Since the start of the 2004 season, just over five-and-a-half years ago, St. Louis Cardinals pitchers have started 24 games in which they went on to pitch seven or more innings on four or fewer hits with nary a base on balls.
Despite the dominance, the team has won only about four of every five of these games. Specifically, the team’s record is 19-5 (.792) in such outings. The starters themselves are 19-3 (.864) with two no-decisions in games the bullpen later lost in part due to the lack of a cushion provided by the club’s sputtering offense.
Despite missing most of two seasons during that time, ace Chris Carpenter (pictured) has authored the vast majority of these fine performances, ten. His record in these games is 8-1-1 (.889), but lately has not achieved the desired bottom line result after having won his first seven such outings.
No other Cardinals pitcher has more than three of these games (Braden Looper) and even the next four on the list combined after Carpenter do not reach his impressive total. Interestingly, budding ace Adam Wainwright has yet to make an appearance among this group, though each of the club’s other current starters are represented.
Cardinals starters – seven or more innings on four or fewer hits and no walks (2004-2009)
| G | Starter |
| 10 | Chris Carpenter |
| 3 | Braden Looper |
| 2 | Kyle Lohse, Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis |
| 1 | Todd Wellemeyer, Anthony Reyes, Jeff Suppan, Mark Mulder, Matt Morris |
| 24 | Total |
Carpenter’s tenth such outing was on Thursday afternoon in New York as he and Cardinals fell to the Mets, 3-2. It was his third such start in the last month and amazingly, the team’s second loss in the three games. Chris took a no-decision on May 25th in Milwaukee despite fanning ten in eight two-hit scoreless innings.
With six of these gems this season to-date and almost half the schedule remaining, the starting staff seems poised to top their best season in the last five. In 2006, they also registered six of these games. Just as in 2009, Carpenter had half of them, but perhaps encouragingly, they were all in the second half of the season.
Cardinals starters – seven or more innings on four or fewer hits and no walks (2004-2009) – game log
| # | Player | Date | Opp | Res | Score | App | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| 1 | Chris Carpenter | 6/25/2009 | @NYM | L | 2-3 | GS-7 | L | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2 | Chris Carpenter | 6/4/2009 | CIN | W | 3-1 | CG 9 | W | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | Chris Carpenter | 5/25/2009 | @MIL | L | 0-1 | GS-8 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| 4 | Kyle Lohse | 5/23/2009 | KCR | W | 5-0 | GS-8 | W | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | Joel Pineiro | 5/19/2009 | CHC | W | 3-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | Kyle Lohse | 4/12/2009 | HOU | W | 3-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 | Braden Looper | 9/5/2008 | FLA | L | 1-4 | GS-8 | 7.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 8 | Todd Wellemeyer | 8/31/2008 | @HOU | L | 0-3 | GS-7 | L | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | Braden Looper | 6/11/2008 | @CIN | W | 10-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 10 | Braden Looper | 9/2/2007 | CIN | W | 3-2 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | Joel Pineiro | 8/9/2007 | SDP | W | 5-0 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 12 | Chris Carpenter | 9/1/2006 | PIT | W | 3-1 | CG 9 | W | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 13 | Chris Carpenter | 8/15/2006 | CIN | W | 5-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 14 | Jason Marquis | 7/23/2006 | @LAD | W | 6-1 | GS-8 | W | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Chris Carpenter | 7/14/2006 | LAD | W | 5-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 16 | Anthony Reyes | 6/22/2006 | @CHW | L | 0-1 | CG 8 | L | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 17 | Jeff Suppan | 4/25/2006 | PIT | W | 6-3 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | Jason Marquis | 8/27/2005 | @WSN | W | 6-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | Chris Carpenter | 7/17/2005 | HOU | W | 3-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 20 | Chris Carpenter | 6/25/2005 | PIT | W | 8-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 21 | Mark Mulder | 5/4/2005 | @CIN | W | 7-3 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 22 | Chris Carpenter | 4/5/2005 | @HOU | W | 7-3 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | Matt Morris | 9/3/2004 | LAD | W | 3-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 24 | Chris Carpenter | 5/9/2004 | @MON | W | 5-2 | GS-8 | W | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
As is often the case, a tip of the cap is offered to Tom Orf for the supporting data.
Its been a strange season so far, offensively. Glaus’ surprise injury. Freese’s accident. Mather’s lingering problems. Greene’s morale. Slow years for Ankiel and Duncan. A bit of time on the DL for Ankiel and Ludwick. Matt Holliday has not found it easy either.
And as fate would have it, Adam Kennedy is hitting better than Holliday for the As. I would salute Kennedy for going about things the right way. After let go by the Cards, Adam signed on with Tampa, which did not have a roster slot. Kennedy went down to AAA, applied himself, hit well, and another franchise had need for him. He has worked hard and is being rewarded with great results.
TLR was sorry to see Aaron Miles leave. At least Miles got a great pay day, thanks to the generosity of the baby Bears. Yet at the plate, Miles has been woeful. While this would have been hard to predict, Miles was not a good bet for $2.5MM, so Mo is looking smart to have let Miles depart, despite Tony’s regrets.
That pretty much cover it Jumbo…………..
Yesterday, the Johnson City Cardinals were down by 9 runs, but came storming back to win. At least one team in the system likes to use their bats.
Two at JC clearing fences are Latin bonus babies from 2005 and 2006, Edgar Lara and Romulo Ruiz.
This mornings Joe Strauss is the beginning Jumbo. Even you know what it says. It will be a very entertaining July.
Yikes. Yeah, lefties are destroying the birds.