Will he remember? (Lost a game we should've won)

[Solair Wright]

*sigh* Looks like a run-away win was foiled by La Russa leaving Lohse in too long. (As if Tony hadn't had that happen a lot since 1996) He should've called to the bullpen in the 7th, then have a reliever ready by the eighth. I know you can't win them all, I know, but a bone-headed managing loss is a different story. Well, Tony needs to realise this more often.

Some starting pitchers can pitch complete games, others can't. Like Kyle Lohse, for example. He left Lohse in too long, he paid the price. He basically allowed the Brewers to tie because of leaving Lohse in too long, (I know there was another guy who allowed the tying run) then they win the game thanks to playing a game they should've won.

This isn't the first time this happened since 1996. Definitely not the first time.

[TheStringIsOut_NC]

He probably did leave Lohse in too long, true, but the bullpen failed to do its job in an admittedly tough situation. That is the sort of situation where the pen has to bail Kyle out and help the team hang on for the 'W'. They didn't do it. They'll have to come through in a lot of those situations this year if the Cardinals are going to maintain this 11-5 start and prove that they are far, far, better than preseason prognosticators forecasted.

I'm not a big fan of La Russa, never have been, but if he'd gone to the pen while it appeared Lohse was cruising - and they'd flubbed it up - he'd have been lambasted for overmanaging the game - which is the classic LaRussa foible. I bet we'll see that happen more than few times this year, too.

[hubkittel]

I was at the ballpark yesterday for the game. Beautiful day, 75 degrees and sunny. Nice day for a ballgame. And everything was going well until the eighth. It was weird. I was sitting there (basking in the sun) thinking that the game was in the bag, Lohse would cruise through the inning with the bottom of the Brewers order coming up, and Izzy would put it away (in some kind of overly dramatic Izzy way) in the ninth. Then the wheels came off.

A couple of things to remember (besides the obvious "You can't win 'em all"):

-Lohse was throwing a gem; he took a three hitter into the eighth (with no walks) and had only thrown 80-some pitches; plus, he was facing the bottom of the Brewers lineup; nobody in the ballpark was talking about taking out Lohse-we were kicking around the idea that if Lohse could get through the inning without throwing too many pitches then maybe TLR might let him come out for the ninth and get the complete game.

-The bullpen is pretty much overextended right now; Springer is hurt, McClellan (who did a great job yesterday) is pitching every other day, Franklin isn't the same guy from last year, etc; if I would fault TLR for anything, it would be for using Franklin like he was the '07 version of Franklin; we need to extend our starters right now or we're going to blow out the pen early.

-We left a bunch of guys on base yesterday; 10 hits, eight walks, and only three runs; the reason we lost the game yesterday was because we didn't get the big hit when we needed it; Lohse had two of the three rbi's and the only other run we scored was on Ludwick's solo homer; Ankiel and Glaus were the main culprets in stranding runners; we had the Brewers on the ropes but never put them away.

-If Schumamaker's glove was an inch longer, he catches Fielder's flair in the eighth and we win the game anyway.

A tough game but we did win the series. It's just too bad we didn't get the sweep because the OP is right-this was a game we should have won. But that's baseball for you. Anyway, I'm going back to the ballpark tomorrow and hopefully we'll have some better luck.

And nothing to do with anything but it was a funny moment: I sit in the first row over the Cards bullpen and Izzy was doing some light throwing (this was in the eighth before everything blew up); a guy behind me yells "You suck Izzy!" and a beat later a guy down the row from me yells "No you don't Izzy!"; everybody in the section just starts laughing and Izzy doesn't even bat an eye. A nice light moment before the game went totally to h*ll.

[keystone]

Will he remember

You bring up a good point, hubkittle. LaRussa & Duncan are getting early wins at the expense of the bullpen. The starting pitching is going to be less than stellar over the long haul, and I don't think Clement or Mulder will add much upon their return.

So, the bullpen is getting way over-used. Franklin. Flores, McClellan et. al. are going to be raggedy by the All-Star break. :twocents:

LaRussa's moves sometimes just drive me insane, but I have to say I don't think he could've foreseen the Lohse meltdown. Kyle was pitching a whale of a game and just ended up grooving one...