Loshe pitched very well and deserved better. Perhaps there is another contender in the NL Central with a weaker bullpen than Milwaukee?

Gee, why couldn't we get any posts during the sweep of the Padres? Now we get two in a row!

And, gee, I hope HW has been paying attention to La Russa's decision-making the last couple of games. He doesn't have any more grasp of when to pull his starter and which reliever to use than some putz living in his mother's basement, pushing numbers in a spreadsheet.

I can't blame him for leaving Lohse in a bit too long tonight; the alternatives weren't any more appealing.

Gee, why couldn't we get any posts during the sweep of the Padres?

Dog bites man.

Gee, why couldn't we get any posts during the sweep of the Padres?

Didn't see any posts when the Brewers were sweeping the Giants at the same time, either, no?

gb:

That Padres series had to be pretty taxing. Sure the Cards won but at a price to the bullpen. 3 guys used in the first game, 5 in the second, four in the third and then five again. It takes its toll pretty quick.

I am adamant that there are very few guys who can legitimately pitch out of the bullpen on a semi-regular basis with a degree of effectiveness. Hence the swings from year to year for the vast majority of relievers. They do well, get ridden hard until they fail, regroup because folks think they stink and then good again.

I can't blame him for leaving Lohse in a bit too long tonight; the alternatives weren't any more appealing.

I can't really blame him either, although that tangotiger thing about multiple trips through the lineup was bothering me. I guess it was worse last night, when he double-switched Franklin into the game, burning one of his four bench players, so that Franklin could pitch the 10th, which didn't work out so well.

It's just funny to me that a Hall of Fame manager with 2500 wins (or whatever it is) can have that kind of trouble. I do mean it's funny too. Everything in baseball, even Backlasher, is worth a good laugh after October 2006.

gb:

Might want to tell the Cards relievers that the Bill Hall of the first half has been reborn and is no longer swinging through hittable fastballs versus right-handers. Each night those were awful pitches. Right there for a guy with any type of swing/power. And Billy is on a mission after missing the second half last year due to injury/being benched.

He ain't gonna let THAT happen again.....

McClellan put that ball on a tee for Hall.

I'm pretty sure somebody will deliver a message tomorrow about Hall's pose after the homer. Not that I approve.

The bullpen did not have an easy series against the Padres, partially because Isringhausen has no business on a major league roster right now. But it was the first series after the ASB and they've got eight relievers right now. They've got some odd solutions to their bullpen problems, mostly because La Russa doesn't know what to do with a starting rotation that doesn't fit his "Get 6-7 innings..." script.

gb:

You think Carpenter can do something useful this season?

Who knows about Carpenter? Unlike Mulder, Carpenter's pretty sensible about dealing with injuries, so he won't come to the majors and give some other team an automatic win. But one piece of La Russa's schtick is that nobody should be forthcoming about health issues, and the result is it's impossible to know the real story about a player's health until it's obvious to everyone. Sometimes I'm not sure the team knows the truth.

Must drive fantasy leaguers crazy.

This ############# team gives me diarrhea.

Didn't see any posts when the Brewers were sweeping the Giants at the same time, either, no?

Did the Brew Crew have comeback wins on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday against the Giants too?

You're beating us now, and probably going to beat us in the long run. Give us our one great weekend!

You're beating us now, and probably going to beat us in the long run. Give us our one great weekend!

Come on, have some dignity. This is the Cardinals organization you are talking about. They have had plenty of weekends.

La Russa still agitating for another big bat (although subtly this time), as he has been for several weeks, I see.

Yet in manager Tony La Russa's eyes, placing the full blame on the bullpen is not the solution.

"You think the bullpen lost this game? You think they lost it yesterday," said a visibly upset La Russa. "How many runs did we score yesterday? Three. Think about it. It ain't the bullpen. It's our team that got beat.

"The onus is on our club, and one way not to be in 38 one-run games is to go out and score six, seven or eight."

MLB.com

They have had plenty of weekends.

True.

And plenty of Championships.

From the Robo column I linked elsewhere:

The Cardinals, whose bullpen has become almost a nightly issue, had two scouts in Baltimore on Tuesday night, presumably to watch Orioles closer George Sherrill. The Orioles want either a shortstop or outfielder for Sherrill, but the Cardinals don't have a shortstop who is close to the majors, and they're not going to trade Colby Rasmus for a reliever.

Rasmus reportedly injured his MCL last night anyways.

Maybe they were looking at Jamie Walker instead?

....visibly upset La Russa. "How many runs did we score yesterday? Three. ..."

Ludwick has been benched twice since the All Star break and the Cardinals have scored two runs and three runs in those two games, including the one Tony is referencing above.

Which is funny, because in the last six games Ludwick played in prior to the one referenced above he was 11-for-27 with 4 homers and a .407/.467/.926 line.

Ludwick has 74 starts in 102 team games in 2008. And he leads the team in homers, rbi, and extra-base hits. And he has an .887 OPS vs. lefties in 2008.

Maybe the extra bat Tony is looking for can be found sitting on the bench once or twice a week.