Lohse returns to St. Louis

I expect that former Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse will received a warm welcome when he is introduced tonight as a starting pitcher for the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.
Oct 22, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse (26) walks back to the dugout after being taken out of the game in the third inning of game seven of the 2012 NLCS against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Image Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Lohse takes the start for the visiting Brewers against his former teammate, the rookkie Cardinal pitcher Shelby Miller. I expect a solid outing between the both of them.

Miller, it should be said, is the pitcher that took his spot in the rotation this season. It could be argued that Miller took Carpenter’s spot, too.

Kyle Lohse gave the Cardinals a few quality seasons in the rotation. His season last year was good enough to see a top ten finish in the voting for the National League Cy Young Award. His .842 winning percentage led the NL in pitching.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Goold goes more in-depth on this storyline between Lohse and his replacement.

Lohse was able to pitch deep into games and eat innings up. If not for him, and a controversial infield fly ball that went into shallow left field, the Cardinals would not have won a postseason game.

Whether anyone on this current roster is able to duplicate his success this season, I don’t know. What I do know is that he is one hell of a pitcher, while I wish him the best of luck with the Milwaukee Brewers, and what he added to the Cardinals the past five seasons will be missed greatly.

There are young arms on this Cardinals team. I get that. It’s the way that baseball works. People come and go all the time. I hated to see Matt Morris leave following the 2005 season. I hated to see David Eckstein leave. Edgar Renteria, too. But it’s just the way that the game works.

The Chicago Cubs have dropped Carlos Marmol from closing. The Milwaukee Brewers have replaced John Axford as well. Meanwhile, after a 9 run ninth inning, Mitchell Boggs was given the opportunity to close the game the very next night.

Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter has confidence in the Cardinals reliever.

"Sanctioning Boggs’ ability to be the closer, Sutter said, “How many holds did Boggs have? Can he do the job? Absolutely he can do the job.“I know he had a tough inning the other day but not many of those balls were hit hard. You could put them all together and they wouldn’t have reached the fence.”Good stuff is inherent, Sutter said, but “being the closer mostly is confidence. Having the confidence of the team and having the confidence of the manager. Mike showed that when he ran Boggs right back out there the next night.”"

I have faith in Boggs as well.