The spectre of Philly’s 1964 collapse (5 1/2 up with 13 games remaining) was raised yesterday in relation to St. Louis’ modern tailspin (7 games dropped in a row, and counting). No telling if Tony La Russa will attempt to have Chris Carpenter (above) close the day after a start, or perhaps try to put Albert Pujols in the batting order two or three times, but clearly things are getting desperate. From Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.
Carpenter isn’t scheduled to pitch again for the Cardinals until the season finale on Sunday. Right-hander Jeff Suppan, Saturday’s starter, has a 2.59 ERA in four starts this season against the Brewers. But the Cardinals’ bullpen, without injured closer Jason Isringhausen, is a disjointed mess.
As of now, rookie right-hander Anthony Reyes would start Monday’s game against the Giants, if necessary, and right-hander Jason Marquis would start Tuesday’s potential playoff against the Astros.
That’s right, Jason Marquis, whose 5.80 ERA is the highest in the National League among pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title.
Are we having fun yet?
While Astros manager Phil Garner probably has saved his job by leading another second-half rally ” this one is occurring rather late even by the Astros’ usual heart-stopping standards ” La Russa is threatening to become a latter-day Mauch.
It’s understandable that La Russa stuck with Carpenter for a season-high 122 pitches Tuesday night, given the state of the Cardinals’ bullpen. But Carpenter blew a 5-2 lead in the Padres’ four-run seventh, and another defeat Wednesday night will give the Cardinals their third eight-game losing streak of the season.
While recent injuries to Isringhausen, left-hander Mark Mulder, shortstop David Eckstein and center fielder Jim Edmonds clearly have had a major effect, La Russa’s intense, demanding style surely would come under scrutiny if the Cardinals failed to win the division.
Of course, there would be plenty of blame to go around.
General manager Walt Jocketty, whose contract recently was extended, failed to make an impact move before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, adding only right-hander Jeff Weaver and second baseman Ron Belliard.
And ownership reduced the Opening Day payroll from $92.1 million last season to $88.9 million this season, in part due to the debt it incurred by financing much of the new Busch Stadium.
the end is nigh
What can one say that has not already been said time and time again this season? It became very apparent during interleague play that we had some major problems that needed to be addressed and fixed! But, like any true fan would, I hoped against all hope that the break would do the guys some good. Then I had high hopes again that the trade deadline was drawing near and watched with so much anticipation, and heard that we aquired Belliard! A 2nd baseman! (No offense Ronnie) I did not think we NEEDED a 2nd baseman. The Miles/Luna combo worked just fine in my opinion! I was really expecting to hear some talk about rotation pitching & the Cards! I was so disappointed! And I still am disappointed! I LOVE MY CARDINALS and I will forever but I will admit that I don’t understand why it is so obvious to regular ordinary joes where our problems are, but the guys who are supposed to be the experts don’t see a thing!!! We have got to win the rest of our games! I wish I could let the guys know just how much this means to us. I watch night after night and can tell they are being affected by whatever has happened to us. Win or lose, I think the Cards are THE BEST! And I will NEVER give up on them!!!!
LET’S GO CARDINALS!!!!!!!
See!!!!! I told you so!!!!!! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!! Especially when you have Prince Albert on your side!!!! Now if the rest of the roster will just follow suit and ALL of them get on the same page, WE COULD GO ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!
WAY TO GO ALBERT!!! MVP, MVP, MVP!!!!! LETS GO CARDS!!!!!!!
lisa, i wish i shared your enthusiasm. it was a nice ending last night, but the cards still are hanging on by a thread. outside of carpenter there is no one on our pitching staff that isn’t capable of being a major liability. the bats are always gonna be there, but the cards are looking tired. there was some sloppy fielding last night in the infield adding to the general lack of focus. still, we watch and we hope. it’ll be a miracle if this team gets past the first round of playoffs.
LaRussa sucks.
I hear ya Ted. I was full of ethusiasm, until last night. Jason’s pitching literally turned my stomach. You are right, Carp is ALL we have and I think that carrying that burden for most of the season has tired him out. He has to be able to ascend his throne and let the whole world know that HE is in charge of that game. And he has done that but not near as often as last season. I feel sorry for Carp & Albert. Albert covers the offense and Carp covers the pitching. As for defense, well we did have Jimmy but I think we are going to have to stay used to his name out of the line up and off the roster. Although we all know how the rest of our games will probably end, I still hope they can pull it off. They are known as the comeback team. Stranger things have happened. I just don’t want a repeat of the WS 04 (I think I have the right year???) when we got swept and the entire series ended in 4 games.
Oh, & Rog…….. Let’s not forget about ol Walt!!!!!!!