Welcome Back Carp

Cardinal fans everywhere rejoice!  A healthy Chris Carpenter took the mound for St. Louis in today’s series finale against Pittsburgh, and looked a lot like the Cy Young Award winning version we saw back in ’05.

Before today, the last time Carpenter received a win was in Game 3 of the 2006 World Series against Detroit.  It’s been a long road back for the pitcher, and at least for today, we can all breath a sigh of relief.

If Carp can stay healthy the entire year, the season outlook is a lot brighter.  He’s capable of pitching deep into games, giving the bullpen a rest, as well as stopping a losing skid.  As the leader of the staff, I think he also makes the rest of the rotation stronger.  Keep your fingers crossed!

So, a little thing called “work” got in the way of me seeing today’s ball game, so I’ll point you elsewhere for a recap.  But look at this line from our starter:

7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

Nice!

Check out Matthew Leach’s latest for the full recap and some great quotes from the post-game.  Also, Bryan Burwell’s article is a good read.

What’s next for the Birds?  They’ll open up a three game series against Houston tomorrow night at Busch, with Joel Pineiro facing Mike Hampton.  Yes Mike Hampton.  And we thought Carpenter was injury prone.  Hopefully Pineiro can continue to build on his strong spring and get the Cards above .500 for the first time in ’09.

[Photo credit:  Chris Lee]