Before Sunday night, Chris Carpenter had started 338 Major League Baseball games that counted: 329 during the regular season, and nine during the postseason tournament.
Phillies vs. Cardinals: Chris Carpenter Touched For Three Early Runs
Out of those 338 starts, how many came after less than four days of rest?
None of them.
This is notable for a couple of reasons:
1. Generally speaking, modern pitchers fare poorly on short rest.
As Jayson Stark points out, since 2005 there have been 21 postseason starts on short rest, and the starters have combined for an ugly 5.83 ERA. Which is even uglier when you consider that most of those pitchers were asked to start on short rest because they were considered among the best pitchers in their teams’ rotations.
2. Chris Carpenter, working on short rest Sunday night in Game 2, has gotten hammered.
Jimmy Rollins led off the bottom of the first inning, and doubled. Carpenter walked Chase Utley. Carpenter walked Hunter Pence. Ryan Howard shot a laser up the middle that glanced off Carpenter's leg and into center field for a two-run single. Carpenter retired Shane Victorino on a fly ball, but Raul Ibanez lined a single into left field, plating another run.
After a visit from pitching coach Dave Duncan, Carpenter did escape with Placido Polanco’s double-play grounder. But starting on short rest, Carpenter has put his team in a three-run hole against one of the four or five best pitchers on earth.
Hey, it might work!
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