SB Nation St. Louis - St. Louis Cardinals Swept By Cincinnati Reds Into Second Placehttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49009/stl-fave.png2011-05-16T08:01:05-05:00http://stlouis.sbnation.com/rss/stream/19330082011-05-16T08:01:05-05:002011-05-16T08:01:05-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Swept By Cincinnati Reds Into Second Place
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> lost their third consecutive game to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a> Sunday night, falling 1.5 games out of first place in the National League Central behind a struggling Chris Carpenter. <span>Lance Berkman</span> and <span>Yadier Molina</span> homered in the loss, and <span>Tyler Greene</span>, <span>Ryan Theriot</span>, and <span>Nick Punto</span> all doubled as the Cardinals' late rally couldn't avert a final score of 9-7. Errors by <span>Albert Pujols</span> and <span>Jon Jay</span> were difficult to overcome, but Carpenter managed to struggle without them despite striking out five against two walks in his six-plus innings of work. </p>
<p><span>Travis Wood</span> picked up the win, allowing two solo home runs and nothing much else. <span>Aroldis Chapman</span> continued to struggle, walking four while retiring just one batter to perpetuate the Cardinals' late rally. His ERA stands at 6.92 after the performance, and Reds fans continue to be concerned about their triple-digits relievers. Former Cardinal <span>Scott Rolen</span> went 2-4 with a triple, and <span>Ramon Hernandez</span> hit his sixth home run of the year. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/5/16/2173117/st-louis-cardinals-score-sweep-redsDan Moore2011-05-16T08:00:59-05:002011-05-16T08:00:59-05:00Is Chris Carpenter Done, Or Is BAbip Just Really, Really Cruel?
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<p>Chris Carpenter's struggles in 2011, following Sunday's loss to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a>, have officially gotten ridiculous. Carpenter has a 4.95 ERA and has now allowed more hits than innings pitched in six of his nine starts, despite striking out 6.71 batters per nine innings. His BAbip is now over .330, which means his still-solid K:BB ratio isn't enough to keep him from getting replacement-player results through nine starts. So is he done?</p>↵<p>He's probably done being Chris Carpenter. 2009 and 2010 were a remarkable return to form from a pitcher who missed most of two seasons with the most serious kinds of arm problems, but it's never a bad idea to bet against a 36-year-old pitcher with a history of elbow and shoulder problems failing to compete for a Cy Young Award. </p>↵<p>But I'd be stunned if he's done as an above-average pitcher. Carpenter's stuff is, statistically, as solid as ever, and right now he's being kept from solid-contributor status mostly by brutal luck on balls in play and hit in the air. As that evens out—one hopes it will, say, starting tomorrow—he could pitch exactly as he is now and return to form. Not as an ace, but as a steady and consistent positive to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a>' rotation. </p>↵
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/5/16/2173013/is-chris-carpenter-done-or-is-babip-just-really-really-cruelDan Moore2011-05-15T10:00:47-05:002011-05-15T10:00:47-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Fall From First Place, Lose 7-3 To Reds
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<p><span>Jon Jay</span>'s three-run home run was the only bright spot in a dreary game for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a>, who watched new starter <span>Kyle McClellan</span> struggle against a potent <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a> offense as local antagonist <span>Johnny Cueto</span> threw nearly eight innings to pick up his second win of the season. McClellan allowed four runs on three homers and struck out just one across six innings, stoking fears about his strikeout rate as a starter. <span>Ryan Franklin</span> continued to struggle, allowing two runs of his own across an inning and a third and increasing his ERA to 9.88. Jay, who replaced <span>Lance Berkman</span> in a double switch after McClellan's exit, drove in rookies <span>Daniel Descalso</span> and <span>Tyler Greene</span> to score the only runs for the Cardinals, who fall to 22-18 on the season, a half-game behind the Reds in the early NL Central playoff hunt. </p>
<p>In the third and final game of the series the Cardinals will look to get on the board behind Chris Carpenter, who will face young left-hander <span>Travis Wood</span>. Carpenter is 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA, stung by a high batting average on balls in play and some early problems with the home run. Wood is 2-3 despite some excellent peripherals in his first full season as a starter for the Reds. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/5/15/2171826/st-louis-cardinals-score-redsDan Moore2011-05-15T09:00:53-05:002011-05-15T09:00:53-05:00Mike Leake Finally Gets Chance To Tour Minor Leagues
