Too Disgusting

I was almost too disgusted to post. But then I got to thinkin'...who's really to blame. Earlier I watched the Mets crush the Dodgers. Brad Penny had a rough outing. I watched as pitches which were down or out of the strikezone got golfed into the outfield. Several deflections led to some infield hits. Penny wasn't pitching great...but he wasn't pitching that bad either.

"Wait...wait...wait!" you say. "What do the Dodgers have to do with the Cards' game last night?"

Izzy was and has been getting hammered. By and large, we're not talkin' bad luck. People are launching on him like a pack of Mentos in a two liter of diet Coke. Sure, Pujols slipped up. He does from time to time. But there are still a fair amount of you out there who keep clamoring for him to "be held accountable." To those who keep claiming this...you are silly. Go back to your corner. Annnnnyhoo...where was I? Oh yea! It's not just Izzy. He was put in a tough situation. It's the bullpen in total. Apparently, TLR has confidence in the bullpen: "We have a bullpen that can shut them down, but it just didn't do it." I don't know if this is well founded. Give me more than three occasions where the bullpen looked like it could shut anyone down and I'll grant TLR's claim. But I don't think there are!

Some people want to chalk up the loss to the bats. Yes, it is true that 3 runs is below average for the Cards (they're averaging about 4.7 per game this year). But 4.7 is only .1 per game above the league median (yes, I was too lazy to do the averaging). Yes, the need for a better bat still weighs heavily--and is rightly the priority. However, the bullpen should not give up 4 runs in 2 innings. I suggest that 1.7 runs below your average in a game is not half as bad as giving up 4 runs in 2 innings. The goat, as C70 would say, is the bullpen.