Past time I started the annual thread.



The story line in the early going this season has been the incredible starting pitching and shoddy bullpen performance.

Motte is not supposed to even throw until May 1st. Until he is back I think it will be touch and go.

The starting pitching has been historically good with every starter looking really good so far this season.

Wainwright, Westbrook, Garcia, Lynn & Miller lead the majors in ERA as a starting staff and are 2nd in quality starts.

Boggs went from one of the best in the national league at taking care of the 8th inning to a basket case as a closer with an ERA over 11 and 2 blown saves. Mujica will probably get a chance this week.

The offense is scoring a lot of runs so far and I would expect that to continue.

Here's the regular lineup:

Jay CF
Carpenter 2B
Holiday LF
Beltran RF
Craig 1B
Molina C
Freese 3B
Kozma SS

Not a lot of holes. Love, love, love Matt Adams to get some more time at first. Great young bat. Descalso and Wigginton along with Shane Robinson provide some nice depth.


It will be a chore to finish in front of the Reds but it's been a nice couple of weeks so far.

Welcome back P.J.

Thank you!

Fun game to watch last night as the hitters teed off in a 10-6 victory. Lance Lynn appears to be the weak link in an otherwise excellent rotation as he has now had two sub par starts.

He barely made it through 5 innings after getting staked to a 10-1 lead.

The Cards are at the mercy of early spring rain.

That was a nice break last night considering the bullpen was about to get abused.

The Cards' offense is currently non-existant.

And now its back.

Boggs blows yet another game for the Cards.

He is now 0-2 with a 12.46 ERA in 8.2 innings of work. Brutal.

Gotta straighten that bullpen.

Hopefully he goes to Kelly for the 7th. He has already settled on Rosenthal for the 8th and Mujica for the 9th.

The defense let down Shelby Miller last night but he still picked up the win. He has looked unbelievable so far this season.

Waino dazzles Nats.

Saw an article that Wacha is 3-0 at AAA Memphis with a 1.96 era. Perhaps he can add some help to the dumpster fire that is the Cards bullpen.

Nats again dazzled by Rosentahl, Mujica, etc.

I can't believe Matt Adams batting avg. Insane 24 AB with 13 Hits. and 3BB in addition. Nice to have on the roster.

What's even crazier is that it's tough to get him at bats in this lineup.

He's been hurt this week with a sore abdominal muscle or something. He should be good to go Friday.

What a road trip! 6-3 with 7 of those games coming against the Phillies and Nationals (who we somehow don't play again until late September).

The only downside was that the game didn't record properly for me yesterday. Just a black screen. Weird.

Adams to the 15 day DL

Anybody know anything about Jermaine Curtis that is replacing Adams?

Never mind. Curtis did not participate in spring training with the parent club. He is a good hitting infielder apparently called up for pinch hitting purposes.

It's a great sign that we're playing .600 baseball with our bullpen in disarray.

Boggs is being sent down to AAA and lefty John Gast will probably get his chance.

A little worried about the lack of offense but the starting pitching still looks amazing.

Article in the Post Dispatch says we are calling up Martinez from AA.

booo

Youngsters Martinez and Maness looked good in relief last night. Motte out for the season with TJ surgery and Chris Carpenter is back from the dead, talking about joining the bullpen in June.

The Cards are presently destroying the Brewers 10-1 but the Cards have 26 LOB (left on base) and Freese is 0 for 6 with 3 K's and 6 LOB.

[This message has been edited by SA Ag (edited 5/5/2013 4:27p).]

Interesting 4 game sweep of the Brewers. Our bullpen suddenly looks ok with the addition of two outstanding young arms.

Hopefully extend the winning streak to 7 tonight against the hapless Cubbies.

Cards rookie Shelby Miller with a 1 hit shutout, 11 Ks going to the 9th. Would be 1st rookie to throw a 1 hit 10+ SO shutout since the Kerry Wood 20 strikeout game.



Boom he gets it done! Only gave up a broken bat leadoff single, 27 in a row after that. 13 strikeouts in 113 pitches.

Shelby Miller: 3rd P age 22 or younger to throw 1-hit shutout with 13+ K, 0 BB in Live-Ball Era.

Other 2: Dwight Gooden and Kerry Wood

Rockies had gone 16 1/3 innings without a hit until Wainwright just gave up his first of the game...impressive, or pathetic, depending on POV.

Rockies offense is legit this year.

Waino with the 2 hit shutout. Amazing, amazing starting pitching this season.

Westbrook to the 15 day dl. Gast will start Tuesday. Carpenter on track to join the pen within a month or so.

Gast did fine in his debut before blowing up for 4 earned runs in the 6th. The Cards were already ahead by 9 before that inning started so no biggee.

On track for 100+ wins.





[This message has been edited by PJYoung (edited 5/15/2013 11:08a).]

What's Freese's current problem beside a hitting slump?

He's a career .295 hitter so I'm not worried yet. I would call it a slow start hampered by time off. He needs more at bats and his first homerun to relieve some pressure.