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Bullpen Fails Cardinals…Again!

Game # 41     Tues. May 13, 2008

Pirates 8    Cardinals 4

Once again, the Cardinals’ bullpen cost the team a win.  After tying the game and heading to extra innings, Ron Villone gave up 4 runs in the 10th sending the Cardinals to an 8-4 defeat.  Izzy’s recent struggles led him to ask for a temporary departure from his closer role.  Ryan Franklin has assumed the bulk of the closing duties.  But all I know, is that coming into this season, if we had a strong point, it was our bullpen.  And now, if we have an Achilles heel, it is our bullpen.  Here is my analysis of the game:

Performance of the Game:  Troy Glaus

What Went Wrong:

1.  Ron Villone - Terrible tonight…period.  And Tyler Johnson , it was just announced, will undergo surgery.  That means Villone is our guy for the foreseeable  future as far as lefty.  Overall, I like Rany Flores and Ron Villone as our two lefties.  But I sure do miss Tyler’s slider and mound presence.

2.  Kyle Lohse - He hasn’t been as good his last couple of outings, sending his ERA to 4.91 on the season.  He allowed 4 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings.  One thing I have noticed is he isn’t getting as many ground ball outs.  He is pitching higher in the zone, and the opposition is hitting fly balls…and that is not a good thing for a ground ball pitcher.  I do think he is a keeper, but he needs to make some adjustments.

3.  Playing Barton over Schumaker - I am sick of Skip not starting EVERY single day.  The guy has been phenominal for us this year, and I think LaRussa over manages the whole righty vs. lefty matchup thing.  I don’t care if the pitcher we face is a lefty, send “Schu” out there…period!   It upsets the entire offense.

What Went Right:

1.  Troy Gluas - He was 2 for 5 with his 2nd home run, a 3 run blast.  But the bad news is he is still only hitting .237 on the season.  I hope this home run was a sign of more to come.

I was hoping because we were at home and because we were playing Pittsburgh, that we could pick up an easy win.  I am starting to see that with our bullpen, there is no such thing as an easy win.  Let’s not give up yet though, I do think we have what it takes to win this division.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 10:43 pm and is filed under 2008 Cardinals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.