Life is Rarely Fair

I was wrong - Mark Mulder didn't give up 6 ER.

I was right - Mark didn't make it past the third.

But I really didn't want to be right in that manner.

Life is cruel, and usually unfair. Mulder has experienced the frustration of not knowing why his pitches wouldn't locate where he wanted them to be, the relief of finding a physical problem, the pain of surgery, the hope of rehab, the frustration of a lack of response, and finally, last night, the resignation that he's never going to come back.

The Cardinals are being close-lipped, and Mulder wouldn't say, but I think everyone knows this was his last trip to a major league mound. If after two surgeries and 4 rehab assignments the shoulder still won't respond, what else is there left to do? What can be done? How much more of this agony is Mark willing/able to endure?

I guess we'll find out.

The game result was secondary to me after that first inning. Thompson pitched his butt off for 4 innings. The Cardinals still can't drive in a runner from scoring position. They should have won this game going away, and it should have been well in hand long before Ryan Howard stepped into the box in the eighth inning.

I was glad to see LaRussa go for the jugular with the bases loaded in the seventh, by sending Mather up to pinch-hit for Miles. Good at bat; didn't work out like we wanted it to (struck out on a tough 3-2 pitch).

And after Ankiel swung at a Lidge slider that bounced in front of the plate, I think everyone knew he was going to strike out. That 0-2 slider Lidge spun up that was perfect; I doubt AP fouls that one off.

So now we're back to 4.5 behind the Cubs, and have a gaping hole in the rotation to fill after the All-Star break. The club has called up Jamie Garcia to take that spot. Anthony Reyes is the more seasoned pitcher, and the more prime time ready; this, as giving Mulder the start, speaks volumes about how the on-field management team feels about his ability (and about their desire to have him in their locker room).

You Can't Win If You Don't Score II

Same story as last night - little run support, great start, bullpen gives up the lead. 3-2 loss.

It's frustrating, as the Cubs have dropped 2 in Tampa to the Rays. As a side note, James Shields is on my fantasy team, and pitches today against Chicago, all but guaranteeing the Cubs will win.

Kyle McClellan had given up only 2 HR in 35 and 2/3 innings going into last night. As the Cardinals only gave him 2 runs to work with, it's hard to lay the blame on the bullpen; but it is frustrating to watch, especially considering the Royals hadn't won in 37 tries when trailing after 7.

And Brian Bannister hadn't won a night game since Aug 2007.

So on to today. I was pumped for Reyes' start, only to learn he's on the DL with an 'irritated elbow'. Odd that the team would announce him as the starter then place him on the DL. Anthony Reyes' strange trip through Cardinal land continues. Brad Thompson takes the hill in his place against arguably the best Royals starter this season, Zach Greinke.

We gotta salvage one.

I hate to give credence to any blather about the AL being better than the NL, but when the worst team in the American League is 6-2 against the National, like the Royals currently are, you got to wonder.

I'll be posting over at C70 at the bat starting tomorrow morning through next week; stop by and see me there. There will still be content here, if you just can't live without your daily Stance fix. It's like Starbucks, but without the Borg-like business model, smarmy attendants, and shitty coffee.

Cardinals Win; Pujols Sidelined

I'm minding the store for my boss this week, as he is on travel, so this will have to be brief. Cardinals won last night in Cincinnati 7-2. The big news should have been Mitchell Boggs' first ML win, but instead it's AP's strained calf.

I saw the replay of him running out of the box on ESPN.com this morning; I wouldn't characterize it as 'pretty bad,' as Mozeliak said, but it certainly won't be something that he bounces back from before this weekend.

If he does have to go on the DL, what a crappy way to start the week - first Wainwright with his finger, now AP and his calf. I can't help but wonder, based on AP sitting most of the Washington series out last week with the calf, if he didn't rush himself back into the lineup too soon and do more damage.

And Rolen's calf injury in Sept 2004 immediately leapt to mind as I watched that replay. Rolen sat most of that month with the injury and (other than a superlative effort in the LCS against Houston, which was mostly driven by anger against LaRussa) wasn't himself the rest of that season.

Yikes. Keep a good thought.

Larry over at Vivaelbirdos has a great article on Wainwright's finger prognosis, which I won't try and top here; it's worth the read if you haven't seen it yet.

One final thought - the Cardinals announced Piniero will start tomorrow against Cincinnati, as he comes off the DL after a groin injury. I can't help but think this is a case of LaRussa hard-headedness and Piniero is going out there too soon after the injury. Here's why. As you know, I play a little softball in my spare time. About 5 years ago I strained my groin going after a fly ball in RC (which approximates how Piniero strained his). I sat out the rest of that game because I couldn't push off with my left leg; it took me a month to feel like I could run again comfortably, and another two weeks before I was willing to test it running full speed.

Clearly, although I'm in reasonable shape, I'm not a professional athlete in prime physical condition with access to virtually unlimited resources for medical care and rehabilitation. However, I play the outfield, where the action is somewhat sparse. I was playing 2-3 times a week at that point, and ended up not playing for almost a month. Piniero is a pitcher, at the center of each and every play in the game, and he's only been sidelined 3 weeks. He's going to put a lot more stress on that muscle immediately, and if it's a little bit tender he's going to damage it again.

