Disjointed

The Cardinals’ $63.5 million ace is having some elbow problems:

Cardinals staff ace Chris Carpenter was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday after an MRI exam in St. Louis revealed arthritis and a previously undiscovered impingement in his right elbow.

Ouch. That doesn’t bode well for the team’s immediate future. We may be looking at a month’s worth of starts from Carl Showalter doppelganger Randy Keisler.

But what about the long-term prognosis? Curiosity got the better of me, so I asked an expert, which of course means Google. You can learn a lot from our Google overlords. For example:

The elbow is a complex joint consisting of 3 true joints that function as 1 joint.

I did not know that. But what I do know is that the human body is not built to throw a 5-ounce sphere 100 or more times during the course of two to three hours once every five days. The above-referenced article confirms that:

Activity involving forceful elbow extension can cause triceps tendinosis or posterior impingement syndrome. Any activity that causes increased valgus stress on the elbow can cause ulnar nerve injury, posterior impingement syndrome, or olecranon stress fractures. These injuries are common in throwing sports and overhead racquet sports.

Bingo. Posterior impingement syndrome. Which actually sounds vaguely dirty. So what is Carp looking at? Looks like rest and some Aleve:

Rest does not mean cessation of activity, which can lead to deconditioning, but rather modified activity, which does not aggravate the injury. … Medications used include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and, very rarely, corticosteroids.

The article doesn’t give any sort of concrete timetable for return but says the outlook is good as long as he isn’t rushed back.

Prognosis of most overuse injuries is very good, as long as a thorough rehabilitation program is completed.

Sounds good. Oh, what the hell… I’ll bust out the old sign. It worked well enough last year.

Just give me a sign

Indeed it was. Eight innings of shutout ball, and he didn’t need to cheat to do it.

Two more wins, people. We can do this.

Maine source

In the biggest game of his life, Mets starter John Maine delivered.

After a shaky first inning in which he allowed two hits and hit a batter to load the bases, Maine did to the Cardinals what Chuck D does to corny MCs: He shut ‘em down. Typing this in the bottom of the eighth, you have to figure that he’d be the player of the game. (update 10:16 p.m.: Yup.)

At least the Cardinals made it interesting in the ninth. So Taguchi, you rascal, you.

Other pointed observations:

• Maine’s Cardinals counterpart, Chris Carpenter, had a good outing, at least statistically speaking: Two runs on seven hits in six innings pitched with four strikeouts on only 76 pitches. But watching him pitch, he didn’t look like he was comfortable on the mound. He also didn’t seem to have brought his Uncle Charlie with him. Perhaps it was part of the game plan, but during the first two innings, Carpenter threw what seemed like 95 percent fastballs. After getting Carlos Delgado to fly out in the first inning on his first curveball (his 11th pitch), he threw it only sporadically until the sixth, when it seemed he had gotten the handle on it. By then, it was too late.
• The bottom of the seventh turned out to be the defining inning. After Michael Tucker singled with two outs, it seemed fairly obvious that he was going to attempt a steal. A pitchout was called, but Yadier Molina airmailed the throw. David Eckstein’s diving play to keep Jose Reyes’ single in the infield temporarily saved a run, but inexplicably (at least to me), no one covered when Reyes took off for second. Why would you let another potential insurance runner get into scoring position like that?
• Speaking of Molina airmailing throws, Reyes’ first stolen base attempt provided a bit of levity in the third inning. Molina’s throw was high and got by Belliard, who ended up falling on top of Reyes. Replays showed that Belliard purposely landed on Reyes to keep him from advancing to third. No one in the Fox booth mentioned it, but it was as obvious as it was comical.
• Albert Pujols fell into his old habit of chasing offspeed stuff low and away, striking out on such a pitch in the fifth. He did manage a single on another such a pitch in the eighth. The first couple seasons of his career, offspeed stuff low and away was the lone hole in his swing, one that he eventually learned to close. But when he’s swinging at that stuff now, you know he’s pressing.
• Scott Rolen may be on a game-to-game basis when it comes to starting. After leaving the bases loaded in the first and grounding into a double play to end the sixth, his double in the ninth may have bought him one more start. He looks helpless when swinging at anything above the knees. I’d hate to see him become a really expensive defensive replacement.
• Willie Randolph opting to use Guillermo Mota instead of Pedro Feliciano to face a pinch-hitting Chris Duncan in the seventh seemed to be a TLR-esque calculated risk. After Duncan was the top of the order in Eckstein, Scott Spiezio (who sports a .251/.363/.555 line vs. RHP) and Pujols. Had Duncan gotten on, Mota still would have had more or less favorable matchups, which were rendered moot when Duncan grounded into a double play.

