Cardinals continue to struggle; TIME TO WORRY

We'll start with an email I received that I think pretty much sums up much of the concern for Cardinal fans across the country:

"What is the deal with the Birds? Closer situation looks terrible with Looper. I believe it is time to give the ball to the kid and see if he has got what it takes. It can’t get any worse. What are your feelings and have you heard any word of the situation?"
-Tatum

Thanks for the email, Tatum, and no I haven't heard of any recent revelations concerning the Cardinals closing role. But something certainly needs to happen, and not just in the closing role but across the board in the bullpen. The Cardinals have lost each of their last six games from the seventh inning on, so this is clearly far from simply a closers problem. Not to mention that the starters haven't looked great either. We didn't get the start we expected out of Suppan or Carpenter the last time around, and what is it exactly that we expect from the other three starters - whoever they may be?

So what do we do? Well, I never thought that I would say this but I'm with you, Tatum. Let's throw the kid in there and see what he's made of. I'm not able to hold on to Izzy anymore so I guess its time to move on to other options. The thing that concerns me here the most is that I do remember what happened to Rick Ankiel under the pressure, and I am a little overly-concerned that the same could happen to Wainwright. However, I think he has the best stuff in the pen and I think he would be our best option at closer. Braden Looper isn't going to get the job done, he's much more comfortable in the set-up role and he's done his job well in that role, for the most part. So, ideallyI would keep him there and let Wainwright close 'em down. Hopefully our starters can get us six, Hancock can get us the seventh, Looper the eighth and Wainwright the ninth. When you look at the line-up of pitchers, its seems pretty darn good. The problem is that none of them can get it going all at once.

I think the biggest thing here is to establish a closer. I mentioned in "2 Minutes of Fun" that I think there is some added pressure on the bullpen guys knowing that Izzy isn't back there, ready to go in the ninth. And I think the solution to this problem would be for LaRussa to say, "hey, this man is our closer and we're sticking with him." That has to be better than for each of those guys to go into every game not knowing if he's going to be the man 45,000 people are staring at in the bottom of the ninth with the post season on the line. Establish jobs, and go out and do your best. That's my opinion.


More on the Cardinals:

It seems that everybody is concerned about the off-season right now. Why is this? Yes, we've lost seven straight and our LEAD is down to 1.5 but nonetheless, we're still in the lead and we should still be thinking about getting to the play-offs. There was a post made on my latest blog stating the Cardinals should get rid of Izzy, Jim Edmonds, Ronnie Belliard, Preston Wilson, and Jose Vizcaino immediately. I couldn't agree less with this statement. We've been through the Izzy argument so we won't go there. I understand that Edmonds may be at the tail end of his career and people are on him about his performance this year, even though he's come back and supplied a small spark in the club over the last week. And no, I don't think he is worth the money that his extension would allow for next year. BUT, I don't think we need to dump him immediately. What he doesn't do at the plate, he makes up for in the field. His capability to play shallow in center probably saves the Cardinals a couple runs a week, in all honesty. Don't take Edmonds for granted, please, he's been clutch when we've needed him and his defense is second to none in this league.

Ronnie Belliard has been solid since being with the Birds. In his 49 games with the Cardinals, he's batting .243 (not impressive) with 22 rbi and 5 homeruns, however he's been a consistent at second base and he is able to turn some double play balls with much more consistency than we were able to earlier in the year. He's come up with clutch hits, and he's more of a power threat than Hector Luna or Aaron Miles. He's fine for this team down the stretch.

I still don't understand the entire Jose Vizcaino deal. I've been puzzled since day 1 as to why we felt the need to sign him. The rumor was that he was to be David Eckstein's back-up, but he obviously isn't. I'm ok with letting him go.

Preston Wilson is another guy that I'm not sure you can knack on too much. He isn't Albert Pujols, but he's done a fine job since coming over from Houston. He adds another power threat and he plays a fine outfield. He's better than So Taguchi as an everyday outfielder.

The bottom line is that this isn't the off-season, this is the pennant race. And if this your team, then it's time to get behind them. Let's make a pact as Cardinal fans: no more nay-saying, no more doubting. Just routin' hard and winnin' ballgames. And drinking the occasional cold, frosty Budweiser with Mike Shannon to help him get through the rest of this losing streak. Let's turn Cardinal nation RED for the next week and do our part in getting them there.

Here's to Mike and the Redbirds.