FanPost

Former SPs taking their revenge...

Recently I noticed that the Cardinals were really struggling against former starters and their new teams (Marquis, Looper, and Suppan). I thought I would take a look back and review the performances of those 3 players against the Birds since they have not been extended.

First off, Jason Marquis. In 2007, Marquis went 3-1 against us with a 3.60 ERA while pitching for the Cubs. He threw 25 innings against us that year and allowed 10 earned runs while walking 9 and striking out 10. Nothing spectacular, but still effective. In 2008, Marquis only threw in 1 game (took the loss), and we hit him pretty hard, 5 earned runs, 5 walks, and 4 strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched. This year, Marquis is 1-0, 8 ip, 0 earned runs, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. That brings Marquis' line for the 3 years to 4-2, 38.1 ip, 15 earned runs while sporting a 3.52 ERA.

We will then move to Braden Looper, who has just the 1 start against the Cardinals this season. In that game he picked up the W while throwing 6 innings, giving up 1 run, 2 walks and 0 strikeouts, and a 1.50 ERA. Once again small sample size.

Finally, lets take a look at Jeff Suppan. In 2007, Suppan was 3-0 with 1 complete game. He threw 23.1 innings allowing 4 earned runs, walked 4 and struck out 14. He sported a 1.54 ERA for that year. In 2008, Suppan went 1-0 in 2 games started, throwing 14 innings, giving up 4 earned runs walking 7 and striking out 7. He still carried a 2.57 ERA for that year. So far this year, Suppan has pitched twice against the Cardinals going 1-1, 10.2 innings pitched, 5 earned runs allowed, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. He is carrying a 4.22 ERA for the year against the Cards. Over the 3 years away from the Cardinals, Suppan has been 5-1 in 7 games started, throwing 48 innings, allowing 13 earned runs, 14 walks and 25 strikeouts while sporting a spiffy 2.43 ERA.

The compiled totals for these 3 is a record of 10-3, with 92.1 innings pitched, allowing 29 earned runs, handing out 34 walks, striking out 29, and sporting a sickening 2.83 ERA (sickening because our former 4th & 5th starters are being that effective against us).

My biggest question about this is, why don't we have the best scouting reports on these pitchers? They pitched for us for years, we let them go, and they are effective against us (and they are not even lh). Why isn't our lineup prepared to know exactly what they are going to do against us? Why hasn't anyone found a tip to what pitch is coming?