eKsclusive Klub

What do these 19 players have in common?

Jason Bay
Miguel Cabrera
Tony Clark
J.D. Closser
Morgan Ensberg
Luis Gonzalez (the one on the Rockies)
Troy Glaus
Shawn Green
Andruw Jones
Derrek Lee
Felipe Lopez
Mark Loretta
Xavier Nady
Jorge Piedra
Kelly Stinnett
Cory Sullivan
Mark Sweeney
Luis Terrero
Rickie Weeks

Answer:

These 19 are the only non-pitchers to fan against Jason Marquis in his last 13 starts, dating back to June 15 and covering 77.1 innings. Four of the 19---all of them Diamondbacks (Clark, Glaus, Green and Stinnett)---have had the dubious distinction of striking out twice against Marquis in this period.

Overall, the lack of strikeouts----just 29 over his last 13 starts, during which he is 1-10 and the team is 1-12---has to be one of the most intriguing pieces of of the puzzle in figuring out the great mystery of Marquis.

To be sure, Marquis has had some fine games in this stretch. But the fact that the only three games in which he had more than two strikeouts also happen to be three of his four best starts during the drought makes a case that this is a pitcher who, unlike Mark Mulder, simply cannot forego his Ks and still be effective.

When Mark Mulder is not striking people out, he's inducing grounders with well-located pitches and he's still staying around the strike zone. In Mulder's last 10 starts, he's fanned more than 3 just once, yet he's allowed two or fewer runs 8 times and he's 6-1. Despite his lack of Ks, Mulder is somehow able to pitch out of jams.

With Marquis, it appears to be the exact opposite---when he needs to get an out, it seems as if he simply can't find a way to get it. In last night's game (and granted, when your team scores zero runs you won't get the win, no matter what you do), after allowing singles to the first three hitters, Marquis was a strike away from escaping with just one run scoring, and then he threw a ball, another ball, allowed a foul, then another ball, to lose Doumit and load the bases. The he got two strikes on the next batter, Wigginton--again, one strike away from being out of the inning---before an outside delivery was poked down the line for a triple. Perhaps it was good defensive hitting, maybe just bad luck, but the bottom line was Marquis couldn't put either hitter away and now it was 4-0.

We all know that Marquis receives the worst run support among Cardinal starters, but in Marquis' 12 "non-wins" during the funk, seven times he's allowed at least 5 runs---meaning the Birds would have to score at minimum 6 (and usually many more) runs to win. His inability to avoid baserunners (1.63 WHIP since 6/15) and his lack of strikeouts are a formula for disaster.

I have no idea if the lack of strikeouts are related to Marquis' problems with his "game plan" and, specifically, his sinker, but Dave Duncan has his opinions:

"It was a repeat performance," said Duncan. "When he pitches well, he does certain things. When he pitches bad, he does the same certain things. And they're not the same.

"He goes away from his strength as a pitcher and it doesn't work for him. He's got to build his game around his strengths and complement them with the other stuff that he does. His strength is to throw sinkers in the bottom of the strike zone. He didn't do that today. When he did throw a sinker, it was up way too much of the time.

Maybe, sometimes, you have to bottom out before you can begin on a road to redemption. If that's the case, then I hope that last night was the nadir for Marquis, or else his next start may be his last for some time, and maybe his last as a Cardinal.

LaRussa Goes Crazy, Lets Molina Swing Away

Tony had a fit of temporary insanity and, for the first time in 3 days, allowed Yadier Molina to swing away with a runner on base.

LaRussa's recent pattern of "showing confidence" in Molina by not allowing him to swing the bat with runners on has not gone well, especially in yesterday's game in which Molina popped up into a DP on a suicide squeeze. If LaRussa's intent is to take pressure off the struggling young hitter by allowing him to try and execute a bunt to enhance his self esteem because he has "contributed," then he is, in this unlicensed psychoanalyst's opinion, seriously misguided.

The best thing LaRussa can do to relax Molina is to treat him no differently than any other hitter. Let the pitcher bunt with runners on; Molina, who hits in front of the pitcher, should always be swinging away unless it's a close game late. By treating Molina differently, LaRussa is telling him, "something is wrong," or "I don't hink you can handle the everyday big-league task of hitting." It's one thing if it's a do-or-die situation, say, in the postseason, where maybe you pinch-hit if you have to. We're talking about the 1st inning of a game in April.

The last time LaRussa tried to "protect" a young player by treating him differently than he'd treat a "normal" major league player---when he didn't think Rick Ankiel could handle the press conference before Game 1 of the 2001 NLDS and told the media that, no, Darryl Kile would actually be the starter---that player responded by imploding.

Perhaps Tony should let Molina do what hitters do---hit---and pinch-hit for him or rest him when the situation calls for it, the way he does for every other hitter on the team. By treating Molina as if he needs to be treated differently LaRussa is only drawing attention to the kid and adding to the pressure he must already feel and making him question whether he really belongs.

Oh, and by the way, when Yadier swung away he roped a double to right to drive in Grudz. Gee---maybe Tony knows what he's doing after all.

