Young Guns

There’s a new sheriff in town. A few of them actually. A changing of the guard is occurring in the Cardinals bullpen. The Cincinnati Reds have been sent packing, slogging their way through the rain soaked night to what’s left of Lambert Airport. The Cardinals won two of three games in this early season showdown and have taken over the top spot in the National League Central, mostly due to some young flamethrowers in the bullpen.



On Friday night, Kyle McClellan continued his early season mound mastery after Tony LaRussa pulled a shell game in the early evening raindrops. TLR started Miguel Batista, knowing that a rain delay was imminent. Batista threw exactly six pitches including a four pitch walk to the leadoff batter, before the game was halted for over two hours. McClellan emerged after the clouds parted to hang the Reds out to dry for six innings and two earned runs. And then the last three innings were handled flawlessly by gunslingers Eduardo Sanchez, Jason Motte, and new closer Mitchell Boggs. Each of those three throw 95 plus miles per hour, and they all have the heart of a lion. No temerity for this group. No nibbling. Reach back and fire. And then fire again. And then slip in a change-up or slider to make someone look foolish. Boggs earned his second save of the week by pitching one and one third innings and sawing off a few bats in the heart of the Cincinnati order. Score one game for the young ‘uns.

On Saturday night, Tony brought back an encore of the veterans. The bulldog Chris Carpenter did his job, by handcuffing the Reds for six innings. His only mistake was leaving a 3-0 pitch over the middle of the plate to last year’s MVP Joey Votto, who crushed it into the clouds for a 2-2 tie at the time. But after the Cardinals came back with a run in the bottom of the sixth, Carpenter left the game with a 3-2 lead. The fourth young gun in the bullpen, Fernando Salas, came in for the 7th inning and did what he does best. Salas set the Reds down in order, including two ground outs and a strikeout. The only problem was after that, LaRussa tried to go retro and use the geriatric portion of the bullpen to close out the game. Oops. 40 year old Batista was called in for a series encore, and he continued the mess he tried to create the night before. He wasn’t helped by a one out error by third baseman David Freese, but then Batista loaded the bases by intentionally walking Votto and then hitting Jonny Gomes with a pitch. Old man Batista was then replaced by old man Trevor Miller, who was summoned to face the lefty Jay Bruce. After getting in front of Bruce one ball and two strikes, Miller creaked his way to three straight balls to force in a run. Old man Miller was removed and deposed closer and fellow old timer Ryan Franklin was taken off his bullpen life-support system and brought in for a chance to reclaim the glory days of his youth. Not this time. On an 0-2 pitch, Franklin allowed the Reds’ own senior citizen, Miguel Cairo, to single in two runs. 5-3 final in favor of the Reds. Bad game for the geezers.

So, Sunday night was set up for the rubber match. More rain was in the area, and Jake Westbrook was pitching on three days rest for the Birds. Let’s hope his manager noted the results. The sinker ball tossing Westbrook allowed that one less day of rest to work to his advantage. There’s a school of thought that sinker ball pitchers often do better with less rest; that their tired arms will throw a smidgen slower and cause the ball to sink more. That theory works for me, and it seemed to work for Westbrook. He pitched six stellar innings, allowing no runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Then as the rain drops began to fall again, the only thunderbolt of the evening was struck by Yadier Molina in the bottom of the sixth. The young catcher crushed a line drive into the first row of the bleachers with Matt Holiday and Lance Berkman on the bases. Suddenly the Cardinals led 3-0, and this time Tony LaRussa did not repeat his mistake. He brought back the young guns to shoot out the lights in the last three innings. Fernando Salas seems to be settling into a seventh inning role; he came in and struck out Bruce and Cairo, and induced a weak ground out by Ryan Hanigan. Then Eduardo Sanchez, the other Señor Smoke Brother, took over in the eigth inning and promptly struck out Paul Janish and pinch-hitter Chris Heisey, before retiring Drew Stubbs on a line drive to Colby Rasmus in center. And then the rest of the young gun formula fell in place in the ninth. New closer Boggs struck out Gomes and Bruce to end the game after Votto had reached him for a one out double. Advantage youth.


(Clockwise from upper left – Fernando Salas, Eduardo Sanchez, Mitchy-the-Kid Boggs, and Jason Motte)

The Cardinals may have to start an early retirement plan and push a few of the seniors out toward the pasture. This is the year of the young gun in the St. Louis bullpen.