Next Year

"It's never as good as we think it is, and it's never as bad as we think it is." I think that is what we all need to say this morning after getting swept by the Brewers. The Brewers and the Mets are playing the best baseball in the National League right now. Yes it is true that we got swept, but take a closer look:

Game 1 - Pinero vs. McClung. Our starter went 5+ innings, so the bullpen had to come in and work 3+ innings. We led this game going into the 8th & 9th, only to blow the save and lose in extra innings. This was only a sign of things to come in this series.

Game 2 - Lohse was brilliant for the first 6-7 innings. TLR tried to let Lohse go as long as he could, because TLR doesn't trust the bullpen (can't say I blame him). The result was Lohse got into trouble in the 8th, the Brewers tied it, and our bullpen lost another one.

Game 3 - The Cards ran into a great starting pitcher (CC Sabathia) who is pitching as good as anybody in baseball right now. Looper went 5 innings, meaning the bullpen got stretched out and had to work 4 inning. That is bad when you don't trust the bullpen, and TLR doesn't trust the pen as we have mentioned. The pen was decent, giving up one run (Izzy gives up another homer, and that should be mentioned RIGHT HERE I think), but as good as CC was it didn't matter.

Game 4 - The Cards starter went 5 innings, meaning the bullpen had to work 4 innings. TLR doesn't trust the bullpen AT ALL (who can blame him) so he tried to let Springer, McClellan, and Franklin work those 3 inning between the three of them. In those guys defense, they have pitched pretty well in relief most of the year. Springer got through an inning okay, then McClellan got through 1+ inning okay, then Franklin came in to get the last 5 outs.... he got 4 outs before Braun took him deep.

I think there are two important points to make about this series:

#1, our starters not working deeper into games is hurting the bullpen. Three times in this series our starter did not get through 6 innings. I think this is really what kind of starters we have in Pinero, Looper, and Wellemeyer. Those guys aren't going to work 6-8 innings most of the time. This means the bullpen has to work 3-4 innings, and if you have to do that too many nights in a row guys get wore out. I think this is what is happening to McClellan a little bit right now. It is what happened to Perez when he was called up also.

#2, our bullpen isn't very good. There are 3 arms out there that TLR trusts, and I don't think I blame him. The lefties (Villone and Flores) aren't very good, Izzy is washed up, and the rest (Boggs, Parisi, Thompson, Jiminez, or whoever is out there today) doesn't seem to get much of a chance (lack of trust) or doesn't get the job done.

#3, our offense isn't picking up the slack. When your starters can only go 5 innings, and then you know that leads are tough to hold..... it kinda sorta really in a weird almost crazy way makes sense to SCORE SOME RUNS EVERY NOW AND THEN!!! We scored 3, 3, 0, and 3 runs in this series. Let's be very realistic, no bullpen (especially ours) is going to have an ERA of 0.0000000000. Our relievers are coming in under the gun every night because we don't score any runs! It has been well documented that the Cards lead the majors in blown saves, but did you know they also lead the majors in 1 run wins? This means we are continually in close, close, close ball games.

So in summary, fixing one thing is not going to make the Cards a complete team. I think the GM will stand pat, and next year we will be even better. Next year we'll hopefully resign Lohse to go with a healthy Carpenter and Wainwright. Our starting pitching will be better immediately with that trio. Perez should be called up to close, something he has been groomed to do. We'll have money to pick up some extra bullpen help in the offseason, as well as getting guys like Josh Kinney and Tyler Johnson back off the DL. The bullpen will be better. Our offense should get a boost with the arrival of Colby Rasmus, if he is as good as advertised. In addition, we'll have money to go after a middle infield bat.

Cards fans, don't give up on this year. We have a good team, but we have some holes. Most teams do. I do think that if we'll be patient this team still has a shot to contend for the post season this year, and a whole lot more NEXT YEAR.