St. Louis Cardinals’ bull-pen in virtual shambles – MLB News
The St. Louis Cardinals’ team manager Tony La Russa is perturbed by the deteriorating performance of the bull-pen lately. The loss on Thursday to the New York Mets (8-6) was a huge setback to the team considering the fact the squad has always had a strong bull-pen available at their disposal.
In fact, so dire the situation became in the game against the New York Mets that the manager had to instantaneously change the line-up to stop the freefall. However, that barely bore fruit and the Cardinals not only lost the game but also saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.
The pitcher that bore the brunt of runs against the Cardinals was Jason Motte. Having shown up in 9 of last 14 games, Motte was going considerably well until he gave up four of eight runs that the New York Mets scored.
The change in the position of Motte could well have been the reason why he could not live up to the expectations. Motte has usually come as a closer, but here he was tasked with pitching more innings. The result, nonetheless, was not satisfying to the team management.
"He may be getting distracted by somebody thinking he's the closer,” La Russa said. “He should keep his fine focus on, just pitch as good as I can. He's not the closer. He's the closer a lot of times. He doesn't need to be distracted with that nonsense. He's not the closer for next year.”
With Motte failing to contain the New York Mets’ hitters, the team manager was unwilling to launch a scathing criticism of the pitcher. "I think he just couldn't find the plate today, something that he [normally] does really well."
The Cardinals’ bull-pen, which has heard a great deal about their threshold, thanks mainly to preponderant reliance on it alone, looks a bit fatigued now. The fact that even Motte fell short of remaining invulnerable to complete weariness necessitates a complete overhaul of the pitching strategy.
Despite all the shortcomings, La Russa does not blame the bull-pen alone. “I think we're resting them where we can," La Russa said.
The St. Louis Cardinals now have a lot to look ahead. The team will be hosting the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. The Cardinals will be looking to put in a good performance against the Cubs and gain some confidence before the end of the regular season. With so much focus on the Cardinals’ bull-pen, it is now or never for them to come together and get in a decent effort. It will be interesting to see how the bull-pen regains some confidence and resilience to pounce upon the opponents.
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