It’s Not All Isringhausen’s Fault

Typically, after a ball game, I’ll spend some time online perusing all of the Cardinal forums and message boards.  Last night, because of the rain delay, the game ended late, so I went straight to bed.  This morning, before work, I checked in on all my usual web stops, and one thing was common across the board. Everyone was Izzy bashing.

I understand the frustration from fans.  The Cardinals were up 2-0 heading to the ninth after a brilliant performance from their starter Braden Looper.  Jason Isringhausen blew his second save of the year, and has now allowed 8 runs on 13 hits in 11 innings.  It’s his job to finish close games, and last night he didn’t do his job.

“I feel bad for Looper.  He pitched such a great game,” said Isringhausen.  “It’s my job to preserve a win, and I just didn’t do it.  When you let down 25 guys, it’s not a fun job.”

Did Izzy blow the save?  Of course.  Did he take the loss?  Yeah.  Is the loss entirely his fault?  No way.  The Cardinals missed several opportunities to pile on runs throughout the game, continuing the trend of leaving runners on and failing to get timely hits.  They stranded 20 runners total, 11 as a team.  Third baseman Troy Glaus struck out twice with the bases loaded.  Without Geoff Blum’s error, the Cardinals would have only scored one run despite having six hits and eight walks.  I don’t expect every runner in scoring position to be driven in, but it’s clear that the Birds’ bats couldn’t get the job done last night, and deserve a large portion of the blame for the loss.  If you’re going to bash Izzy, you’d better bash the Cardinal offense too.

Matthew Leach has more on the game here.