Staff goes Deep, adds Jarvis

Newest Cardinal Kevin Jarvis gets an opportunity to show that his performance in AAA Memphis so far this year---0.78 era and 20 Ks in 23 innings over four starts---is for real and he has transformed himself from the pitcher who wore out his welcome for four different organizations in 2004 (Padres, Mariners, Rockies, Pirates) into a reliable middle reliever who can be counted on to eat some innings when called upon during one of the team's busiest stretches of the 2005 season.

The righthanded Jarvis (pictured above in an editorial cartoon posted by a Mariners' fan to commemorate his release last May 4) was the last pitcher cut in spring training, losing out to lefty Bill Pulsipher, and accepted an assignment to Memphis, where he's been, apparently, nothing short of dazzling. As the Cardinals are in the early stages of a run of something like 21 straight games without a day off, adding an extra pitcher to the roster to replace the languishing Hector Luna makes sense.

But who exactly are the Cardinals getting here: the crafy veteran who has flummoxed PCL hitters for three weeks, or the guy who pitches like a guy who's compiled a 5.93 career ERA in 750 innings?

Somehow, I have a hard time believing that Kevin Jarvis v.2005 is much different than the pitcher who has been knocked around more over the last 10 years than just about any other pitcher out there. His career ERA+ of just 74 has got to be among the lowest of our era for a pitcher who's survived as long as he has. In fact, the peak of Jarvis's career came in 2000-2002, when he reeled off ERA+'s of 100, 84 and 88, and his next-best season was in 1995, when he had a 5.70 era (ERA+ of 72).

Jarvis has to have one of the highest home run rates of any pitcher ever, assuming a minimum number of innings (say, 500). I don't have career-rate numbers, but Jarvis has averaged 39 homers allowed per 200 innings pitched over his career. Now, in the history of baseball, a pitcher has allowed more than 39 homers in a season 21 times.

Some of his corkers include 1997 (17 homers allowed in 68 innings); 1999 (6 in 14 innings); 2000 (26 in 115 innings, but in his defense that year, half his games were at Coors Field); 2001 (37 in 193.1 innings); and last year (5 homers in 15 innings).

I'm pulling for the 35-year-old to give the Birds some quality innings, but I hope his shiny, small-sample-size AAA numbers don't tempt the Cardinals to use Jarvis in any high-leverage situations until he's proven that he has, indeed, been cured of chronic gopheritis.

Pu's Big Night takes Back Seat to Izzy Owie

Albert Pujols' three-hit, four-RBI night finally gave the Cardinals a .300-hitting starter, but Jason Isringhausen's apparent muscle injury dampened the mood of a 5-3 Redbird win over Milwaukee.

Izzy came on to start the 9th with a two-run lead, and, having just walked pinch-hitter Chris Magruder with one out, Izzy threw a pitch to Brady Clark then collapsed to one knee, gripping his right side above the hip. I'm no doctor, but it looked as if he strained a rib or oblique muscle, and he was removed immediately. The astute TV crew replayed Izzy's pitch previous to the pitch to Clark---the ball four to Magruder---and what had seemed at the time to be a reaction to the walk could now be seen in retrospect as Izzy reacting to a pain in his side. One pitch later and Izzy was clearly hurting after the pitch.

Isringhausen has been stellar in the early going, pitching with a command that Cardinal fans never saw last year. He had control over his slider and he was throwing his devastating curveball for strikes. As we saw with Woody Williams in 2002, an oblique strain takes weeks to recover from, and is aggravated easily if not completely healed, at which point you have to start the recovery all over again.

The bullpen as a unit has pitched well so far, but losing Izzy for several weeks would be a severe blow. I imagine LaRussa would mix and match based on the circumstances of a given situation rather than anoint someone the replacement closer. But LaRussa loves his players to have defined roles so maybe, say, Al Reyes will get to wear the cape.

Prior to Izzy's unfortunate 9th the Wound of the Night belonged to Brewers' first baseman Lyle Overbay, whose malady was described thusly in MLB's Gameday play-by-play:

Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Lyle Overbay left the game due to an injured head.

Overbay made a sensational play on a Rolen foul pop into the stands as he leaned against the tarp rolled up against the stands and extended over the railing to grab the ball, losing his balance as he made the catch, his face and chin coming down directly on top of the eight-inch-high plexiglass atop the wall. As Pujols, who had been on second, alertly tagged and scampered to third, Overbay rolled over onto the grass in foul territory and began to bleed onto the Busch Stadium sod. Overbay had to exit the contest and would require twelve stitches to close the gash on his chin.

Larry Walker reached base five times on two singles, two walks, and a HBP, but on a night in which the Cardinals had a multitude of runners on base (19) but left most of them (14) there, Albert Pujols was the man. Pujols hit three screamers on the night, the first two being doubles that plated the Cardinals first four runs (two in the 1st and two more in the 4th) and the last one a smash to left for a single in the 6th.

In the 4th, Pu also made the defensive play of the game when, as he lumbered in on a Russell Branyan bouncer, the ball suddenly took a hop to Pujols' left. Pujols dove sideways to field the ball, landed belly-first and turned a kind of barrel roll and as he came out of his roll managed to eject the ball on a graceful arc into the outstretched glove of Jeff Suppan covering first a nanosecond (or less) before Branyan's foot hit the bag.

Then Pujols laughed and stuck out his tongue as if to say, yeah, that was ridiculous.

