I find it hard to believe that the cardinal clubhouse still trusts Izzy. How many times is he going to struggle before they finally use another stategy. If the man can't throw a strike, then the man should not be trusted with a one or two run lead. Not once this year have I seen him dominate. The only reason he has a decent ERA is because he closes and teams can't score anymore runs because the game is over. I understand that using someone else might take them out of their comfort zone becuase they are not a closer. Looper or Sosa won't walk people like Izzy and they certainly won't give up the winning homerun.

Wow! Just, wow! 2BB's, 1HBP and the bases are loaded just like that. That is horrible, horrible pitching. Tony needs to take the closing role away from him now so he has time for somebody else to work those situations before post-season. I guarantee Izzy would make the post-season short and not at all sweet. My guess is that Tony gives him one more chance. I won't watch it.

How bad was Izzy's implosion today? The Post-Dispatch online forums have crashed and the word is that the servers were overloaded with Izzy posts. They've attempted twice to reset the servers and each time they've crashed because readers are THAT pissed off.

I guess closing down CT is the silver lining.

B-rad, that's a good point about closer ERA. When he's awful, there's a limit to how much of a beating he can take.

I'm pissed like everyone else, but the bigger thing to me is when TLR will waver. He let Fassero pitch all the way to the loss that clinched the Cardinals' elimination in 2003. He'll let Isringhausen go to the end of the season, assuming Izzy doesn't go to the DL. Really, what will it take?

I hate to sound like an Izzy defender, but it could be a lot worse (Lidge, Turnbow, Guardado in Seattle, Cordero in Texas, Coffey, Benitez). Nothing's going to change this season, so we might as well deal with it.

I don't want to panic prematurely (then again, why not panic early and avoid the rush?), but lately if Izzy comes into a game with less than a 5 run lead I get a deep sinking feeling in my gut....

Izzy should not be allowed to pitch in a game without a 6 run lead.

I think it's weird that so many teams/managers/people are stuck on the notion that we need one closer. I know there's a big mental factor to being a closer, but I think that pitchers can get over it. There's got to be nothing worse than being caught in a closer role and knowing you don't have it. I know some teams use closer by committee, but unless you have a clearly dominating closer, why not just let whoever's throwing well close down the game?

Why not let Looper pitch the 9th? I think LaRussa severely over-manages the bullpen. Unless the situation is super critical and a specialist in the bullpen fits the need, I just think it makes more sense to let whoever's throwing the ball well to stay on the mound. He used like 4 pitchers to get through 2.1 innings. But then once Izzy comes in, it's like Larussa's brain shuts down, izzy's our "closer". Frustrating.

Supposedly, LaRussa gets much out of his bullpen because of the fact that each guy has a "role" that they get comfortable with. I don't know how much truth there is in that, but it seems there is *some*.

I've joked that Izzy is actually his first name, and that his last name is Gonnablowit.

Turns out Izzy is his middle name... and his first name is Howe.