SB Nation St. Louis - Padres Vs. Cardinals: St. Louis Cruises To 6-3 Win At Busch Stadium

Know Your St. Louis Cardinals Call-Ups: Steven Hill

2012-05-24T12:30:12Z

The St. Louis Cardinals called up yet another new face Wednesday in the aftermath of Matt Carpenter's oblique injury—well, mostly new. Steven Hill, the Memphis Redbirds' catcher-third-baseman-outfielder, made his 2012 debut with the big club Wednesday, making an out as a pinch hitter late in the Cardinals' sweep of the Padres. But it was his second game as a big leaguer—longtime prospect-watchers will recall that Steven Hill appeared in one game in 2010, hitting a home run and striking out in three at-bats as Yadier Molina's replacement in this would-be blowout on August 15.

That's basically Hill's game, at 27; he can play catcher but not well enough to start there, and he's going to hit some home runs, but not quite enough to start at third base or in the outfield. In 270 games at AA Springfield, where he's spent most of his time, he's hit .283/.339/.511 with 57 home runs. He could be a solid bench bat on a team with less depth and less love for the traditional backup catcher model; on the Cardinals he's a perfect fill-in for the space between Matt Carpenter's injury and Allen Craig's eligibility to return from the 15-day disabled list.

Craig's eligible to come off the disabled list a little more than a week from now. Until then, Hill, who also has this to deal with—

Chatted briefly with Steven Hill after the game. He said his wife is nine months pregnant, making jump to big leagues a little more hectic.
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) May 24, 2012

—will likely sit on the bench, do some pinch hitting, and possibly take a start against a left-handed pitcher at first base, to give suddenly vital rookie slugger Matt Adams a break. Not a bad gig by any means, but in another organization Hill might find himself with the chance to do it more frequently—without waiting for Lance Berkman, Allen Craig, and Matt Carpenter to all go down at once.

Padres Vs. Cardinals Final Score: St. Louis Completes Sweep With 6-3 Victory

2012-05-24T03:32:15Z

The St. Louis Cardinals trailed 3-0 against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night before ever getting a turn to bat, but the early deficit didn't do much to discourage the reigning World Series champions. The Cards would answer back with three runs of their own in the first inning and eventually secure a 6-3 victory at Busch Stadium.

Carlos Beltran continued his amazing season, blasting a two-run homer (his 14th of the year) in the fifth inning to give St. Louis a 5-3 lead. Third baseman David Freese would make it 6-3 St. Louis with a homer to left field in the seventh inning.

Lynn improves to 7-1 after allowing eight hits and three earned runs in six innings. Jason Motte got the final two outs and earned his eighth save of the year for the Cardinals.

St. Louis improves to 25-19 with the win. San Diego falls to 16-29.

For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. Visit Viva El Birdos for more in-depth coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals and Gaslamp Ball for more on the Padres.

Cardinals Vs. Padres Score Update: St. Louis Leads 5-3 In 7th Inning

2012-05-24T02:44:24Z

The St. Louis Cardinals will take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night. Each team scored three in the first inning, but a Carlos Beltran homer in the fifth inning gave the Cards the two-run lead.

San Diego right fielder Will Venable led off the game with a home run off Cards starter Lance Lynn. Chase Headley singled to right to score first baseman Yonder Alonso and make it 2-0 Padres. Catcher Nick Hundley would score left fielder Jesus Guzman on a fielder's choice before the end of the inning.

Skip Schumaker would quickly answer for St. Louis, doubling to deep center to Rafael Furcal. David Freese and Matt Adams would also add RBI singles in the first inning to tie the game at 3-3 after one inning. Beltran's 14th homer of the season in the fifth made it 5-3 St. Louis.

For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. Visit Viva El Birdos for more in-depth coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals and Gaslamp Ball for more on the Padres. For more news and updates from around the MLB, drop by Baseball Nation with Rob Neyer, or dig deeper into the stats at Beyond the Box Score.

Cardinals Place Matt Carpenter On Disabled List, Call Up Steven Hill

2012-05-23T19:39:42Z

The St. Louis Cardinals have placed infielder Matt Carpenter on the 15-day disabled list with a right oblique strain, as the team announced on Wednesday afternoon. Carpenter was playing third base for St. Louis on Tuesday night when he tweaked himself during his first at-bat, ultimately leaving the game.

The team has placed @MattCarp13 on the 15-day DL (right oblique strain). Catcher Steven Hill from AAA Memphis will join the team tonight.
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 23, 2012

Injuries continue to ravage the Cardinals' lineup, which is now missing Lance Berkman, Allen Craig and Jon Jay in addition to Carpenter. Matt Adams will get the full-time nod at first base for the time being with Hill providing back-up duty.

