Hi, Brian. How was your off day?

Brian Barton's off-day turned into a travel day to another city. He was swapped yesterday for the Braves' Blaine Boyer. Reports indicate this move was made to shore up the Cardinals shaky bullpen. And it has been shaky. Currently the bullpen boasts of a 4.77 ERA in 43.3 innings pitched. Not good. Not to mention the 4 games where the bullpen surrendered a lead late. That's over a quarter of their games played so far this season; also not good.

But is this the best move? The guy was just designated for assignment by Atlanta, not exactly a ringing endorsement. And, in 117 innings over parts of 5 years, his ERA is north of 5.00. I gotta say I'm surprised by this one.

Was he worth one of our trade chips? Time will tell. What is true is the only reliable guys down there are McClellan and Franklin. In this day and age, it's hard to go through a whole season with two reliable guys in the bullpen.

Barton was one of a bunch of guys vying for playing time in a crowded outfield, but, he was worth more than a mediocre (at best) middle reliever.

Anyway, the team heads home to play the Mets. As the Cubs series is now two days in the rear view mirror, thanks to the rainout Sunday night, I won't dwell on it, except to say they could have won all 3 games, and should have won on Friday night. Which brings us back to this trade, and the reasons for it.

A Bad Day At Bank One

Some of our worst fears are realized - Chris Carpenter tantalizes us with a 7 inning masterpiece, and leaves his next start with an injury. Oh, boy.


Reports this morning indicate it's a left oblique strain and he will likely be headed to the disabled list. Not an arm injury. I'm not optimistic, or even cautiously optimistic, that's true, however; I seem to remember last September, when he left his last game against the Cubs, initial reports were a strained muscle in his back, which turned into another arm problem. All we can do at this point is wait.


Last night's game can be analyzed like a Clint Eastwood film of some note:


- The Good: Cardinals came back from two down in the ninth to tie the game at 6. Rasums, AP, and Thurston all had two hits and RBI in this game.


- The Bad: Carpenter's injury. Blew leads of 3-0 and 4-2. Got the go-ahead run to third with one out in the ninth and left him there (Ryan, Ankiel struck out). Thompson gave up the winning run in the 10th on only 8 pitches.


- The Ugly: Josh Kinney self-destructed in the 8th. Bullpen completely depleted after throwing 6 2/3 innings last night, with a 4-game series in Chicago looming.


I wonder - would Jason LaRue have been a better choice to hit against Qualls? He is 0-2 in 3 plate appearances (the other he was hit by pitch), whereas Ryan had struck out in his only other plate appearance against Qualls (and he struck out last night). I know, LaRue is the backup catcher, and we would have been in a bad way had Molina gotten hurt, but I think the experienced bat would have been a better choice in that situation. Totally Tuesday AM Quarterbacking, by the way. I'd be interested in other opinions on the subject.


Some interesting decisions loom for the Cardinals. Which pitcher comes up to replace Carpenter (early money is on Chris Perez and/or Mitchell Boggs)? Who starts the Sunday night game against Chicago - McClellan? Thompson? Someone else?


Not a good day.


Noon start today in the desert, before flying to the Windy City.

I'm Running Out Of Expletives

4-0 after eight and a half. 4-4 after nine.

What else is there to say? Thank you, Ryan Ludwick, for averting disaster in the eleventh.

Permit me to rant for a moment. We've all been told, over the past 10 years, what a baseball genius Tony LaRussa is. How he analyzes game situations and uses his analytical mind to come up with strategies (like hitting the pitcher eighth) and govern his in game decisions on squeeze bunts, situational hitting, and bullpen management.

Whatever his system is for managing the bullpen, it's broken.

How much empirical evidence does he need to see the bullpen as currently constructed is broken? Is 115 games enough? Do we need to take this to 162 games before he realizes changes need to be made?

Unfortunately, I'm pressed for time; I was out sick yesterday and need to dig out from under 2 days worth of email. But in gross terms, the following facts are in evidence:

- Flores can't get anyone out.
- Izzy has lost confidence as the closer and can't navigate that inning easily.
- Franklin's stint as closer has badly affected his confidence.
- Jimenez can't find the strike zone; in fact, if you put him on a beach and told him to hit the ocean he'd miss.
- Villone has pitched better recently, but the only two reliable arms down there are McClellan and Springer.

Haven't we given enough leads away at the end of ballgames? Here's some thoughts:

- Let Springer close for a few games. Can't be any worse than Franklin/Izzy.
- Shift McClellan to the set up role.
- Make Izzy a situational reliever to get 1-2 hitters out.
- Make Franklin your seventh inning guy.
- Send Flores packing.
- Send Jimenez to A ball so he can learn to throw strikes consistently.
- Villone remains as your lone lefty out of the bullpen.
- Thompson is your long man.
- Bring up someone from AA or AAA that can actually get guys out to replace Jimenez.

It's time to stop screwing around and fix this. If the team can't, don't expect to stay afloat in the wild card race.

Oh, and Tony: Impress on your starters the need to get deep into games over the next 2 days. If we head to Wrigley with our usual overworked bullpen, we'll get killed. We may end up losing those 3 games anyway, but at least with a rested bullpen we'll have a puncher's chance.

Another Bullpen Hairball

The Cardinals-Phillies game was on ESPN last night. I tried not to watch it. I have no proof of this, but it seems that since 2006, whenever the Cardinals are shown on a national broadcast, bad things happen (normally a loss). So I held out as long as I could.

Which lasted until the bottom of the fourth. Turned it on in time for Ludwick's homer to make it 2-0. Wellemeyer was pitching well, but that nagging sense of foreboding wouldn't leave, especially since the Cardinals had managed only three hits off Meyers. Utley's HR in the sixth only added to my unease, but they managed to nurse that 2-1 lead into the eighth.

At which time my children signalled they were done for the day, and we all trooped upstairs for their nightly bath. Yes we wash them every day whether they need it or not. Usually I get a free bath myself; we like to screw around in the tub.

I flipped on the TV in my bedroom so I could check down the hall in a hurry if needed. I saw Garcia relieve McClellan. Twenty-five minutes later, I checked again; Romero was pitching, Ryan was on at first, there was one out.

The score read 5-2 Philadelphia. I laughed with no mirth felt.

At least they tried to fight back with the run in the eighth and another in the ninth. I had hope when Ankiel singled off Howard's glove, driving Miles to third. Oquendo made the correct decision by holding Miles at third, by the way. Izturis was coming up, a veteran bat with Lidge on the ropes.

Clearly in that situation Lidge didn't want to put the winning run in scoring position, so I know he didn't mean to hit Izturis. But it couldn't have set up a better situation for the Phillies, for Lidge and that damn slider of his would face 2 rookies in a row. The only way AP would get another at bat this night is if one of the two of them reached to tie the game.

Didn't happen. First pitch to Stavinoha was a mistake curveball that hung on the inside half of the plate. Nick swung and missed. Lidge's next 6 pitches were not in the strike zone; Stavinoha and Mather swung at 5 of them. Ballgame.

Anybody still think this team needs a bat over a bullpen arm?

This is the farthest out of first place the Cardinals have been all season (six games). They continue to trail Milwaukee by a game in the wild card standings. This is a huge 13 game stretch for the Redbirds; they get the re-energized Dodgers starting tomorrow, then go on a 10 game road trip that starts in Chicago. It would be nice to be within 3 games of Chicago starting Friday night, but I think that's unrealistic; let's take 2 of 3 from Los Angeles (a tall order; they get Billingsley and Lowe, the two best Dodger starters) and then go from there.