Wouldn't Reyes be a better option in the short-term to protect Piniero long-term? Is LaRussa's anti-Anthony stance blinded him to his options here? If Reyes is considered that low of a prospect at this point, maybe the Cardinals would be better off DFA-ing him and moving on.

(When Piniero throws a 2-hit shutout today forget we had this conversation)

Gifts are Always Welcome

Nothing like getting a game gift-wrapped for you by the opposing defense. A big West Coast "Thank You" to Ty Wigginton and Michael (don't call me Jason) Bourn; their miscues directly led to the Cardinals winning this game.

Cardinals have won both series on this road trip, and have a well-deserved off-day today before starting 3 in Cincinnati. St Louis will miss Cincinnati's two best starters (Harang and Volquez) in this series, but get previously hyped Homer Bailey in the opener, followed by Cueto and the always tough Bronson Arroyo. The Reds, who have shown improvement recently (especially after the callup of Jay Bruce), are still 4 games under and 10 back of the division leading Cubs.

Speaking of the Cubs, I was beginning to wonder if they would ever lose again, until Maddux pitched against them last Wednesday here in SD; since that game they've gone 2-3, having split 4 in LA over the weekend. As the week starts, the Cardinals are 2.5 games back of the Cubs, at 38-27.

You know MLB is rooting for the Cubs (and to a lesser extent, the Red Sox) when the lead story on their site today is "Cubs, Red Sox first to 40 wins". Who cares? That's not even a metric that holds water for the playoffs.

Mitchell Boggs gets the start tomorrow, I believe it's his ML debut. So much for Reyes being called up to take Parisi's spot in the rotation.

Enjoy the off-day. After the Cincinnati series, we begin anew the nonsense that is interleague play.

Better 201st Post - Anthony Reyes

Let me pull out my old moniker (The AngryRant, for those of you new to the site) to discuss Anthony Reyes for a moment.

As you know, Reyes was sent back to AAA Memphis on 4 May. He wasn't happy about it, and I don't blame him; I don't think his performance was so bad it merited his being demoted. But let's look at the data to see what it tells us.

In his first 6 appearances, he pitched very well. He did have a hiccup in his second, against the Nationals; he gave up a 1 out 2 run HR to Flores, Washington's catcher. He got the next guy out and was replaced by LaRussa, getting credit for a hold.

For his first 6 games, his line looked like this:

9 2/3 IP, 3R (all earned), 8 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 2 holds, 1 save, 1-0 overall record, 2.79 ERA, WHIP 0.93.

Pretty darn good.

LaRussa at least evinced some faith in him then, using him in tight, close games. You get holds only if you come into the game in a save situation; his save was in the 10th inning against the Giants, who the Cardinals had trouble with (they went 4-3 against St Louis this season). Reyes was pitching about every 3 days to start the season. Since he had gone through spring training as a starter, I thought that was a reasonable approach to a kid now shifted to the bullpen, as you work him into working on consecutive days.

Reyes' 6th appearance was as the long man out of the pen, spelling Looper after Loop gave up 6 runs in the third to those same Giants. He pitched as he had in the previous 5, but he was working on 4 days rest.

It's his next appearance that apparently did him in. Entering in the 8th, against Pittsburgh's 4-5-6 hitters, he gave up 4 hits, one loud flyball, and a groundout. The damage might have been worse had Schumaker not cut down Mientkiewiez at second trying to stretch a single into a double.

After that, he pitched at the back end of 2 blowouts, and got sent down.

Why would a poor outing after 6 good ones get him reassigned? Putting on my JFK "there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll" conspiracy hat, doesn't this ooze something nefarious?

It's almost as if LaRussa and Duncan gave Reyes just enough rope to hang himself. It's no secret neither one of them trust Reyes, otherwise why would he have spent the better part of 2 seasons wearing out the road between St Louis and Memphis? If they really bought into Reyes as a top-flight pitching prospect, why did they not let him work out his problems in 2006 and 2007 at the big league level, like other teams have done with Edwin Jackson, Cole Hamels, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and several other young pitchers over the past 4 years?

But they didn't; they turned him into a yo-yo, and in the process sapped his confidence to the point he was a wreck last season.

And this year was even crueller. The kid worked his butt off in spring training but would have been sent down anyway if not for the intervention of Mozeliak at the start of the season. So LaRussa and Duncan (seemingly, I have no proof of this) went into a dark room and decided to let the kid pitch out of the bullpen until he made enough of a mistake to justify sending him down.

Which he did in that game against the Pirates.

1-1, 2 holds, 1 save, 1 really bad inning, and back to Memphis you go. Obviously I think he got the shaft...again.

He's pitched only once since returning to Memphis - 3 shutout innings in an abbreviated start on 9 May (4 hits, 3 walks, 3 K). He should start again Thursday (Memphis is off tomorrow) at home against Oklahoma City.

Clearly I want him to have a chance to succeed at the Major League level for the Cardinals. I think he's good enough and the team was foolish for cycling him between St Louis and Memphis last year (yes I know he was 2-14 in 20 starts over 107+ innings). But it may well be time to trade him away, especially if he continues to have this to look forward to as long as LaRussa and Duncan are in charge in St Louis.