So far in 2012, Carpenter has hit .288/.356/.519 with three homers over 118 plate appearances while establishing himself as a legitimate big leaguer. His replacement on the active roster, the 27-year-old Hill, has hit .242/.292/.470 with four homers in 72 plate appearances with Triple-A Memphis this year.

Cardinals Vs. Padres Preview: St. Louis To Face Ex-Card Jeff Suppan

2012-05-23T16:59:55Z

One day after Adam Wainwright threw a complete game shutout in front of the home fans in St. Louis, the Cardinals will find themselves facing a pitcher who has spent his fair share of time in Busch Stadium. That pitcher is Jeff Suppan, who has resurfaced with the San Diego Padres after a nearly two year absence from the majors.

Prior to this year, Suppan last pitched with the Cardinals in 2010, where he saw a very minor career revival after a largely disastrous stint with the Milwaukee Brewers. In four starts this season, Suppan has posted a 3.00 ERA, but he may be on borrowed time. For one, three of his four starts have come in the hitting graveyard that is San Diego's Petco Park. He's also only struck out four batters in 21 innings while walking nine, a ratio that does not predict future success.

The Cardinals will start Lance Lynn, the early season phenomenon who has hit a rough patch of late. After posting an ERA of 1.40 in his first six starts, Lynn has given up seven earned runs over 12 innings in his last two starts, which has raised his ERA nearly a full run to 2.31. But if there's any team that can reverse a slump, it's the light hitting Padres, or so Cards fans hope.

Game date/time: Wednesday, May 23, 7:15 p.m. CT

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Mo.

TV: Fox Sports Midwest

Adam Wainwright's Shutout: Score One For Metrics

2012-05-23T13:01:48Z

People like to point out, in the post-Moneyball-the-movie universe, things that sabermetrics ostensibly can't measure, or isn't measuring. One of the things metrics couldn't "see" about the St. Louis Cardinals, going into Tuesday's shutout, was Adam Wainwright's rough recovery from elbow surgery. I'm as much to blame as anybody here—I was convinced it existed, because it made intuitive sense, and I invented dumb reasons for his strikeout-to-walk ratio to be as good as it was anyway. (Theory one: He's being "too fine" with his new arm, leading to a minor case of Yusmeiro Petit's Disease.)

If you believe Voros McCracken's theories about defense-independent pitching, which are now 13 years old, Wainwright was already having a perfectly fine year in 2012, aside from a surprising leap in home run rate. His FIP—that's fielding-independent pitching—was 4.38; his xFIP, which adjusts for spikes and troughs in home run rate, was 3.30, nearly identical to his 2009 mark. Post-shutout those numbers are 3.85 and 3.09.

Maybe Adam Wainwright got lucky here, and his problems are about to continue, and his defense and luck-independent numbers are misleading us in this moment. Or maybe this entire story could have been avoided if we trusted a relatively ancient branch of baseball analysis as much as we ought to.

Matt Carpenter Injury Could Raise Cardinals' Need For Matt Adams

2012-05-23T12:02:22Z

Matt Carpenter left the St. Louis Cardinals' win over the San Diego Padres Tuesday with what was described as tightness in his right side and could be an oblique strain, Major League Baseball's leading injury epidemic. That could leave the Cardinals without their rookie super-sub for a few weeks, and without anybody but Matt Adams to start at first base while Allen Craig sits on the 15-day disabled list and Lance Berkman gets his knee checked out.

No pressure, right? Adams has already been called upon to start against the left-handed Clayton Richard, who struck him out and induced a double play; altogether he's 2-10 in three consecutive starts, with two walks and two strikeouts. Without Carpenter Adams is the extent of the Cardinals' options at first base until Craig comes back, whereupon the Cardinals will have to decide whether they want to keep Adams up for the occasional spell against a right-hander or get him more at-bats in AAA and call up a player like Mark Hamilton until Carpenter is back.

Daniel Descalso is likely to take Carpenter's duties as backup third baseman without issue—perhaps opening up more playing time for the newly popular Tyler Greene—but if Carp hits the DL it'll be up to Matt Adams to spell Lance Berkman and Allen Craig.

Padres Vs. Cardinals Final Score: Adam Wainwright Dominates San Diego In 4-0 Win

2012-05-23T03:45:38Z

Adam Wainwright scattered four hits over a complete game shutout as the St. Louis Cardinals topped the San Diego Padres 4-0 on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. Wainwright, who entered this start with an ERA of 5.77, struck out nine and walked one on the night to improve to 3-5 overall this season. The win moves the Cards to 24-19, while San Diego falls to 16-28.

The Cardinals scored one in the first, two in the sixth and one in the seventh to provide more than enough support for Wainwright. Right fielder Carlos Beltran went 2-for-3 with two RBI in the win. Matt Holiday finished 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

Padres starter Edinson Volquez last six innings, giving up three earned runs and five hits. He falls to 2-4 this season.