But five innings later the miens were more serious, and now we'll have to cross our fingers and hope that for Izzy it's nothing more than a strain, a few days of rest. But for a team of aging veterans that dodged serious injury throughout the joyride of 2004, the Cardinals lucky run may have given out.

Salvo's Random Redbird Bubblegum Card

Note: I collected thousands of bubblegum cards as a kid in the '70s, and I still have a great many of them, shoved in no particular order into cardboard boxes stacked Jenga-like on an upper shelf in a utility closet. I was never into plastic sleeves and playing the baseball-card futures market, so most of my cards, like the one below, are in a condition best appreciated by someone who actually unwrapped them freshly purchased from Williams Pharmacy thirty-some years ago and then proceeded, over the months and years, to put into and then take out of as many types of order (team, position, alphabetical, numerical, by career numbers, etc.) as can possibly be imagined by a busy young brain. I will periodically and randomly pluck from one of my boxes a bubblegum card---meaning a card that actually came packaged with a stick of gum---of a Cardinal player (star or scrub) and feature it on this site.

This bubblegum card, No. 24 in the 1973 series, features Cardinal righthander Al Santorini, who was coming off a moderately successful 1972 with the Cardinals. Spending much of the season as a fill-in for Scipio Spinks as the No. 4 starter (in the days when teams used 4-man rotations) after Spinks destroyed his knee sliding into Johnny Bench at home plate on the 4th of July, Santorini went 8-11 in 30 games, 19 of them starts. Three of those eight wins were complete-game shutouts, all after August 1, including this 12-strikeout gem against the Mets in his next-to-last start of the season.

Santorini would never again taste such success on the mound, as he started 1973 back in the bullpen and made 6 appearances before being traded to the Royals for swingman Tom Murphy. Still only 24 at the time of the trade, he was assigned to AAA Omaha, and he never again played in the majors.

After a phenomenal high school career in Union, NJ, (29-1 and named to the New Jersey Star-Ledger’s “All Century” NJ High School Baseball Team; he allowed 3 earned runs as a senior with 203 Ks in 103 innings), Santorini was Atlanta’s No. 1 draft pick (No. 11 overall) in the first amateur draft, in 1966. He had instant success as an 18-year-old at Austin (AA Texas League), posting a 1.69 era with 49 Ks in 48 innings. He missed most of 1967 with injuries, working just 16 innings, but was impressive enough in 19 starts at AA Shreveport in 1968 to earn a call-up to the Braves at the end of the season, appearing in one game, taking the loss in a start in which he allowed no earned runs.

The newly formed San Diego Padres selected the live-armed Santorini with their 7th pick in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season, and, just 20 years old at the time, he was inserted into their inaugural starting rotation along with fellow youngsters Clay Kirby (21) and Joe Niekro (24). Santorini got off to a great start, allowing two earned runs or fewer in each of his first eight starts of the season (a Padres record not broken until Jake Peavy ran off 10 to start 2004), earning a 3-2 record to that point. He finished the year with a respectable 3.95 era (vs. league ERA of 3.53) and an 8-14 record, which, incredibly, netted him the distinction of leading the starters in wins (tied with Niekro) and winning percentage (.364) on a staff that lost 110 games.

Santorini regressed in 1970, struggling to a 1-8 record with an ERA above 6 before being demoted to Salt Lake City.

Resurfacing with the Padres in 1971 as a reliever, Santorini was pitching decently, with a 3.76 era and a 2-1 K/BB ratio when the Cardinals acquired him on June 11 in exchange for disappointing prospect Leron Lee (uncle of Cubs’ Derrek Lee) and dimunitive lefty Freddie Norman, who later enjoyed some success as a member of the Big Red Machine in the mid-‘70s. Two weeks before that trade, Santorini was involved in a scheme by Padre manager Preston Gomez in which the righthander was named to start the first game of a doubleheader vs. Houston, prompting the Astros to start a lineup with seven lefties. Santorini retired just one batter before being relieved by lefty Dave Roberts, who would go on to lose 2-1. Santorini then became one of the few liveball-era pitchers to start both ends of a doubleheader when he started the second game, and he gave up 2 earned runs in six innings but took the loss as the Padres got just one single off Larry Dierker. (Anecdote courtesy of baseballlibrary.com)

Santorini remained primarily a reliever and occasional spot starter after the trade to the Cardinals, until his elevation to the rotation in 1972.

I don’t know whether it was injury, ineffectiveness, or lack of opportunity that prevented him from playing in the majors following his May 1973 trade to Kansas City, as the last evidence of him playing that I could find has him at Toledo in 1974.

Santorini is currently the lead pitching instructor at the Jack Cust (Sr.) Baseball Academy in Flemington, NJ.

Cards' Arms open up Central race

The Cardinals led the NL last year in runs (855, 5.27/game,) batting average (.278), slugging (.460) and OPS (.804), often bludgeoning their opponents into submission while winning 105 games and the pennant. Lost amid the thunder was the remarkable performance turned in by the no-star pitching staff that quietly allowed the fewest runs (659, 4.07/game) in all of baseball. So ordinary, seemingly, was the rotation that when the best starter on the team---the unassuming and perfectly pedestrian Chris Carpenter---missed the postseason, no one outside St. Louis seemed to even notice. Yet Carpenter allowed the fourth-fewest baserunners/9 in the league, trailing only such well-known studs as Randy Johnson, Ben Sheets and Jason Schmidt, and bettering Roger Clemens, Carl Zambrano, Roy Oswalt, and every other pitcher in the league.