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<p><span>Mike Leake</span>, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a> starter and recent graduate, allegedly, of the Winona Ryder Academy, is most famous on the baseball field for having skipped the in-season minor leagues and made the Reds' rotation right out of Spring Training in 2010. Now he's—<a href="http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/5/14/2171074/mike-leake-jose-arredondo-reds-news" target="_blank">in the minor leagues</a>, where he'll finally get a chance to tour the great cities of the AAA International League, so named because all of its teams are located within the continental United States.</p>↵<p>This is one of those unfortunate things that happens to most minor-league-skippers who are not all-time greats. Pete Incaviglia, for instance, skipped the minor leagues and hit 30 home runs in a 185-strikeout rookie season—all this deep within the pre-Mark-Reynolds age of hitting. But in 1998, at 34, he finally spent extended time in the minor leagues, which he appeared to find to his liking—he hit .324/.411/.612 with 23 home runs in 76 PCL games, and would later spend significant time in the unaffiliated minor leagues. </p>↵<p>Leake, who's just 23, is unlikely to spend the next several years in the International League—and definitely not the Atlantic League. But for league-average players a brief minor league stint is never all that far away, which is what makes his achievement so lastingly impressive. </p>↵
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/5/15/2171824/mike-leake-minor-leagues-sent-downDan Moore2011-05-14T08:00:54-05:002011-05-14T08:00:54-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Fall 6-5 To Cincinnati Reds In Extra Innings
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> couldn't hold a 5-2 lead in their first game at Great American Ballpark and the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a> got to <span>Jason Motte</span> in extra innings as the Cardinals' bullpen coughed up game one of the series to the Reds by a score of 6-5. <span>Albert Pujols</span> and <span>Daniel Descalso</span> had two hits and <span>Matt Holliday</span> went 3-5 in the loss; <span>Kyle Lohse</span> pitched six innings and allowed two runs before being lifted for <span>Miguel Batista</span> in the seventh. </p>
<p>Batista, who had allowed five unearned runs and just one earned run before Friday, allowed two hits and walked a batter without retiring one before he was removed for <span>Trever Miller</span>, who walked <span>Joey Votto</span>. <span>Fernando Salas</span>, who was outstanding in two no-hit innings, managed to maintain the Cardinals' lead at 5-4 going into the ninth inning, but <span>Eduardo Sanchez</span> blew the save in the ninth inning and Motte allowed a walk-off hit in the tenth. </p>
<p><span>Kyle McClellan</span> and <span>Johnny Cueto</span> will start Saturday afternoon's game at Cincinnati, while Chris Carpenter and <span>Travis Wood</span> will take the mound for the final game Sunday. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/5/14/2170629/st-louis-cardinals-score-redsDan Moore2011-05-13T07:21:01-05:002011-05-13T07:21:01-05:00St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds Meet Again
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> and the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a> will meet for their second series of the year over the weekend, playing three games at Great American Ballpark starting Friday. <span>Kyle Lohse</span> and <span>Bronson Arroyo</span> are scheduled to kick off the series, with noted kicker <span>Johnny Cueto</span> and Chris Carpenter appearing in the second and third games of the series, respectively. The Cardinals come into the series having taken two of three from the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Chicago Cubs</a>, while the Reds, 1.5 games back of St. Louis in the National League Central, won two against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Houston Astros</a> before dropping Wednesday's finale. </p>
<p><span>Brandon Phillips</span> might not be <a href="http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2011/5/13/2168905/johnny-cueto-chris-carpenter-cardinals-schedule#storyjump" target="_blank">quite so antagonistic </a>this time around, but with the NL Central still a toss-up there'll be no shortage of genuine intensity from these rivals-of-necessity. The youngster-heavy lineup the Cardinals won with Thursday in Chicago won't likely be in attendance this weekend; for better or for worse, the Reds just won't get a chance to see <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_e1183e58-9a8d-5937-ab76-ce2096682008.html" target="_blank">Allen Craig at second base</a>. <span>Ryan Theriot</span>, out with oblique pain on Thursday, is likely to play this weekend but could remain a push for Friday night. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/2011/5/13/2335096/st-louis-cardinals-cincinnati-reds-meet-againDan Moore