Mulder looked good tonight

[Todd4State]

I thought that was very encouraging for the Cardinals.

This is probably what they should have done all along instead of trying to make him pitch five innings at Memphis.

 

[williecunningham]

He also looked pretty good in a re-hab start or two only to get lit up like a Christmas tree. He got 3 outs in a 7-1 game. Anybody who is encouraged by that is grasping at straws. When Looper was pulled in the 4th yesterday, you had to figure Mulder would pitch yesterday. Only problem was, KC kind of hung around and LaRussa never ran him out there. That speaks volumes to me on how much confidence they have in him right now. That's a more telling sign to me than mop up duty in a blow out.

 

[ArrowDawg.bulldogsonlymessageboard]

nm

 

[Todd4State]

was that his velocity was in the low 90's and his control looked pretty good. He also had a swinging strikeout- against a big league hitter. Also, the two hits that he gave up were bloop singles.

They shouldn't put in a high pressure situation coming back from an injury, but after tonight, I don't think it will be long before they do put him in some high pressure situaitons.

Also, in his last rehab start he gave up six runs in the first inning, but almost all of the hits were on the ground, which means that he was at least getting the ball down, and his last two innings were scoreless.

What he did in a AAA rehab start doesn't matter anymore anyway, the fact that he was able to pitch in the Big Leagues and get some guys out is definately a step in the right direction and is encouraging. Hopefully, by spring training he can go back to the rotation.

 

[williecunningham]

was that his velocity was in the low 90's and his control looked pretty good. He also had a swinging strikeout- against a big league hitter. Also, the two hits that he gave up were bloop singles.

They shouldn't put in a high pressure situation coming back from an injury, but after tonight, I don't think it will be long before they do put him in some high pressure situaitons.

Also, in his last rehab start he gave up six runs in the first inning, but almost all of the hits were on the ground, which means that he was at least getting the ball down, and his last two innings were scoreless.

What he did in a AAA rehab start doesn't matter anymore anyway, the fact that he was able to pitch in the Big Leagues and get some guys out is definately a step in the right direction and is encouraging. Hopefully, by spring training he can go back to the rotation.

</p>Again, he pitched a scoreless inning at the tail end of a blow out. So did Aaron Miles. Get back to me when his manager has even the slightest bit of confidence in him to get a meaningful out. He really looked awful to me as far as his mechanics are concerned. I think it is more likely that he is done than him making his way back to the rotation. You could tell the announcers were just searching for something good to say about him. Kind of like you.

 

[PineGroveBully]

but you cant argue that he didnt look effective. And you cant rush a guy making his FIRST big league relief appearence into high pressure situations. You have to ease them into it. If you look back he did the same thing for other starters that have been in the bullpen because of rehab or other reasons. He eased Matt Morris into situations the year after he had tommy john. It took him a little while to get the knack of it but he won 20 games the next year. Wainwright 2 years ago. He wasnt flung into the pressure cooker his first appereance. It was an experiment. As he got more outs he gained confindence which allowed him to do what he did in the playoffs in 06. I dont know what you talking about on the mechanics either. All the deliveries looked fluid, and he got good results against a 130million dollar payroll.

 

[williecunningham]

Again, Aaron Miles pitched a shut out inning in mop up duty. Should we pencil him in as a 20 game winner next year?

 

[PineGroveBully]

With good location and movement. Aaron Miles is one of my favorite Cardinals but he pitched a shutout throwing ephus pitches along with a 66 mph fastball and 64 mph changup. Again I didnt say he would win 20 games next year. But you have to crawl before you can walk and last night was nothing but a positive

 

[Todd4State]

Get back to me when his manager has even the slightest bit of confidence in him to get a meaningful out. He really looked awful to me as far as his mechanics are concerned.

LaRussa is going to ease him into situations like that, again, there is no need to rush him.

All you know about mechanics is that they can fix your car.

 

[williecunningham]

Get back to me when his manager has even the slightest bit of confidence in him to get a meaningful out. He really looked awful to me as far as his mechanics are concerned.

LaRussa is going to ease him into situations like that, again, there is no need to rush him.

All you know about mechanics is that they can fix your car.

</p>So you don't think he has changed his delivery in the last 3 weeks? You might want to do a little research before you comment any further.

 

[Todd4State]

that doesn't mean that his mechanics are bad, or were bad last night.

I was commenting on what you said- that you thought that his mechanics looked bad last night.

That's logical, a guy changes his arm slot, so that must mean that his mechanics are now bad.

If his mechanics were so bad, why was his control so good and why was his velocity consistently good (all things considered)? He was keeping the ball down, and he looked like he was repeating his delivery pretty well for the most part.

It's ironic that you accuse me of grasping at straws when you are the one who went from "It wasn't a high pressure situation, they have no confidence in him." to "His mechanics were awful."</p>

 

[PineGroveBully]

and doubted their lineup I bet you lost a fortune on that 06 World Series. Naw, theres no way a team that plays the game the right way and just wants it a little more than most other teams can be successful. I bet you was one of those saying the Tigers would win it in 3 games they were so much better "on paper."

 

[williecunningham]

I love it. Red Sheep.

 

[williecunningham]

Get back to me when his manager has even the slightest bit of confidence in him to get a meaningful out. He really looked awful to me as far as his mechanics are concerned.

LaRussa is going to ease him into situations like that, again, there is no need to rush him.

All you know about mechanics is that they can fix your car.

</p>Brought him in with a one run lead and four batters later the only out he got was a sac fly. Two hits, a wild pitch, and a hit batsman. Ran the old ERA to a cool 13.5 in a matter of 13 pitches. Encouraging indeed.

 

[MissStFan87]

We won the game, I'll take it. I wasn't so sure Mulder was going to be effective for a while, if ever, when he came back. It doesn't shock me he struggled in his second appearance in a year.

Off subject a little: How ironic was it that Chavez almost brought back the walk-off homer? Shades of Scott Rolen in the 2006 NLCS.

 

[Todd4State]

Tonight was not as good, but it's still good to see him back.

If LaRussa didn't have confidence in him, why did he put him in that situation to start with?

I'll go on to say that LaRussa has more confidence in him than I do, because I would have let him do some mop up duty in a couple more games, but that's OK.

I was more concerned with his velocity losing 2 MPH than anything.

Edit to say, I still think once he builds his arm strength back up, he will be OK, but it's going to take some time.
</p>

 

[PineGroveBully]

You could only expect him to have some hiccups as he transtions from a starter to coming in the middle of an inning as he did last night. We he threw that first fastball and 88 popped up on the screen I thougth uh-oh.

I am like you as well. I would have let him get at least another 3-4 innings in mop up time just to get a better feel of relief life before I put him in the pressure cooker. If he gets a double play or maintains the lead he comes out looking like a genius but I just think the the chances for a negative outcome outweighed the chances of sucess in that paticular time.

But again, I cant bust Larussas chops too much. When he put Duncan in and the Mets went Lefty I was screaming for him to pull him back and send in Yadi. But he trusted Dunc and he repayed him. Getting him going would be huge. I figured the only reason he didnt pull him back was because the pitchers spot was coming up next and if he used Yadi in Duncs spot then that would have left Kennedy as the only other bench player so you was going to have a lefty-lefty matchup either way.