and for a majority of this season) all seems hopeless. i imagine for the players it must be worse (for some of them...some of them get enough $ it must heal the wounds of the losses).

but i keep telling myself... at least we've been successful in the past. and we will be again in the future. its just the present that is pretty much stankified.

(i can come by this feeling honestly. i live in alabama and am a big university of alabama football fan. we keep telling ourselves that things are going to get better.)

cardinal70 | July 20, 2007 2:33 PM | Reply

For a mid-market team like ours, it's going to take a couple of down years, especially when we've done our share of dealing from the minors. You've got to have cheap players always ready to come in and contribute--imagine where we'd be without Chris Duncan, for example.

In a couple of years when Rasmus and Anderson and a couple of the pitchers are ready to make contributions, the next Cardinal great team could take shape. But for this year and next year--well, hold on to your hats, it might get bumpy.

And Alabama might be OK--save when they play the Hogs!

helen | August 16, 2008 6:00 AM | Reply

i love you harry potter

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