When Cardinals manager Tony La Russa began plotting a possible path to the playoffs last August, he placed a copy of the schedule across his desk and ran his finger down to the 162nd game of the season.
at Houston
Beside that game, La Russa wrote: Carpenter.
If you pumped him full of truth serum, he might admit his goal was to finish ahead of the Reds rather than make the playoffs. At the time, the Cardinals were 10 games behind Atlanta in the National League wild-card race and making the playoffs seemed like the longest of long shots.
When he called a team meeting in late August, it was to urge his players to not give up on the season, to play hard all the way through and to see where it got them.
He did the same thing himself, and in his best-case scenario, the Cardinals would step onto the field for the final game of the season with something to play for. If that happened, he wanted his team on Chris Carpenter's shoulders.
Fast forward two months to Game 6 of the World Series. Remember that one? One of the best ever played, right?
Game 6 had been rained out on its scheduled day, and when that happened, the Cardinals suddenly saw a clear path to a championship. If they could win Game 6, they'd have Carpenter for Game 7.
"He put us on his shoulders," Matt Holliday said later.
Listen, the Cardinals aren't toast if Carpenter is sidelined a couple of months, or even the entire season.
Adam Wainwright is every bit the ace Carpenter has been, and he has had a terrific spring in his return from Tommy John surgery. In fact, the entire starting rotation has been solid, including 24-year-old Lance Lynn, the 39th pick of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.
La Russa trusted Lynn enough at the end of last season to put him into five of seven World Series games. Lynn pitched a scoreless eighth inning in Game 7 as the Cardinals closed in on their 11th championship.
Behind Lynn is Shelby Miller, the Cardinals' top pick in 2009. Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt has built a franchise that will survive the loss of one player, or even two or three players.
There's also no underestimating what Carpenter has meant to the Cardinals. It's not just all those innings and all those big-game performances. It's his attitude and toughness, and at times, his mean streak. Teams sometimes take on the personality of their leaders.
Roger Clemens was one of Carpenter's early mentors in Toronto, and just like Clemens, Carpenter is a bundle of fire on the mound. No, you don't want to know some of the words they've yelled into opposing dugouts through the years.
After La Russa penciled Carpenter in for the 162nd game, after he urged his players to go hard until the end, Carpenter had maybe the best stretch of his career.
With the Cardinals in a desperate situation, he AVERAGED eight innings in his last five starts. He allowed four runs in one of those games, one in another and zero in three .
And when the Cardinals did indeed need to win that 162nd game, Carpenter pitched a shutout.
Teams are ever-changing things in terms of chemistry, makeup and stuff that can't be measured. La Russa always believed that management had to change the group dynamics of the clubhouse every single year.
"Because they're always changing anyway," he said.
It's a thousand little things. Players age and depart. New players arrive. Money can become a factor, either through impending free agency or new deals. Sometimes the change is subtle, but there is ALWAYS change.
Last spring when Wainwright went down, La Russa gathered his players and told them that they would miss him terribly, that there was no use playing down how much he'd meant to the franchise.
On the other hand, he said, "We still have enough to win."
La Russa's genius as a manager has always been able to keep his guys focused on a goal and to get them to believe they could reach that goal.
Now that's Mike Matheny's task. The Cardinals will open the season without the three most important members of last season's championship club -- Albert Pujols, Carpenter and La Russa.
There's still a clear path to another championship. If Carlos Beltran and Lance Berkman are healthy and productive, if David Freese and Allen Craig continue to get better, if the rotation doesn't suffer another loss, the Cardinals are still one of the National League's best teams.
At the beginning of spring training, Carpenter bristled when asked about the perception that they couldn't win without La Russa and Pujols.
"I don't agree there's that perception," Carpenter said.
He made it clear he believed the Cardinals could win again. He gestured around a clubhouse that had all kinds of talent. He was right about it then and now. But the road just became tougher because he won't be part of things for at least awhile.
Ron Hornaday Tony Schumacher Roger Federer Shaun White Snowboard
No comments:
Post a Comment