If you follow the St. Louis Cardinals or are an baseball fan in general, you may have noticed that Kyle Lohse has gotten off to a great start this season.
After surgery on his right forearm in May 2010 for exertional compartment syndrome, Lohse has taken the slow path of rehab and regained the form that led to him finishing the 2008 season with a 15-6 record and a four-year, $40 million deal with the Cardinals.
Lohse has made five starts for St. Louis thus far in 2011 and he’s been one baseball’s best pitchers, compiling a 4-1 record with a 1.64 ERA and 0.76 WHIP.
In 38 1-3 innings of work, Lohse has given up seven runs on 23 hits, struck out 24, walked five and already has a complete game shutout under his belt.
On Wednesday night in Houston Lohse was masterful, pitching seven shutout innings while allowing the Astros only four hits. As the Cardinals built a 6-0 lead going into the eighth, manager Tony La Russa pulled Lohse and turned the game over to the bullpen.
That’s when things started to go badly for the Cards. In first was Ryan Franklin, who last week lost his closer job because of his abysmal performance thus far.
Franklin’s woes were on full display in the eighth, throwing a total of three pitches and allowing two hits that lead to two runs. La Russa pulled Franklin after those three pitches and brought in lefty Trevor Miller, who proceeded to walk Michael Bourn on six pitches.
Miller was pulled following the walk and La Russa brought in Fernando Salas, who gave up two hits on 22 pitches to get out of the inning. By the time the eighth was done, St. Louis relievers had thrown 33 pitches, giving up three runs on four hits, with one walk and one strikeout.
With the Cardinals leading 6-3 in the ninth, Eduardo Sanchez was given the job to close things out for St. Louis. He ultimately got the save, but not before surrendering two runs and three hits, making what should have been an easy win into a nail biter.
Lohse threw 97 pitches in his seven shutout innings while four Cardinals’ relievers threw 63 pitches to record six outs. That statistic sums up the Redbirds bullpen situation in general.
Part of the problem is La Russa’s propensity to pull his starters even when they’re pitching well. He and pitching coach Dave Duncan believe in keeping their starters fresh for late season games, but with Lohse pitching so well he could have given the Cardinals one more inning against the Astros.
La Russa is the only manager in baseball that can go through his entire bullpen in 10 minutes, and on Wednesday he almost did so because of necessity.
But one thing that can’t be blamed on the Cardinals manager is how his relief pitchers perform once they’re in the game.
At the end of the day, the relievers have to come in and close the door, but so far this season the Cards’ bullpen has blown five saves and made other games closer than they needed to be. Five blown saves in 24 games doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the season.
St. Louis has little margin for error this season and can’t give away wins, but having already lost five games they should have won tells us the Cardinals bullpen isn’t up to the task.
The Redbirds have an American League style team this season, harkening back to the days when La Russa was managing in Oakland. They can hit for power, but they don’t have any speed and their defense is below average.
Unlike those A’s teams La Russa managed in the early 1990′s, this National League team can’t win by outscoring their opponents every night. Everyone knows that pitching and defense wins games in baseball, especially in the senior circuit because the pitcher has to bat.
So if the Cardinals are going to have any chance of winning the NL Central or the Wildcard, they’d better figure out a way to get their bullpen settled, and they better do it fast before they literally throw away their season.
