We spend most of our time here in St. Louis thinking about Chris Carpenter in terms of his status as the angriest starting pitcher on the planet, so it was nice to see him in the news giving fatherly advice to Stephen Strasburg, instead of yelling the f-bomb loudly enough for the FSN microphones on numerous occasions or having to be restrained by Scott Rolen and held off by Jason LaRue when Johnny Cueto began holding the back button in an attempt to unleash his Flying Forward Bicycle Kick.
↵In Matthew Leach's take Carpenter is effusive about Strasburg, at least as far as Carpenter goes—
↵↵↵"He came up with a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations, huge hype and he was living up to it," Carpenter said. "And this shows how quick it can go. Hopefully he realizes to enjoy it, don't take anything for granted, because as fast as it can come is as fast as it can go."
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I imagine Chris Carpenter one-on-one being a lot like the stereotypical depiction of a sitcom dad about to let his daughter go on a date—is he serious about beating the crap out of you? Is he joking? Why is that smile making everything he says more menacing?