In 2005 Cardinals pitching continues to fly beneath the radar, but that may not last much longer. While several pre-season analyses pointed to the Cardinals pitching as a potential weak spot (Can Carpenter come back from his nerve problem? Can Matt Morris regain his form after off-season corrective surgery? Can Mark Mulder put his horrendous second half behind him and find the command that made him the All-Star starter last year? Can Jason Marquis show that 2004’s advance wasn’t a fluke, and build on shaky peripheral numbers that suggest he was more lucky than good?) the fact remains that the team was returning five starters who won 15 or more games last year, and every team’s staff has question marks.

But so far in 2005, the pitching---and lately, especially, the starting pitching---has been the major component of the team’s success.

Currently, the Cardinals rank in the top four in the league in team ERA, WHIP, and strikeout-to-walk ratio. Sure, it’s early, but that fact makes these rankings even more impressive, given that the Cardinals gave up 23 runs to Philly in two games---those two games representing 1/8th of the season to date---over the season’s first weekend. Through that first weekend the Cardinals allowed 35 runs in five games. Since then, they’ve allowed 24 runs over 11 games.

The bullpen has done well enough (3.52 era in 2005), but over the current nine-game stretch in which the Cardinals are 8-1 it is the rotation---all five starters---that has carried the team.

Since Mark Mulder’s last ugly outing---a 6-5 loss to the Reds on April 13 that dropped the Cardinals to 3-4---the Cardinals starting pitching has gone through Central Division rivals Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Houston like a hot knife through Benecol, Olestra, Simplesse, and Salatrim.

           G    IP    H   R  ER  BB    K  HR   ERA   W L
Suppan     2  14.2   14   3   2   5    5   0   1.23  1-1
Carpenter  2  15.2   12   3   3   4   11   0   1.72  2-0
Marquis    2  13.2   10   7   6   4   13   1   3.95  2-0
Morris     1   6.0    4   1   1   1    7   1   1.50  1-0
Mulder     2  18.0    7   1   0   3    7   0   0.00  2—0

TOTALS     9  68.0   47  15  12  17   43   2   1.59  8-1

Who knows how long this dominance will last; three of the Cardinals’ recent opponents are the bottom three in the league in runs scored, and they’ve only played 5 games this year against any of the top 10 scoring teams.

Still, given the sluggish performance of the hitters (collective .235 average, no starter at .300, only two above .259), Cardinal fans have to be thrilled by the team’s 11-5 record and the rotation’s role in attaining it.

Once the hitters get going (and we all know they will) this is a team that could very well dominate as they did last year---and the Birds’ already sizable 3-1/2 game lead may never be so small.

Last Night—Cubs 3, Cardinals 1

On a night on which Carlos Zambrano worked quickly and efficiently in mowing down the Cardinals while barely breaking a sweat, on a night on which the Cubs held an 18-7 advantage in baserunners, on a night on which numerous sloppy plays plagued the Cardinals and contributed to all three scoring innings for the Cubs, on a night on which the Cardinals gave almost no signs of being competitive in this first of 19 meetings between the two teams, the Birds still managed to come three feet away from tying the game in the 9th.

But with two outs and Scott Rolen on 2nd, John Mabry's deep fly ball on LaTroy Hawkins' only pitch of the night traveled only 390 feet instead of 393 feet before falling harmlessly into Corey Patterson's glove for the last out of the game.

That the Cardinals were even in a position to tie the game was something of a miracle given how they were dominated all game by Zambrano and threatened by Cub baserunners in every single inning, as well as tormented early by their own defensive ineptitude. But, if I'm remembering what the ESPN announcer said last night, the Cubs were just 4-for-18 with runners in scoring position, and one of those hits was a bunt single by Jerry Hairston that produced no runs.

One of the ESPN talkers mentioned that the Cardinals weren't smart in their approach to Zambrano by not working the counts and making him throw pitches, specifically mentioning an 8-pitch 5th and a 6-pitch 7th. As it was, Zambrano---who so far in his young career appears immune to the effects of high pitch counts---exited with 2 outs in the 9th at 118 pitches, but that was due to a blister. First, I don't know that he couldn't have thrown 140 pitches last night, and second, in the 8-pitch 5th all 8 pitches were strikes, and two of the outs were recorded on 0-2 pitches. It's hard to work the count when the pitcher is throwing strikes.

But one tactic the Cardinals should have employed against Zambrano was to step out during at bats and disrupt Z's rhythym, and maybe even get under the hot-headed Dominican's thin skin. Zambrano works extremely quickly; I was timing him at one point at less than 7 seconds from receiving the ball from the catcher to beginning his next pitch. But pitch after pitch, the Cardinals just stood in the box and waited for the next machine-like delivery.

