The Honesty of Chris Carpenter

It would not be considered an understatement at all to claim that Chris Carpenter should almost definitely win the Cy Young award this season in the American League.
His numbers speak for themselves... 17 wins - 4 Losses, 2.24 ERA, 1.01 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)144 k's and only 38 walks. It was amazing comeback story for a player who has been marred with injuries including 'tommy-john' surgery in 2007 and a shoulder sprain in 2008.

Unfortunately, Carpenter was not as sharp in the first game of the 2009 playoff series versus their rival LA Dodgers. The Cardinals' ace gave up 4 earned runs on 9 hits while walking 3 and only strikes out 4 in only 5 innings of work en route to a 5-3 loss to the boys in blue. The reason I felt this story was blog-worthy is not because of the fact that a stud pitcher finally did poorly. In fact, Carpenter, in his defeat, showed in his post-game interview just how well he understands pitching and as a result why he is so good most of the time. Here's a paraphrased version of what he said...

When asked essentially 'What went wrong?' Carpenter said

"I was battling myself all game long. I just couldn't stay out of the middle of the plate. They hit everything I threw there. When I tried to get away from the middle, I threw balls and missed off and fell behind hitters. When I tried to get back to edge of the plate, I missed over the middle. I was either right down the middle or out of the strike zone and that's not a good way to pitch."

When asked about the 2 run homerun he gave up to Matt Kemp. (Again paraphrasing)

"I threw a pitch that was up in the zone and he put a good swing on it. He should have hit it out."


What you can see here by his comments is that Carpenter is able to take responsibility for his successes and his struggles. He knows that no one, not even the best big leaguers in the game, is good enough to throw pitches in the middle of the zone and get away with it. (Keep in mind that Carpenter's fastball is in the mid-90's and even that was not enough). He also knew that he can't throw balls out of the strike-zone if he doesn't first establish himself in the zone. Carpenter did acknowledge that the Dodgers did a good job of not missing the mistakes he threw (giving credit where it was due) but when on to say the he was battling and struggling all day but was never able to find his rhythm. Again, this is key, the he realize that when he as at his peak performance, he not forcing pitches to go where they are supposed to go. Rather, when he is in a good rhythm he is able to relax and command his pitches in the zone and out of the zone when he wants.

Luckily for the Cardinals, Chris Carpenter has needed to explain why he didn't throw well very often if at all this season. Unfortunately, they did in the first game of the series and after tonites meltdown, they wasted the stellar performance from the their' ther ace, Adam Wainwright.

Here's hoping he gets another chance before the series ends.