Comments on: Cardinals to use Chris Carpenter on short rest in Game 2

By: mojosmagic

mojosmagic — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:10:17 +0000

Now that Tony is headed to Chicago might as well ruin Carpenter’s surgically repaired arm for his minuscule chance at personal glory.

By: mojosmagic

mojosmagic — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:06:51 +0000

I wouldn’t be shocked to see Garcia out of the bullpen. Bottom line is the Phils are a better team and if they play like it the Cards are toast.

By: cleverbob

cleverbob — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:45:31 +0000

You can change it so that videos are muted in your preferences.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:54:40 +0000

Yep, it would.

You guys know I am no LaRussa fan…but this is almost a no-win situation. If Garcia starts game 1 and sucks, it seems like a bad decision. If Lohse starts any game and sucks….it seems like a bad decision. If Carpenter struggles on short rest…it seems like a bad decision. In other words, if any of the pitchers don’t step up…there is a built in second guess….and if Lohse and Carpenter lose games 1&2 and it is all on Garcia in game 3…..well.

LaRussa doesn’t really have any perfect options…hopefully, it’ll work out.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:26:05 +0000

Of course it does. Very good point. But wouldn’t it be prudent to go ahead and prepare for it?

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:17:35 +0000

Kind of depends on what happens in game 1…..doesn’t it?

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:16:23 +0000

Much of Garcia’s home-road splits this year are from him getting blown up at Coors: 12 runs (11 earned) in 3.1 inn….removing that performance lowers his road ERA nearly a run.

By: badmamainphilliesjamas

badmamainphilliesjamas — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:41:34 +0000

Agreed. Even with the injection, will probably need to pinch run for Gload, and maybe even for Howard late in the game.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:38:12 +0000

If you are St. Louis and you gotta’ have a split…whould you choose a 2nd Year starter who continually struggles on the road or your Ace (short rest or not)? This also give Carp normal rest for Game #5. Unfortunately, St. Louis doesn’t have Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Warren Sphan, Greg Maddox & Walter Johnson like you guys. As a result, these decisions have to be made.

By: okwhitefalcon

okwhitefalcon — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:10:01 +0000

Not surprised at all, gotta get 1 in Philly and Garcia is so much better in STL.

Jaime absolutely stunk in his last outing in Houston as well, not sure how well he’d respond to any early adversity either..

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:36:26 +0000

Yep…not to mention there was virtually no one left in the bullpen at that point. I mean…Motte was probably available. But when you pitch your #4 (Edwin Jackson) in relief two games prior that pretty much tells you where the bullpen is. The bullpen got some much needed rest with Carp pitching a complete game.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:33:57 +0000

Perhaps I am confused by the “Starts” modification. He could well have pitched on shorter rest in relief, and maybe that is what I remember. But then all the women I used to date were knockouts.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:30:55 +0000

Actually, I would have been in favor of an early exit for Carpenter, but with the number of devastating losses the Cards have suffered late in games, it was probably prudent to let Carp finish, it was only 106 pitches, gain some more confidence and assure themselves of a play-off berth.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:29:37 +0000

I would have taken Orr over Martinez. I realize that if either have to see significant action then something went horribly wrong, so they will probably be limited to pinch running duties. Orr is simply faster and a better base runner.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:27:15 +0000

I don’t see how it matters all that much since the pitchers of the Phillies have a tendency to be very equal in terms of quality. I wouldn’t use a guy on short rest in a 5 game series unless it’s the tie breaker and he dominated the hitting of the Phills. It sounds like TLR isn’t sleeping much. “The Grudge” is after him…..

By: badmamainphilliesjamas

badmamainphilliesjamas — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:17:59 +0000

Roster posted . . . Blanton in, Herndon out
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Roster-officially-set-Gload-update.html

By: hansob

hansob — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:16:18 +0000

It’s funny. I was going to post how they should have pulled Carpenter earlier (say after 7 innings), since they had a 7-0, 8th inning, insurmountable lead, but then I realized the unintentional humor.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:11:11 +0000

Good point Hooligan. Carp pitching on normal rest for Game #5 is an added bonus. But more than anything…the Cardinals need a split in Philly so they are going with the Pitcher who best gives them the opportunity.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:08:48 +0000

This is really the only choice to make. I called it out on one of the other HBT threads and a Cardinals thread yesterday. Pretty simple…we need a split in Philly. Jaime (despite his pitching really well in Philly)…has splits that are atrocious. He is lights out at home but struggles mightily on the road. Do you want a 2nd Year Pitcher pitching game #2 of the Playoffs on the road with his kind of Home/Road splits? Again…the Cardinals need a split in Philadelphia. As a result…
Game #1 = Lohse
Game #2 = Carp (on short rest)
Game #3 = Jaime (where he is comfortable)
Game #4 = Jackson
Game #5 = Bob Gibson

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:07:12 +0000

Yep. The Phillies have never hit Garcia. Not once. The less they see of him the better.

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:05:56 +0000

Carpenter can pitch game 5 on normal rest if he pitches game 2.

As a Phillies’ fan, I’m cool with that. Garcia throws the kind of frustrating slop that confounds the Phillies. I’d rather have them face Carpenter, even though he is the better pitcher.

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:03:51 +0000

mega. not meg. although I’m sure there’s some witch named Meg behind all this.

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:02:56 +0000

I’m so done with Philly.com. It started with their stupid video that came on, with audio, every time you went to a link. Then they added the meg popover ad. Then they moved the video ad to some place down the page where you have to seek it out to turn it off. I hear their next step is to have a little guy pop out of the pc and take a dump on your carpet.

I’ve had more positive experiences with websites that installed viruses on my computer.

By: ncphilliesguy

ncphilliesguy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:01:38 +0000

Why wouldn’t LaRussa pitch Garcia in game 2 and then have Carpenter on full rest in game 3? I guess he wants Garcia to pitch at home, but it seems kind of nuts to me. Garcia has pitched well against the Phils. I really don’t like LaRussa, he’s like Andy Reid, he always has to feel like he is the smartest guy in the room. Maybe he will change the rotation again.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:58:05 +0000

According to baseball reference he is indeed correct.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=carpech01&year=Career&t=p

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:55:08 +0000

Maybe Starks is correct, but I would bet against it.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:53:49 +0000

I believe that is the point.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:51:26 +0000

This was actually pretty funny…Phillies beat writer David Murphy obviously spent quite a bit of time researching and writing an article attempting to explain TLR’s initial pitching rotation then going on to say that he was wrong. Well written piece. I will link it at the bottom. 20 minutes after it was posted, LaRussa changed the rotation. Which prompted Murphy to tweet something like the following: Series hasn’t even started and LaRussa is making my life hell with pitching changes

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies/What-Tony-La-Russa-is-thinking-and-why-he-is-wrong.html