*** Official St Louis Cardinals to the 2006 World Series Thread ***

[djj6835]

Jesus Christ. Two words...Adam Wainwright. Why does LaRussa continue to refuse to use his second best pitcher behind Carpenter as his closer?

[MyTurn2Raise]

yuck

[astroglide]

well, there it went.

i know we're short on options, but i just don't feel good with him out there closing more often than wainwright. i liked him better in extended relief situations.

wainwright got runners on, but nuked the next with 3 called strike curves. he does seem to deliver in real pressure situations. tyler johnson is blah, like most of our bullpen.

we were hitting the hell out of the ball, so many close and deep fouls. astros turned it up at the end and simply deserved to win the game.

[RunDownHouse]

I have such utter contempt for the Cards' bullpen.

[Flip_Dog]

Well the cards just have to win one game this series to put it away but it doesn't look like its gonna happen.

[astroglide]

weaver vs clemens is not a great matchup [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

why was duncan in RF? i don't see any sense in that one.

why did they have belliard doing a hit and run after a leadoff single?

why did wilson pinch instead of jrod? even if the matchup was bad, jrod has done well off the bench.

i do wonder how much different our season would be if oquendo was coaching, just during the games.

[Aceshigh7]

Challenger, you just love to make ridiculous barbs at Lidge, but all of Cardinal nation would rather have Lidge than the trash you guys are running out there in Looper & Isringhausen. Too bad there's no "Looper (Isringhausen etc..), rut roh" thread for me to bump and make stupid comments in after a game like this. Perhaps there should be.

[bowens]

You're probably right about that. However, no one claims the Cards bullpen is any good right now. Cause they certainly aren't. But feel free to create the thread. Most of the card fans here would probably post in it. Ugh.

[astroglide]

in order to warrant a "ruh roh" you have to have some kind of positive reputation to uphold. when izzy melts down, it's standard. now our bullpen is full of randoms, with the exception of wainwright who still remains untested. and although virtually every fan and commentator would love to see it happen, larussa still hasn't given him a real shot.

[Aceshigh7]

I like Wainright. Every time ive seen him pitch he has looked sharp. Are they not using him to close out games because they see him as a starter next year, or does Larussa just claim to like him better in middle relief?