We have a program that takes control of your computer so that you can type out your final exams without cheating. Well, it was 2-1 on GameCast when I software took control of my computer. I walked out of my final and looked up the score. 11-5.

So much for my optimism about Izzy. It was clearly misplaced. A DL stint? DFA-ing him? It’s sad that the core of our squad-Jimmy, Rolen, Izzy-has deteriorated right before our eyes. It’s tough to watch.

Let the Chris Perez era begin.

As an aside, are the “Colonel” t-shirts on order?

It just keeps getting better and better. Lohse is hurting.

Lohse skipped his usual between-starts bullpen session on Thursday, a result of some shoulder soreness that has plagued him for a couple of weeks. He still intends to make his next start, but the Cardinals are preparing for the alternate possibility by not using rookie Mike Parisi. If Lohse can’t go, Parisi will get the start.

Shoulder soreness plaguing him for two weeks, yet we grind him out. Granted, it doesn’t discuss the severity of the shoulder soreness, but isn’t this a disturbing pattern? I suppose this helps explain his ineffectiveness. But, if LaDunc knew of his soreness, why trot Lohse out there to get whacked around after demonstrating that his injury is enough to limit his effectiveness?

Sorry to double-up on the opening comments and also sorry if this has already been addressed.

I am certainly not a drinker of the Dave Duncan Kool-aid, but I am having a hard time not attributing the success of Welley to the influence of Duncan.

Just because Todd doesn’t follow the usual pattern of DD reclamation projects does not necessarily mean Duncan didn’t equip him for the success he is currently having. Does Wainwright follow the Duncan mold exactly, or did Carpenter? I don’t think they did, yet both of them are effective and part of that can be attributed to Duncan.

I guess ultimately we don’t know because there is no objective way to see what turned Todd around. It just seems to me that the pitching coach would have SOMETHING to do with any pitcher turning it around.

to hear Jon Miller say ‘on the hill here in the ninth, Cards new closer Chris Pay-rez’.

1 – throw first pitch strikes
2 – throw strikes also on the inside
3 – throw the ball down
4 – pitch to contact and let your defense take care of that, to keep the pitch count down.

This fits very well with groundball inducing pitches, like the 2seamer, but can work also with different pitches, as long as you’re not giving HRs away.

With Wellmeyer I believe that the real difference is the game plan, that let him tap the stuff he has effectively.

GO CARDS!!!

I still love Jimmy baseball and I expected him to be nice with Z, but a hug with Zambrano? Is nothing sacred?

That 2004 two-game series in July has to be my all-time favorite two Cubs-Cards games (box and box). The Rolen/Edmonds HRs and the Z frustration the first night and the Albert 3-HR, 7-1/8-2 comeback in the second game, including a So Taguchi homerun in the 8th. And talk about long relief, where have you gone Cal Eldred? We could use you now, make a second comeback!

I’ve been skeptical of Wellemeyer as well but have also noted the improvement he’s made in his ability to throw strikes. He misses bats as well as any pitcher on the roster and has made substantial improvements in his strike % and walk rate.

The trouble I have w/ people connecting this to Duncan is this—some will try and characterize Wellemeyer’s improvement to Duncan, thereby taking the credit away from Wellemeyer. However, when pitchers fail under Duncan, they tend to say “(insert pitcher) was too hard-headed, stubborn … and therefore, Duncan couldn’t help him.” In other words, if a pitcher succeeds, it’s b/c of Duncan. If a pitcher fails, it’s the pitcher’s fault. Logically, this is fallacious.

I’m not saying Duncan has had no impact on Wellemeyer. For whatever reason, Wellemeyer has taken to hearing Duncan’s message and has made the correct improvements. Did Duncan tell him anything other pitching coaches didn’t? I doubt it. He’s not a wizard. My guess is that getting released by the Royals had more of an impact on Wellemeyer than anything any pitching coach has ever said to him. I imagine it humbled him and he decided to start listening to pitching coaches or he’d be out of baseball forever. The Cards happened to be the beneficiary but the credit goes to Wellemeyer.

Perez did not pitch in last night’s 12 inning game at Memphis.

Mather hit a walk off homerun and Barden went 3-6.

I know that he is struggling right now. Most of you feel that maybe he shouldn’t take the ball the rest of the season. I agree that he is not getting the job done, and cannot be trusted to pitch in almost any game.

But reading the quotes out of this guy, you have to feel sorry for him. He sounds like a man who is broken, who literally has no answers to his troubles. You can tell that he’s more upset at himself than anybody else. I just feel terrible for the guy.

and also the HR looked catchable if played right, certainly didn’t help.

Izzy was the designated closer prior to his last two outings. The first one was not high leverage, the second one was more high leverage. Perhaps Tony made a mistake in sending Izzy out there yesterday. Maybe he realized that he shouldn’t do that again in the near future.

Now, if you are talking about Tony sending him out when he was still the closer, based on his track record (especially how he performed last year), since he wasn’t hurt, and since he was still effective in many of his appearances, I don’t really have a problem with Izzy not being demoted sooner.

I don’t know what to do with Izzy now, but he really has no place on this team if he can’t pitch at all with a small lead. We can’t keep paying a guy so much for being only a mop-up guy or DLing him with a phantom injury, yet he is being paid WAY too much money to just get rid of him since, IMHO, he still has talent.

the cardinals are a good team going through a funk? It seems to me this year much more than in the past that the cards are losing games that they are suppose to win. It is a disturbing trend to me and I wonder if the damage is too much to come back from. I am pretty sure we should have about 4 more in the win column