Cards' Carpenter cruises into 2nd start
ST. LOUIS -- In his first start, Chris Carpenter took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. In his second outing on Tuesday night at Arizona, the St. Louis Cardinals' ace just might threaten his puny innings total from a nearly lost 2008.
Manager Tony La Russa just wants the big right-hander to put up another building block in his comeback season.
"He's got a strong mind, he'll be ready," La Russa said. "That's how you do it. You just crank out, crank out, crank out, and look at the numbers."
Carpenter's return from reconstructive elbow surgery lasted only 15 1-3 innings last summer before shoulder woes surfaced, and he had surgery after the season to relieve nerve irritation in the elbow. All spring he's been his old dominant self, the pitcher who was 51-18 from 2004-06 and won an NL Cy Young Award in '05.
"If you watched him in spring training, he was dealing, man," La Russa said. "Every time out there he was sharper and his stuff was always good."
The Cardinals cautiously slotted Carpenter for the fourth game of the season instead of the opener, wary of disrupting the rotation in case of a setback. He skipped his final tuneup against Triple-A Memphis due to a minor calf strain, but the Pittsburgh Pirates saw vintage Carpenter in his '09 debut.
He allowed one hit in seven innings to win for the first time since Game 3 of the 2006 World Series.
"You couldn't tell he missed any time," Pittsburgh manager John Russell said. "It's no secret, he's a great pitcher when he's healthy."
When Carpenter's arm is sound, both he and the Cardinals seem to have big years. St. Louis won 100 games in '04, faltering in a World Series sweep at the hands of the Red Sox after Carpenter was sidelined with a nerve problem in his biceps. They won 100 again in '05 and made it to the NL championship series, and won the Series in '06 with a staff led by Carpenter.
St. Louis missed the postseason in '07 and '08. Carpenter missed almost everything, making only his opening day start in 2007 and appearing in four games last season.
"We've lived with it for two years, and it's been a constant aggravation," La Russa said. "I'm very aware of it."
Now it appears he's back. Carpenter said that since February, he's felt as good as he did in the glory years.
"It's felt normal," Carpenter said. I've been feeling normal all spring, my stuff has gotten better and better, I feel, each time out."
Carpenter has never been much for nibbling around the plate and kept the pressure on the Pirates, with a 2-1 ratio to strikes to balls. That kept the game moving and kept his defense alert.
"You get outs and you get grounders, and guys want to play behind you and they're making really nice plays," he said. "Everything comes together when you're out there pounding the strike zone."
A steady rain that fell much of the opening start failed to distract Carpenter. Neither did the no-no flirtation, given that Carpenter left the game trailing 1-0 due to a shaky inning defensively for first baseman Albert Pujols. But the Cardinals rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to give Carpenter the win.
"The name is the game is hitting the glove," he said. "I was able to do it for the most part all day."