Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Pineiro Puts a Stop to LaRussa's Madness

Joel Pineiro pitched a complete game shutout against the Cubs Tuesday night and it was a refreshing change for those who watch the Cardinals on a regular basis. Just the night before, LaRussa trotted eight pitchers to the mound in a nine inning game. Tonight's game took two hours and five minutes. Monday night's fox trot took three hours and twenty-one minutes. The latter has been the norm for the Cardinals.

Previous to Tuesday night's game, the Cardinals had played 38 games and LaRussa has used 167 different pitcher appearances for an average of 4.39 pitchers per game. And it's not like the Cardinals can't pitch. Their team ERA is a respectable 4.23. The only team with more appearances in the National League has been Washington (for obvious reasons) who have used 4.50 pitchers per game. But that's understandable since the Nationals have a team ERA of 5.90 [wince].

LaRussa loves his matchups. But they sure are tedious.

1 comment:

Josh Borenstein said...

Haha, LaRussa's madness.