On the expectation that Carpenter's recovery timeline follows Ankiel's, the Cardinals will send down Joe Mather and call up their 14th pitcher.

I hate this ####### team.

I was there, and Carpenter was absolutely cruising until that moment. Not getting a lot of swings and misses, but giving up very little solid contact. It was lovely to see.

And then it all went. I don't really blame the defense for the errors that followed; gotta be distracting to watch your hopes for staying in this race walking off the field. Man, I hope he's okay.

Initial diagnoses of 'strained biceps/triceps' tend to wind up being 'rotator cuff problems' in the end, right? Or am I crazy?

I hope not. I was hoping he'd make it all the way back.

He pretty clearly was pointing to his triceps and not remotely where you'd be grabbing at your rotator cuff/labrum if those were damaged. On an extremely outside chance it's related to an elbow issue but in reality this is probably just what happens when you rush a guy back to Major League intensity pitching.

As reported by Bernie M at STLtoday:

I'm on deadline for the column and don't have much time right now, but:

Carpenter is encouraged. He came to the clubhouse and put the arm and the shoulder through exercises. There was no pain, not even the triceps.

"I did everything to test it," he said. "And there was no soreness."

He plans to throw his bullpen session on Tuesday -- unless something changes.

Said La Russa: "Maybe we'll catch a break."

...

OK, here are some quotes:

Carpenter:

“As of right now we think it’s a slight triceps strain. We’ll wait the next two days and see how it is."

He plans to throw his bullpen session on Tuesday.

"I came in here (clubhouse) after I left the game and went through all the exercises to test everything. The (rotator) cuff. The rest of it. Nothing was sore. We couldn’t reproduce the soreness or anything I felt (on the mound). Everything seemed OK. Hopefully it means it was very mild."

Did he feel anything in the elbow?

La Russa: “The shoulder was good and that’s definitely something of importance. That was good news.”

-B

Doesn't sound like anything.

Some tool on the El after the game was going on about how Carpenter wasn't actually hurt, and that this was TLR being a genius because he wanted to go to a reliever, but needed the injury excuse to give allow the reliever as much time as he needed to warm up.

It wouldn't shock me to see LaRussa pull something like that if the circumstances were right, but it doesn't make any damn sense here; Carpenter was pitching great (though he ran into a jam in the 6th), he hadn't thrown that many pitches, he immediately reached for his arm after pitch no. 66 (if he was faking it, he did a hell of an acting job, and timed it brilliantly to take place mid-AB), and nobody fakes an injury to his starting pitcher so he can bring in Ron Freakin' Villone.

The only way for this to be some mad genius plan of Tony's is if he yelled the plan to Chris from the dugout. Since it was Carpenter who signaled for everybody to come to the mound.

That tool on the L clearly hasn't seen the Cardinals bullpen in action this year, has he?

allow the reliever as much time as he needed to warm up.

This is a common misstatement of the rule. The reliever gets as much time as the umpire-in-chief decides that he needs to warm up.

-- MWE

"The only way for this to be some mad genius plan of Tony's is if he yelled the plan to Chris from the dugout. Since it was Carpenter who signaled for everybody to come to the mound."

It wouldn't shock me if TLR had a "fake an injury" sign that he could flash from the dugout.

"This is a common misstatement of the rule. The reliever gets as much time as the umpire-in-chief decides that he needs to warm up."

In practical terms, aren't the former and the latter usually the same thing? I don't think I've ever seen an ump tell an injury-replacement reliever to get a move on (but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, of course).

That tool on the L clearly hasn't seen the Cardinals bullpen in action this year, has he?

That's what I told him.