It was actually 0-for-25 going into that at-bat, I believe. Nobody’s counting though. My mom still thought I was playing good defense.

– Scott Rolen

Rolen was counting, evidently. Going by at-bats, he went 25 between hits — 26 plate appearances, if you want to be even more discouraging:

The slide overlapped into April, which capped a truly poor start for the Cardinals third baseman. But is he routinely a slow starter?Here are the worst starts to a season in Rolen’s career:

So 2007 is his second-worst start ever. But, as was the case in 2001, he appears to be hitting in some bad “luck.” That “luck” turned in his favor yesterday, when he broken out of his slump with a hard-hit grounder that would’ve been a double play had it been hit five feet left or right. Instead, it’s a slump-breaking, confidence-imbuing RBI single. Hey, we’ll take it.

I’m one of the hottest guys on the team. I’m one for my last two now. I think Kennedy’s probably the hottest on the team, but I’m second.

– Rolen

Perhaps we’ll see Rolen get a shot batting leadoff, which he’s never done in his career. Speaking of the leadoff-man tryouts, here’s where we stand — everyone who’s started a game batting leadoff this season by GPA:

I’m feeling better. It all depends on how much I get used. With a couple days off here and there, it’s always good for me. As I get older and more surgeries come about, the more days off, the better. But, I want to win ballgames. If we win by more than three, that’s a good sign, too.

– Jason Isringhausen

Isringhausen has rounded into form as well as anyone could’ve expected. He’s now 14th in the league in Relievers’ Expected Wins Added with .898 (just don’t look at who’s leading the AL). Not far behind him is Ryan Franklin (.763) at 18th. If the Cardinals are going to win low-scoring affairs, the bullpen is going to continue to be vital.

I’ve been searching for something to get going. I got a couple of balls to fall and then the guys behind me had a couple real big at-bats. When you get a couple bleeders to fall like I did, it boosts your confidence and today it worked out well for us.

– Adam Kennedy, leadoff man du jour

Ah, the fickle emotions of a major-league ballplayer, dependent on so much outside of his control. We suggest something more solid for Kennedy to base his confidence on, like his 19.7 Line-drive percentage, which is about league average. But coupled with a below-average .250 BABIP (NL average is .299), that should instill confidence that he’s just been hitting in back “luck”!

Today was a better baseball game for us — better defense,” Isringhausen said. “We got some more timely hits when we needed it. That usually equals a good game for us.

Indeed, behind Looper, the Cardinal defense was improved. The team had only a .643 DER, but that had to do less with defensive shortcomings and more with bad “luck”: the Astros seemed to just find some holes.

It’s not easy. That wasn’t easy today. It was a struggle. From the first inning on, I felt like I struggled and nothing came easy. It’s not supposed to be that much work. But, luckily, I was able to work though it and make some really good pitches when I needed to.

– Braden Looper

He did a real good job of working with what he had. I think early on, he wasn’t as overpowering as he can be. But, he never gave in and kept pitching and got better. [It] was a really clutch performance for us.

– TLR

Hopefully, Looper’s gutsy performance will come to epitomize the Cardinals as a team. With the news of Carpenter’s surgery, the next few months are going to be a struggle and the Cardinals are going to have to “do a good job of working with what they have” as a team, which gladly now has a an infusion of fresh blood, what with Ryan Ludwick getting some innings in right. No doubt, Carpenter’s setback is bad news. But allow us an attempt at finding the silver lining on this cloud of melancholy: Regardless of whether Carpenter is able to come back in three months, he represents hope. He’s the quintessential ace in the hole that can give the Cardinals confidence, if not a mind-trick, to play hard until that someday when he returns. Granted, that someday may never come in 2007, but the Cardinals have three months of ball to play before they find that out. Conversely, the announcement of Roger Clemens signing with the Yankees closes any door of hope that the Astros might’ve been holding open. Sure, the ‘Stros still have Roy Oswalt, but when you’ve got Braden Looper throwing 3.51-FIP ball, who needs Oswalt (4.16)?

This entry was posted by Pip on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 10:57 am and is filed under quotebook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.