Still, nothing may have worked on this night, and the Cardinals dodged so many bullets that perhaps they should feel lucky to have lost by just a 3-1 score. The Cubs left 13 runners on base as Suppan was constantly in trouble, and twice hit into double plays. But on three other occasions the Birds muffed potential double-play grounders, and although being charged with just one official error (when Mabry appeared to lose Neifi Perez's soft liner in the lights and the ball bounced out of his glove) the Cardinals executed poorly on several occasions, including two run-scoring hits to left center that Edmonds misplayed and let get past him and roll to the wall, and a poor decision by Einar Diaz on a one-out bunt that resulted in 2 on and 1 out instead of 1 on, 2 out.

As droopy as the Cardinals were all night, there were some bright spots: Albert hit another homer for the Cardinals' only run; Rolen made a superb run-saving play on a shot down the line, and then contributed a rope double to left in the 9th to finally chase Zambrano, even if it was purportedly due to a blister; and Randy Flores was excellent yet again in wriggling out of 2-on, 1-out jam left by Suppan, getting Burnitz on a popup after he flailed twice at sweepers, and then striking out Hairston on a back-door pitch on the outer corner.

For the Cubs, their joy in achieving a victory in Busch has to be tempered by Nomar's groin muscle tear that occurred in the 3rd inning. It was a tough night all around for Nomar, as he struck out with 2 on to end the Cubs 1st; threw the ball into the dugout to allow Mabry to reach in the 2nd; then, milliseconds before his groin exploded in the 3rd, hit a grounder that resulted in an inning-ending DP.

The Cubs prevailed last night with their ace, but things may swing the other way today as Ryan Dempster (5.74 era, 28 baserunners in 15.2 ip) takes the mound against Chris Carpenter, who pitched well his last time out.

How Do They Stay Up?

The Cardinals team is doing its best bumblebee impression: taking a close look at it, you marvel that it can even get off the ground, much less achieve any kind of forward momentum once aloft.

Let’s look at these wonders of science that seem to defy the very principles of sabermetrics in flying off to a first-place position two weeks into the season.

The performance of the Cardinals' stubby little bats, upon inspection, yields few clues as to their role in attaining the team’s 6-4 record.

The team ranks last or next to last in several critical categories:

Runs    Avg.     obp     2b    xbh     bb     sb
 43     .220    .283     11     27     27      2
 15      16       16     16     15     16     15  (league rank, out of 16)

Closer examination, however, reveals how the offense may be more effective than these numbers suggest:

(1) While the team is next-to-last in the NL with 43 runs, they’ve also played the fewest games, so their 4.3 runs per game is actually better than the RPG of five other teams.

(2) Second, they are tied for the NL lead in home runs, so while they’re putting fewer runners on base than any other team, they’re compensating for it by getting more “instant runs” than a team like Houston (.344 obp, 4.0 rpg, but just 8 hr in 11 games).

(3) The Cardinals strike out by far and away the fewest times in the league: only 4.6 strikeouts per game while the rest of the league averages 6.5 per game. Now, we all know that a strikeout is, in most cases, no worse than any other kind of out. Still, things DO happen when you put the ball in play (Exhibit A: Rolen’s catchable---and, apparently, droppable---pop fly yesterday that scored Pujols from first) and for a team that so far has needed some breaks to go their way, more balls in play provide more opportunities for breaks.

(4) The Birds may be hitting just .220 as a team, but they are, like last year, a team that relies disproportionately on a few big offensive guns and can tolerate a black hole here and there. The biggest black hole has been Yadier Molina, who, at 1-for-29 drags the team average down 17 points all by himself. It’s true that no starter is hitting above Albert Pujols’s .275, but the key offensive cogs have been hitting enough (Sanders early, Rolen recently, Pujols always) at the right times.

(5) Timely hitting: The Cardinals have been able to win with a minimum of hits. In their last 4 wins they’ve gotten just 25 hits, including 5 hits three times. Yesterday vs. Milwaukee their 5 hits went like this: 4th inning—Pujols hit, Rolen hit scores Pujols; 6th inning-- Pujols hit, Rolen hit scores Pujols (with some bad defense); 9th inning—Rolen hit (homer) wins game.

All this focus on the offense is, I guess, a little misguided.

The key to the Cardinals 6-4 record has been, of course, the pitching. Their 4.35 era is just 10th best in the NL, but it’s inflated by back-to-back blowout losses to the Phillies in the first weekend. They’ve allowed an average of just 3 runs per game other than that, and each starter except Mulder has looked exceptional at least once. Marquis has looked sharper each time out, culminating in yesterday’s game in which he retired the last 18 Brewers he saw.

The pen has seemed shaky at times (pedestrian 4.13 era), but for the most part has been extremely solid. Izzy was sensational last Wednesday, entering a bases-loaded nobody out jam and getting out of it without a run scoring, and his command of his curve and slider seem better than at any point last year. The pen is striking out better than a batter an inning (Al Reyes and Randy Flores have 16 strikeouts between them in 9.2 ip), and Ray King is unscored upon. Another key for the relievers is that they have allowed just one homer in 28.1 innings.

This team has not played like a first-place team, yet they’re somehow 6-4 and in the catbird seat. No starter above .275? Ten games in and nobody has more than two doubles? Let’s face it, they could just as easily be 3-7 if a few breaks go the other way, but even if that were the case, this team knows that better days are ahead once the bats heat up---and they will heat up. And when they do, it will be like…well, like last year.

Yesterday's Ugliness

When it's 7-1, the other guys, after six, and your team only has two baserunners---none in the past five innings---while the opposition has 15, you get the feeling that there aren't going to be a whole lot of positives that day.

And in fact, when all was said and done, the Birds were pasted by Philly, 10-4, in a snoozer of a game that would have to be examined long and hard to produce any silver linings.

But there were a couple: The National Anthem was performed flawlessly, and at least it was a gorgeous spring afternoon (73 degrees, sunny).

But seriously, from the 6th inning on there were actually some positives. On a day in which Jeff Suppan's pitches, whenever they ventured into the strike zone, were slapped around like Moe, Larry and Curly, the bullpen acquitted itself with a solid effort that was undermined by Einar Diaz's inability to perform the basic duties required of his position.

Cal Eldred made his 2005 debut, brought in during the 5th to stop the bleeding as the Phillies had already scored for the third straight inning to chase Suppan, who allowed 12 baserunners (seven singles, a double, two homers, and two walks) in just four-plus innings. With two on and nobody out, Eldred struck out David Bell swinging, then, after a passed pall (the first of three pitches to elude Diaz) allowed Jim Thome to score, Eldred completed the inning without further effect on the scoreboard.

While Cardinal hitters added to their growing legacy of being completely flummoxed by an unfamiliar young pitcher---this time, the 22-year-old rookie righthander Gavin Floyd---the pen continued to provide relief as Randy Flores folowed Eldred with an impressive performance. Those of you who missed the game and see only Flores's box score line---3 innings, 4 runs---should know that he pitched much better than that and could have finished unscathed with a little better D.

After his first pitch was stroked to left for a single by Jimmy Rollins, Flores struck out Kenny Lofton swinging, then fanned Bobby Abreu on three pitches, the last two swinging. In the space of three batters Flores missed more bats than Suppan had in four innings. Rollins then stole second easily, and on the next pitch Diaz failed to corral a breaking pitch that skipped in front of the plate---his one-handed stab while never releasing from his catcher's squat perhaps having something to do with that. Thome walked on a 3-2 pitch, and then Pat Burrell hit a ball to Eckstein's right that Eck backhanded, dropped, then collected and threw too late to first, for an infield single. While not routine, it's a play that any major league shortstop makes without too much trouble, and even Eckstein would say, I' sure, that he should have made it. Rollins scored, but Flores got David Bell to pop out to end the inning with the Phils up 7-1.

Flores was sharp in a 1-2-3 7th, with two more swinging strikeouts. The 8th began like the sloppy 6th, with Rollins reaching to lead off the inning, this time via a walk, and again Flores retired Lofton and Abreu. Flores then got Thome to flail at a two-strike sweeper that broke down and out, and once again Diaz stabbed at the ball and once again it bounded past him, and the lumbering Thome reached first well ahead of Diaz's desperate heave. The inning that should have ended continued as Pat Burrell, already with three hits, came to the plate, and he unloaded a no-doubter deep into the left field stands for what was suddenly a 10-1 lead.

Still, five strikeouts from Flores in three innings of relief, and a good showing against right-handed bats as well as lefties, has to be encouraging given the question marks surrounding the bullpen after its off-season reconstitution (only three of seven members were regular contributors last year).

The offense picked it up a little bit late in the game, with four of their seven hits and their only walk coming in the last two innings, after Floyd had departed. Diaz made some amends with a single in the 8th and an RBI double in the 9th, and didn't look nearly as helpless at the plate as I imagined he would, although maybe any extra time he's had in the cage would have been more effectively spent boning up on the fundamentals of blocking pitches in the dirt.

The Cardinals haven't looked sharp, really, since the first seven innings of opening day last Tuesday, when Chris Carpenter shackled the Astros and the team hit three homers (just one since). Perhaps Carpenter's second start, today, will reset the course.

Bill Pulsipher Tells His Story

It's a couple days old, but Alan Schwarz's Going Deep column at Baseball America has an illuminating first-person account of Bill Pulsipher's battle with depression and his road back to the big leagues.

I was distraught. I was only 26 but felt like an old man. I used to be so light, so bouncy. Now I felt like I was wearing a wet overcoat all the time. My career was fizzling out, and I knew it. “Be careful what you dream,” I told the press.

They just need a closer named Play

I'm sure others have noted it elsewhere, but scanning the box scores this morning I did a doubletake at the first two names in the Blue Jays pitching lines:

Bush (L, 0-1)..... 5...4...3...3...2...1
League........... 1.1..5...3...2...1...0

View from the Left Coast

Well, Mulder makes his debut in the Cardinals home opener Friday, but what about the guys we traded to get him? How are they doing, and how are they being received by "Athletics Nation"?

Well, Oakland fans got to see (on t.v, at least) Danny Haren and Kiko Calero go against the Orioles in Baltimore tonight. What did they think about their new arms?

Following are posts lifted directly from tonight's game feed on www.athleticsnation.com:

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does Haren...

throw anything other than high fastballs?

by goldenhammer on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 04:33:28 PM PS

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HR aside

Haren looks good. Too many strikes (like a hittable 0-2 pitch to Miggy)--nice problem to have.

by Nico on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 04:40:00 PM PST

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agreed

make the other team work, no free passes.

by pickinmachine on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 04:41:47 PM PST

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Korach [the Baltimore broadcaster--Ed.]

