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Pujols, Carpenter Hurting; Cardinals Fading

Published by MoonDog on August 14, 2008

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As if the St. Louis Cardinals needed to add more names to an already lengthy list of players spending time on the disabled list, Chris Carpenter will miss his next scheduled start Friday after an MRI exam showed a muscle strain in the back of his pitching shoulder.

Carpenter was examined Tuesday in St. Louis and will rejoin the team in Florida, where he will receive treatment from the Cards’ medical staff.

Carpenter was injured in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 6-2 loss at the Chicago Cubs, his third start since completing a rehab assignment.

Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said Carpenter’s replacement would come out of the bullpen, according to multiple media reports. Duncan mentioned Brad Thompson and Jaime Garcia as options.

Thompson has made 19 appearances this season, three of which were starts, and is 4-2 with a 4.34 ERA. Garcia, meanwhile, has made six appearance with one start. He is 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA.

Late Tuesday ESPN’s Peter Gammons reported that All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols’ injured elbow is bothering him again. Not that this comes as a shock considering Pujols has been playing with a partial tear in the elbow since 2003.

Pujols is hitting .345, with 24 HRs and 75 RBIs in 108 games and has indicated he will remain with the team until the end of the season.

Eventually, Pujols is going to need surgery to repair the tear, but no timetable has been set. Some suggested he should have undergone the procedure prior to this season. The Cardinals weren’t expected to do much this year but have remained in contention for the NL Wild Card.

The biggest problem the Cardinals are facing is keeping Pujols in the lineup may potentially cause more damage to the elbow. But the organization has known that since the injury was first reported and Pujols, being the consummate team player, would never allow his injury to serve as an excuse.

What’s really scary is how well he’s played this year, and every year since injuring the elbow. Think how good he could be if the elbow were healthy. Pujols has incredibly high expectations placed on him because of his clutch hitting early in his career. You can’t help but wonder when he pops up or strikes out with men on base if the elbow problem is the real cause.

While the Cardinals have outperformed expectations this year, they are beginning to fade as we enter the last six weeks of the season. The shaky starting pitching and the terrible bullpen performance has prevented the Cards’ from winning games throughout the season.

Those losses that came as a result of the bullpen’s 27 blown saves has begun to take its toll, falling seven games behind the Cubs in the NL Central and four games back of the Brewers in the NL Wild Card race.

The possibility exists that Pujols could go on playing indefinitely but clearly that isn’t going to solve the problem. Even if Pujols shuts it down this season and opts for immediate surgery, its a strong possibility he would miss the entire 2009 season.

The Cardinals chances of contending next year would almost be nil without Pujols in the lineup, unless the team made a huge commitment to sign some players that could produce the results to offset the loss of his production.

Ultimately its Pujols’ decision to make, but he’ll never undergo the surgery unless the injured elbow worsens to the point where he can’t swing a bat. However, taking into account he’s only 28 years old and has at least another seven years of serviceable play left in him, now might be the time for him to have the surgery.

I just want to see Pujols healthy, with the ability to swing the bat the way he is capable of doing. Not because of selfish reasons, but because he is truly one of the most dynamic players in baseball. A season without Pujols is one year fans will be unable to watch a future Hall of Fame player.

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