St. Louis Cardinals Take Game 7, Win 11th World Series In Franchise History

Yesterday I got a big pile of mail, held while I was away. The best piece was this (which I ordered through regular channels):

↵

Since turning to his curveball in the third inning, Chris Carpenter has completely turned around his Game 7 outing. After throwing just one curve in his first 43 pitches, he threw six in his next 12. That gives him four pitches instead of three, and a sort of change-up that he simply didn’t have in the first couple of inning, when he struggled.

...

... just allowed a home run as I was typing his name. Sorry about that, Rangers fans. He was really looking good, though!

Just like a cool, smooth Marlboro cigarette. Yeahh

But Tony La Russa still has confidence in Carpenter. Or at least more confidence than he has in his long relievers. How do I know this? Because La Russa let Carpenter bat for himself in the bottom of the second.

Unlike most broadcasters, Bobby Valentine’s usually willing to call them as he sees them, and here’s his take on Chris Carpenter tonight: “This is very mediocre stuff that Carpenter’s featuring.”

In two innings, Carpenter has given up four hits and two walks, and he’s lucky to have given up only two runs. He didn’t throw a curveball until his 34th pitch; during the regular season, he typically threw between 15 and 25 curveballs per game.

This is your annual (weekly, daily, whatever) reminder that it’s pretty impressive anyone can go out on a pitching mound for a World Series Game 7 without wetting their drawers on national TV. I pitched exactly once when I was in high school, this girl I liked was watching me, and I hit the only two batters I faced. This is like that, but on a larger scale. So kudos to the professionals who do this for our enjoyment.

Freese was still in scoring position for Yadier Molina, who hit the ball well to center, but Josh Hamilton caught the ball with a leap as he approached the wall.

In the middle of the night, Cardinals beat writer Joe Strauss confirmed it:

Pitchers who go on three days’ rest in the postseason often have trouble; also, Carpenter has thrown 267 innings this season and there have been whispers that he has some elbow trouble, though he claims to be OK.

So even after his performance in Game 5, we might not have seen the last of Chris Carpenter. But then, one has to wonder: what’s going on with his elbow? The health of Carpenter’s elbow was a subject of conversation just last week, and the following nugget jumped out at me from the bottom of a Gil LeBreton article:

Skipping warmup pitches? That sounds like a guy who might be hurting. But then, I tracked down the following from October 3: