Friday, July 22, 2011

Reality

Because the Cardinals refuse to do anything to improve the pitching on the major league ballclub the pitchers we do have are being used, well, incorrectly. Take Chris Carpenter. I love Carp. He has pitched his heart out for this team, but there is no denying it any longer: At this point in his career he is no longer a top of the rotation guy. He is a solid number three, but La Russa treats him like he is a number one. As a result he is left in the game routinely longer than he ought to left. The results are sadly predictable as he pitches well for five innings or so then goes out into a sixth or seventh inning and gets bombed.

Of course it doesn't help that the Cards refuse to get an established arm for the bullpen either. You can understand why La Russa might hope to sneak another inning or two out of Carp given the unsteady work by the guys we've got.

How many leads do we have to lose before we try a different approach?