Skip to main content

Game Over


And, no, this is not a post about the truly woeful (and damn near unwatchable) Blues. (I'm so pissed I cannot speak rationally about them.)

Nope. This time it's the Cardinals whose chance for a successful season has just vanished. Read and weep:

St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright has flown back to St. Louis this morning to have his right elbow examined this afternoon after he experienced discomfort in the joint.

General manager John Mozeliak said he believes it is a "significant injury" and the early word is "not encouraging."

Tommy John surgery is one alternative to repair the damage for which Wainwright is being checked.

"After his bullpen on Monday, he did feel something in his right elbow," Mozeliak said. "I can say just based on the initial evaluation from our training staff, things do not look encouraging. But before we jump to any conclusions, we'll just wait until the re-evaluation this afternoon."

Mozeliak said there would be an update Wednesday afternoon.

It won't be an "update," it will be a confirmation. In all the years I've followed baseball I've never once seen this set-up not lead to season ending surgery.

Wainwright only has himself to blame, really. He jinxed himself:

A checkup in November, however, assured him and the Cardinals of the joint's stability and structure, and even a few weeks ago, as spring training started, Wainwright insisted that he wasn't concerned about the joint.

"My ligament is intact and strong," Wainwright said in a Feb. 10 Post-Dispatch story. "It's not like it's ready to pop."

Great.

The Cardinals will not actively suck, but their margin for real success is razor thin. It will mostly depend on people like Ian Snell, but the reality of the matter is neither Wainwright or Chris Carpenter are replaceable.

Depressing for fans (and I'm sure no picnic for Waino.)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous.  German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

A Note of Optimism About the Note

 If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...

Blues Beat Bugbear

 The St. Louis Blues have not had many out-of-character results so far this season. For the most part they have been handling the teams they usually handle and doing nothing against the teams that seem to always have their number. There is some solace to be had just knowing that you are going to probably beat Calgary, and will probably lose to Columbus, just as the sun will most likely rise in the East tomorrow. Granted that isn't an ideal set of affairs for a sports team, but Blues fans have learned to take what they can get. Which is why it is fair to say last night's victory over Utah was unusual. The Blues do not play well against that collection of players. Ever. So, any victory would be noteworthy in this matchup, but the resilience they showed last night was an added bonus. The Blues still have crappy puck luck, but last night they didn't let it get them down and, miracle of miracles, the puck luck evened out for the game. For a change the PK wasn't always runnin...