Talking about Haren in Game 1 of the WS.  He was really impressive.

Also funny is Korach saying Kevin Millaaaaah.

by pickinmachine on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 04:53:43 PM PST

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Too many pitches for Haren...

He's already got over 40...

by RickeySteals on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:03:04 PM PST

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26 pitch inning

so far

by alleninsf on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:03:10 PM PST

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another bb

and bases loaded for Haren.

by alleninsf on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:05:38 PM PST

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Haren's suffering from Zito-itis

Too much nibbling, not enough killer instinct.

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:05:50 PM PS

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whew

Way to go Haren

by pickinmachine on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:08:03 PM PST

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Nice pitch by Haren

He's getting into the groove of things.

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:28:03 PM

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Nice inning...

1,2,3 on 9 pitches

by RickeySteals on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:43:35 PM PST

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These two kids are dealing!!!

This could be one of those rivalries that sticks for 10 years!!!

by saint on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:52:14 PM PST

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Haren wishes

He had just a couple of Saarloos' runs from yesterday... :)

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:56:52 PM PST

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Two K's in the inning

I like what I'm seeing now from Haren.

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 05:59:34 PM PST

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Haren!

Good performance.  Kept the O's off the scoreboard for the most part.  Good Job.

by SurfingOC on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:21:40 PM PST

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Haren

Got through that lineup three times, only allowing the one run. Nice work. I assume that's all for him (108 pitches, and I get the feeling the A's plan to be careful with their young starters).

by andeux on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:25:48 PM PST

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Why not?

...we certainly have the bullpen.

Hell of a pitch to Swisher.

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:29:29 PM PST

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I know

what a difference from last yr. knowing Calero is warming up makes me feel comfortable the game's in good hands, now let's hope Rincon gets out of this unscathed...

by alleninsf on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:36:23 PM PST

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Is it just me...

or did Haren look pretty damn good tonight AND Scutaro impress a little bit at SS?

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:28:58 PM PST

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Ugh, Rincon

I'd rather see Cruz or Calero in the tight games.

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:32:56 PM PST

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Haren's line looks pretty awesome...

...and better than Hudson's, I might add.

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:34:13 PM PST

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Three hits...one solo HR...

...against this lineup is pretty damn good. He pitched 6, went through the lineup three times, and other than the 2nd when he loaded the bases, he was pretty much great.

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 06:45:41 PM PST

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There ya' go.

I love me some Kiko.

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:09:30 PM PST

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Hell of a pitch, Kiko.

Excuse me...Kiki (that's what the Baltimore announcers called him at first...did I mention I LOVE THEM?)

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:05:01 PM PST

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Oh yeah, we can most definitely say bullpen!

I hear you there, Christy, what a splendid inning from Kiki.  Last year I probably would have been in throes of a heart attack of sorts (Mecir was the equivalent of a double bacon cheesburger in that regard, he was known to cause angioplasty).  But damn, right now, I have a smile from ear to ear, and looking forward to seeing more of Kiki as the season goes on.

by Wes7 on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:12:26 PM PST

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Calero out for 2 innings

Hopefully they don't ride his arm too much this year.

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:16:53 PM PST

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I think it's clear

Whom Macha/Beane think is the real ace of the bullpen...

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:18:14 PM PST

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Absolutely FROZE B.J.

Lovely pitch, 2 outs.

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:24:28 PM PST

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Ring him up!

A's win!

by andeux on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:25:53 PM PST

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Kiko for Mayor!

Byrnes for President!

by baseballgirl on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:25:55 PM PST

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steeeeeeeeeerike 3

by rauber23 on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:26:05 PM PST

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Haren for Guv'nor!

:)

by OaktownTribesman on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:26:48 PM PST

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nice game

pretty significant outing by haren. He's my game MVP

by gojohn10 on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:26:54 PM PST

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Solid game all around

All things considered, I thought everybody stepped up nicely tonight.  Haren pitched damn well, with six strikeouts to a mere three hits allowed.  He wasn't dominating (he did walk three guys too), but he kept us in it and settled down nicely after the craziness of the second.

Throw in a solid effort from Rincon (not flashy, but not nearly as nauseating as he can be) and a splendid turn from Calero and I have nothing but plaudits for the pitchers.  And to have Byrnes come up big and then Chavvy show his stuff to get an extra run, well it was just a heartening experience all around.

Oh and props to Kotsay for his great catch in the second as well.  I'm sure it helps the young pitchers immensely to know that they have a solid defense backing them up and in Kotsay's case, they have an absolute stud.

by Wes7 on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:32:12 PM PST

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Short-term thought

The guys we got in the Mulder trade looked awfully good.  Haren struggled a bit early but steadied himself.  Calero was very solid.

by bear88 on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:33:07 PM PST

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yep

This trade is paying off quite early.

by Sharon on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:48:43 PM PST

Birds 7, 'Stros 3---Back in 1st!

The Cardinals waited a long time to snap their 4-game losing streak---5 months and some change---but they did it in convincing fashion, whipping the Astros 7-3 despite some shaky bullpen work by the four relievers charged with getting the final six outs.

