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Game 75 Open Thread: June 26, 2005

`tis the summer of chris carpenter data -- all heat and fragrance.

nl era leaders, june
(source: day to day database)

player ip h r er bb so w-l era
carpenter 40 25 4 4 7 43 4-1 0.90
oswalt 38 31 7 7 3 20 4-1 1.66
dontrelle 37.2 41 8 8 5 25 4-0 1.91
v zambrano 27.2 22 8 8 10 13 1-1 2.60
pedro 38 28 11 11 8 34 3-1 2.61

i got no words to describe him this month; the p'formances speak for themselves. but danup has something to say: it's the fastball, he reckons, that's making all the diff'nce -- full speed and tailing, a cruel combination for lh batters.

by whatever means, carp is posting one of the best 1st-half mound performances stl has seen in the last 35 years. here are the winningest 1st-half card'l hurlers since 1970, again courtesy dave pinto's day to day database (first half = games 1 through 81):

w-l era ip h r er bb so sho final line
andujar 1985 15-3 2.38 144 136 42 38 32 66 2 21-12, 3.40
andujar 1984 13-6 2.98 142 119 50 47 38 83 4 20-14, 3.34
mcglothen 1974 12-3 2.42 115.1 91 32 31 44 79 3 16-12, 2.69
gibson 1970 12-3 3.38 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 23-7, 3.12
bottenfield 1999 12-3 3.69 100 99 46 41 45 83 0 18-7, 3.97
carpenter 2005 11-4 2.77 113.2 98 39 35 29 112 3 tbd
kile 2000 11-5 4.63 114.2 107 63 59 31 110 0 20-9, 3.91
carlton 1971 11-5 3.79 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3 20-9, 3.56

if matt morris wins next wednesday, the cards will have two first-half 10-game winners for the first time since 1985, when jack andujar and danny cox did it. morris by the way has twice reached the season's midpoint with 10 wins:


w-l era ip h r er bb so sho final line
morris 2001 10-4 2.65 112 114 41 33 28 78 1 22-8, 3.16
morris 2002 10-5 3.27 121 111 46 44 41 106 1 17-9, 3.42

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got a number of good comments in yesterday's game thread on the whys and wherefores of Cedeno You Suck Syndrome. also a very thoughtful post on the subject today at cardnilly. i'm coming to the conclusion that it wasn't just roger's numbers that raised hackles -- couldn't be, since his numbers last year were no worse than those of other recent 5th outfielders. indeed, they were slightly better:

avg obp slg ops
bonilla 2001 .213 .308 .339 .647
robinson 2001 .285 .330 .344 .674
robinson 2002 .260 .301 .359 .660
palmeiro 2003 .271 .336 .347 .683
waste o flesh 2004 .265 .327 .373 .702

(Update [2005-6-26 12:45:55 by lboros]: here's a little info i ran across this morning: during june and july last year, when the cardinals made their move, cedeno started 20 games and hit .352/.414/.477/.891. through august 6 (the day walker came over), cedeno had season avgs of .322/.377/.449/.826.)

i don't recall any of cedeno's predecessors eliciting quite as much disgust as he did. for whatever reason -- demeanor, effort (or seeming lack thereof), common sense (ditto), personality (ditto) -- he irritated. now he's gone and luna is here, an improvement defensively but seemingly no better offensively. . . . . . there is bench help out there, walt will come up w somebody.

finally, this is the game thread -- marquis vs perez. the guys at uss mariner got a discussion going last week on this question: "Why does Tony LaRussa bat Jason Marquis ninth in the lineup when his .978 OPS is second on the team?" some amusing responses. . . . . .


marquis perez
8-5, 4.10 6-5, 6.17