And finally, it seemed like the fans at Shea Stadium came correct, in full effect with all their hoes in check. On virtually every two-strike count, no matter how many outs, no matter the inning, they were on their feet screaming.

That said, there also was a very vocal and very stupid contingent of fans in attendance. The first six batters that came to the plate in the bottom of the first were met with mad boos. I can understand booing Pujols, and Eckstein might be marginally booable, too, but why Juan Encarnacion and Rolen too? Those guys have done jack squat this series. It seemed like a subset of fans felt the need to uphold the stereotype of jerkweed New York sports fans. In one of the few non-game camera shots that didn’t show Jose Reyes in the dugout, I caught a glimpse of one fan’s T-shirt, which read: “Cardinals fans take it in the Pujols.” Gee, I’d never heard that one before… you come up with that on your own, chief?

Whatever. All that matters is that we didn’t close out the NLCS early. Thursday we face Darren Oliver Perez. Let’s go get ‘em, boys.

Completion percentage

Nice work Tuesday night by Chris Carpenter, mowing down 13 Pirates (Pittsburgh batters, not actual pirates) to set a career high.

After he was pulled, a nice little debate start started on Viva El Birdos’ Game 63 thread about whether Carp should have been allowed to finish, especially since he’d fanned 13 in seven innings.

A few commenters disagreed with Tony La Russa’s decision to pull Carpenter after seven innings and (perhaps more importantly) 111 pitches.

I happened to disagree with those commenters. After 111 pitches, it’s time to hit the showers and leave it up to the relief corps, especially with a two-run lead. No sense in pushing for a complete game on a tired arm in June against a last-place team when you have several fresh arms in the bullpen. It’s what they’re there for, right? And in Carpenter’s case, he was making only his second start since coming off the disabled list and was well past his 94ish-pitch average. Why push him (or why allow him) to try to attain a meaningless statistical achievement?

(For an extensive study of pitch counts and their relation to pitchers’ health, see Baseball Prospectus’ essays here and here. Hat tip to mikedallas23 for passing those along.)

And really, what purpose does a complete game serve? It doesn’t count any more in the standings than an “incomplete” game. I can accept the whole “give your bullpen the day off” argument, but that point is moot because of Monday’s day off. Everyone’s ready to go.

I think that the only value complete games have is for fantasy geeks (to whose ranks I belong) and to give old guys something to complain about.

A good sign

As we all know, Chris Carpenter’s back is bothering him a bit. He’s got what now is being called an inflamed bursa sac. In addition to the whole of Cardinal Nation, we also have this guy pulling for him:

Indeed. But if you need to, Chris, you can take your time. Tony Reyes is probably foaming at the mouth to get another big-club start.

And I must tip my Cardinals hat to churchsigngenerator.com (by way of Cardinals Diaspora and McCovey Chronicles) for the art. I hope to make such pictures a staple in the future.

The people’s business

I know someone has mentioned this already, but I’m too lazyslashdrunk to go back to find out.

As you may have heard, the U.S House of Representatives on Thursday, May 4, passed House Resolution 626 and H.R. 627. How exciting, you think.

Well, these resolutions honored our very own Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter for general baseball asskickery. And something about MVP and Cy Young awards.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank makes a fair comparison of this Congress and the famed 1947-48 “Do-Nothing Congress.”

Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) pointed out that lawmakers were missing the groundbreaking ceremony for the Nationals’ new ballpark. “Some of us have passed up the opportunity to be there to conduct the people’s business,” he said.

Now, I’m all for cutting government waste, but we’re talking about Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter here. I’m liberal like that.

(Hat tip to Reid for the link)