The single greatest key to the victory was the work of starter Chris Carpenter, who allowed only four baserunners over seven sharp innings, exiting with a 7-1 lead after an economical 97 pitches. But it was Jim Edmonds who set the tone in the top of the first, wasting no time in continuing his 5-year assault on Houston pitching with yet another of his patented off-balance, awkward, lunging, opposite-field home runs, good for a first-inning 3-run lead.

A critical component of the game was the inscrutable work of home plate ump Ed Montague, whose tiny early strike zone affected both Carpenter and Astro starter Roy Oswalt---especially Oswalt, who huffed and sputtered as Montague glared back during one sequence---and whose expanded late strike zone bailed out Julian Tavarez with the Astros threatening.

The final score could have been very different had a couple of calls broken Houston’s way. Edmonds’ 3-run ding came on a two-out 3-2 pitch, and all three balls---especially ball two---were close enough that Oswalt was visibly chafed that he didn’t get at least one of them. After fouling off the first 3-2 offering, Edmonds tracked a pitch heading for the outer corner and, just before the ball got to Ausmus’s mitt, got the bat head down and out and drove the ball on a line just over the left-field wall.

Just like that, the Birds were up 3-0, and after Grudzielanek grounded to second in his Cardinal debut, Carpenter took the mound and pitched as if he had never suffered the nerve weirdness that derailed his season last September.

Carpenter was masterful, around the plate all night, throwing enough strikes to keep the Astros aggressive yet missing just low or just away often enough to keep them off balance. The Astros gave him trouble in only one inning, the 3rd, when they scored a run on a two-out Craig Biggio single. That was the only inning out of seven in which Carpenter threw more than 15 pitches, and after the Biggio RBI, he retired the last 13 Astros he faced.

Meanwhile, Oswalt settled into a groove after the Edmonds home run, allowing just one other hit afterwards through the 5th. But unfortunately for Oswalt, he has no Scott Rolen manning 3rd base behind him, and that hurt as the first two batters in the 6th reached base---Pujols a single and Rolen a double---on hits off Morgan Ensberg’s glove. The Cardinals took advantage with an Edmonds sac fly and then, to mushroom the lead to 6-1, another opposite field jack---this time by Reggie Sanders, who had himself a nice little night with the homer, a walk, and two other at-bats in which he didn’t offer at anything outside the strike zone.

The Cardinals seemed to be on cruise control as they turrned to the bullpen in the 8th with a 7-1 lead. Al Reyes came in throwing darts, getting two quick outs and then going to a 1-2 count on pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro. O-Pa, as Cards fans remember, can take an outside pitch the other way or, as he did here, turn on a hanger and pull it into the corner for extra bases. A walk on a 3-2 pitch to Adam Everett followed, and Biggio’s two-run double chased Reyes and brought in Wildman Tavarez.

After a first-pitch strike to Jeff Bagwell, Tavarez alternated between rubbing the top of his head and throwing pitches out of the strike zone---four of them, none particularly close. All of a sudden the tying run was on deck, and what had been almost a laffer began to induce a little squirming. Tavarez, now rubbing his head furiously after each delivery, ran the count to 3-1 on Morgan Ensberg---just one ball from the facing the tying run---then threw two questionable strikes that Ensberg watched go by. What had been a breadbox of a strike zone most of the game suddenly became a beanbag chair, amorphous and ever-shifting. But the Cardinals weren't complaining, and the Astros threat was extinguished. At least until the 9th.

More Astro baserunners ensued in the 9th, but Izzy came in with two outs to spell Ray King and showed that all those hits and walks and runs allowed in spring training don’t mean a thing once the real games start. Sure, he walked the first batter he saw (to load the bases), but Izzy is always doing that. It’s the second batter that matters, and Izzy got a first-pitch ground out to seal the deal.

We’ll take it!!!

Won't see it in the box score: Larry Walker's hustle on Rolen's 2-out grounder to deep short in the 1st inning extended the inning when Everett's peg to second failed to nail Walker, who had singled earlier. Edmonds followed with his 3-run poke.

The Meat: Walker/Pujols/Rolen/Edmonds combined to go 8-for-17 with 6 runs and 5 rbi.

The New Guys: David Eckstein outplayed the stumbling Edgar Renteria (couple ugly games for Edgar so far) with a solid single in an at-bat in which he took three straight balls, then two straight strikes, before lining a single to center. Eck also started a 6-4-3 double play and had only one play all night in which he had to throw to first---and the ball made it all the way, on the fly. Mark Grudzielanek was also solid afield and chipped in with a single.

Ground Swell: In one stretch from the 1st to the 6th, Chris Carpenter recorded 15 of 16 outs either by grounder or by strikeout.

Welcome to the Birdwatch

birdwatch (v) - To watch and study birds in their natural habitat

By birds, we mean redbirds, or Cardinals, and of course by natural habitat, we mean a baseball diamond. More specifically, we are a group of Cardinal fans who love to watch the games, analyze the moves and the stats, and just plain love the game. We've all been faithful readers of other Cardinals blogs, and some of us have even written for them, but now we're combining our efforts to maximize the value for you, the reader. So welcome fellow birdwatchers. We hope to be your guides through the ups and downs of the baseball season (and off-season). Enjoy the ride.