How many more bad starts did Chris Carpenter have in him? The answer, unfortunately, was none. After two un-Carpenter-like starts against the New York Mets in the LCS, the Cardinals ace was back in form last night with eight shutout innings. It is disconcerting that the lineup was absolutely man-handled by Carpenter, but not completely unexpected. How much can you really complain about a Cy Young winner and 2006 candidate shutting down a lineup?
Per Billfer at DTW, no batter reached a three-ball count all night. That is downright vomit-inducing. The lack of discipline led to a whopping one runner in scoring position all evening. Overall, despite some very predictable pitch-calling by Carpenter and Yadier Molina, the Tigers remained lost. That isn’t to take anything from Carpenter. Predictable or not, filth is filth and will fool major league hitters regardless.
Then there is play by Joel Zumaya. I know what he was thinking, I just don’t know why he was thinking it. The fact of the matter is, the extra runs just made it look worse, but the Tigers weren’t coming back against Carpenter last night. Bottom line: they got taken out behind the woodshed and ruined my birthday! 😀 Actually, being able to watch my Detroit Tigers in the World Series for my 25th birthday was all I could really ask. A win would’ve been icing on the proverbial cake.
On to tonight, the Tigers get LCS MVP Jeff Suppan in St Louis. Conversely from Carpenter, the question about Suppan isn’t how many more bad starts are in him, rather how many more gems does he really have? He has dropped his earned run average every month since June including a 2.15 ERA in six September starts. His two LCS starts spanned 15 innings of one-run ball. He isn’t bad, but he definitely isn’t this good, so can the Tigers get to him? I think he is beatable.
Better yet, I like the potential of Jeremy Bonderman to shutdown the Cardinals. I like the Tigers to tie it up once again tonight. I’m even sporting my Bonderman shirt to bring in the W.
Go Tigers!!!
Baseball By Paul 