Spot-starter extraordinaire Brad Thompson once again rescued the Cardinals with a fine fill-in performance Saturday, this time for perennially disabled Chris Carpenter. Thompson deserves credit simply for being available to answer the bell: He’s spot started — which we define as "a start that was preceded and followed by something other than a major-league start" (so he either next appeared in relief or in the minor leagues) — five times in his career, the most of any Cardinal pitcher since 2004. And other than Al Reyes, who made only two spot starts, Thompson has been the best spot starter (by highest-average FIGS). Here are the team’s spot starts since 2004 by FIGS:

With the team increasingly needing spot starters, going from needing only four in 2004 and two each in 2005 and 2006 to seven in 2007 and already five this season, Thompson provides a valuable, if unheralded, service. Being a reliable spot starter is a bit like being a good pinch hitter, so perhaps Thompson will be able to break through the glass ceiling on his career or find freedom like another occasional spot starter, Anthony Reyes.

Lesson learned?
Suffice it to say that, without having to face Ken Griffey and Adam Dunn, the Cardinals had a much easier time taking two of three in Cincinnati last weekend. Erstwhile Cardinals’ and current Reds’ GM Walt Jocketty dealt the two sluggers in separate trades a couple of weeks ago, divesting the team’s two longest-tenured players (probably unwisely so in Dunn’s case). In St. Louis, Jocketty’s penchant was to trade the other way, sending prospects for veterans, and to re-sign or extend contracts of veterans (e.g., Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Jim Edmonds) before they could leave as free agents. Has Jocketty learned his lesson? Possibly. It’s more likely that a) the Reds are in a different place from the 2004-era Cardinals, and b) not having presided over the Reds very long, he’s not emotionally invested in the players yet. The situation with the Reds is more akin to 1995, when Jocketty took over as the Cardinals’ GM and jettisoned vets like Todd Zeile and Bernard Gilkey (and, it should be noted, got very little in return). The Cardinals won the division within a season of Jocketty taking over. Will the Reds respond similarly?

2006 Cardinals, revisited
Speaking of the halcyon Jocketty years, THT’s Brandon Isleib schedule-normalized the results of some recent seasons (that is, with interleague and weighted-division play factored out) and found that the 2006 Cardinals were perhaps not as mediocre as their regular-season record indicated:

Two obvious oddities: the Pirates of the Lloyd McClendon era feasibly having a winning record (they were .567 against the NL East and .533 against the NL West, but only .416 against the NL Central), and the Cardinals coming off as not a bad team, mainly off their ridiculous .676 against the NL West. Once the Cards stopped facing their own division, they were actually pretty good, a bias that could partly explain the postseason success that few predicted for them.

Russ Springer, ROOGy?
In last Thursday’s game, Russ Springer faced one batter, a righty (Jorge Cantu), and struck him out. It seems that Springer has been used less lately as a traditional middle-reliever and more as a situational righty, aka ROOGy (Righthanded One-Out Guy). And, indeed, this season Springer is among the league leaders in fewest innings per game (min. 20 IP), "better" than many LOOGys, including the Cardinals’ own Ron Villone:

Whether La Runcan is saving the big righty’s arm or intentionally trying to limit his exposure to lefties, it’s working. Springer is facing about 63% righthanders, who have a measely .178 GPA against him this year. Compare that to lefties, who have a .259 GPA. That’s a platoon split worth considering.

As others see us
We attended five of the six games in which the Phillies were in town, and in four of those games, So Taguchi received a standing ovation from the Busch Stadium crowd. The experience wasn’t lost on fellow Phillie (we’re really resisting the urge to write "phellow" there) Jimmy Rollins, who created a bit of a kerfuffle with his comments on the Best Damn Sports Show Period about being dissed by the city of brotherly love:

Rollins: … for example, Ryan’s from St. Louis. You know, St. Louis, it seems like they support their team. They’re out there, and they’re encouraging. And in Philly, you can’t be no punk.

As we’ve been noticing, though, it increasingly seems that St. Louisans support former players visiting as opponents more than they loyally suport their own current players. It’s a perverse condition, since, well, it’s the fact that the player once played for the very team that the fans are supposed to be supporting that distinguishes him as a player to cheer for. Rather than being known as the best fans in baseball, St. Louisans should be known as the most sycophantic fans for the opponent in baseball. After all, just ask Jason Isringhausen if you can’t be no punk.

This entry was posted by Pip on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 5:35 pm and is filed under around the horn. 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.