Quit making excuses for getting it handed to you more often now days and right the ship. Or, give me someone who can!

Getting beat with whatever garbage he’s throwing up there is just as bad. I don’t think that he will see his 300th save as a Cardinal, at least I hope. It’s no fluke we won the series when he was out.

it seemed to me that the other pitcher’s breaking balls were bending just fine. i have lived at six thousand feet for years and i don’t buy the difference that altitude makes. it makes a difference, just not as much as most think. ask a golfer. they say figure about 7%. in golf, where the ball is traveling much farther than a baseball, the difference is much more apparent. but any golfer will tell you it makes much more difference with a driver than a nine iron. on a long shot, the altitude factor will necessitate a club change. yet inside a hundred yards, not really. and izzy’s curve ball is only going sixty feet six inches. i think he just lacked confidence with the breaking ball and altitude just sounds like an excuse. so far this year, his curve has looked pretty good to me.

After the game Wednesday, Isringhausen said he didn’t think his pitches or command were bad. He said,”That’s baseball. It’s just the way it goes.” That seems too blaise’ when you are making $8 million. I guess I just don’t understand how it is to be a millionaire I wonder if that is any consolation to Wainwright or Looper. It’s probably just an emotional reaction on my part, but it seems like everybody on the team isn’t quite as upbeat as they were. Maybe it’s the lack of timely days off. However, it’s the major leagues and your performance should reflect that you are worth the millions you are being paid, with the exception of a bad game once in a while, of course.

When I recently read that a few STL fans go to the bullpen area in STL to shout obcenities at Izzy when’s going bad, I wondered what kind of Cards’ fans would do that. I find that following the Birds since 1962 has made me like whoever wears the bird on the bat. The negative jerks who are uncivilized and frankly cruel at the ballpark, and write some of the garbage I see here, probably also wanted Ankiel executed, back in the day. They make me freakin’ ill.

I don’t think it’s fair to call Izzy blasé. He cares immensely. A reliever has to keep himself on an even keel, because whatever the outcome one night, chances are he has to go out and do it again the next night or the one after that.

I don’t know where else to say it, but this redesign is awful. Graphically, it’s not attractive. More importantly, the usability is several steps down from the old website. Derrick gets a raw deal in this redesign, for example. He’s farther down the page, and the loss of his headshot makes it harder to find Bird Land. There are only links for particular Bird Land posts, but no direct link that I can find to get the page with headers for the last 10 Bird Land posts, where I used to check for new comments on recent posts. Having a separate link for PCQ (rather than mixing them in with the regular Bird Land posts) almost guarantees that there will be fewer hits for PCQ. And all those giant shadow quotes on the blogs are a trademark of designers with their feet in the clouds and their heads up their … I’ll bet the people in the Post-Dispatch building who handle words and substance can’t stand those designers.

What genius decided to put Cardinals Basics at the bottom of the page? Do you really want to bury Hummel like that behind the other columnists? He’s a Hall of Famer, for pete’s sake. The pull-down menus at the top of the page are terrible and the links on those menus are organized badly. When I hold the cursor over Sports to get the menu, the columnists and live chats are close by, but the main links to specific local teams, which must be what people want most, are all the way over on the left. This whole redesign reeks of being ill-prepared and badly thought out. I wonder how many months the “design team” wasted on it. I’m sure there will be some tweaks, but you’ll never get the whole thing fixed. Is this the third redesign in as many years?

I’m actually starting to wonder if this redesign is intentionally user unfriendly to force readers to scroll more down the page and search longer for what they’re looking for, in some misguided attempt to get more eyes on the advertising. That would be a lousy strategy for a printed newspaper; it’s a catastrophically misguided strategy on the internet. Once I’ve bought a newspaper or had it delivered to my home, there’s a huge barrier to getting a different paper (if there even is a competitor). But if you make my web experience annoying or even unpleasant, I’m a click away from migrating to a competitor.

Its time to shuffle around around the Pen. Whether it is an injury or Izzy’s stuff just isn’t what it used to be…he needs to find another club. They need to try and find a buyer while he still has some value.Why not give Kyle McClellan a chance or call up Chris Perez to close.

Izzy’s problems also include walking too many people. He seems incapable of getting a one-two-three inning any more. Given his atrocious ERA, it’s time to look at someone else as a closer.

Izzy has done great things for the Cardinals over the years, so we by rights should be grateful to him. But nothing and nobody lasts forever. Izzy definitely does not fit the youth movement that has brought us out of the doldrums this season. However much credit the Cards front office, manager, and coaches (let’s make the latter singular, for Duncan) may be due for personnel moves in recent years, they also let Haren, Renteria, and Polanco get away. A 6.60 ERA and a 1-3 record just doesn’t hack it for a “closer”, veteran or no veteran, so how about sending Izzy down to Memphis to see if he’s able to get himself right, or not, and bring up Perez to test his mettle in the Big Show. It’s to be the “best five” as starters, and it needs to be the “best one” as closer.

Wrong blog, I know, but let’s give a cheer for Jim Edmonds, who provided us with a great number of highlight defensive plays, plenty of memorable HRs and other big hits, and always played all-out, hurt or not. He’s a great guy. Just too bad he couldn’t have had a good last year with the Padres. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, JIM!

Ok Izzy has had his chances and then some. He’s toast. Regardless if he is hurt or tired or whatever, he is impotent and needs to go. PERIOD!

Amazing. Another blown save for “Izzy”. I think the cardinals would be better off with Rick Ankiel reviving his pitching career.

Like Matty Mo and Jim Edmonds, Isringhausen needs to hang it up.

Please get rid of this guy. He is done. How many games does he give away before the just release the bum? I\’m sick of his act. He\’s single-handedly cost the Cards 5 games already. If he has any honor he\’ll do the right thing: quit now.

Pretty obvious what the WEAK spot is. We have the flexibility to move Duncan, either sit or trade - this will be an important indication as to whether we’ll keep him too long or play him too much. Izzy is toast - something has to be done. Blowing one run leads happens at times, but with all the over achieving so far this year to blow it with two out and nobody out, defies reason. Too many chances, he has got to go. Think of the lead we’d have without the blown saves, without half the blown saves. Can not lose these game, cannot blow it when mid-inning relievers hold. Can not blame it on not taking advantage of opportunities. Winner have to hold their leads. We have to have a plan and start implementing it. This will not stand.

Isringhausen is pitching with absolutley NO confidence…….he has put the club in a no win situation in that if they take him out of a game winning (or saving) situation it may demoralize him further. He needs to talk to La russa and go on the 15 day disabled list with a “tired arm”.

Time to promote Chris Perez!
Izzy’s done!
Just go on the DL and force them to bring him up.
I can’t see another BS!
5, (1-4) Really?
They’re 22-15.

The blame for Isringhausen’s last several blown saves goes to TLR. He can be bone-headed stubborn about some things, and this is a prime example. Stop trying to pound a square peg into a round hole, La Russa! You are demoralizing the team and the fans!!!!! You are spoiling our remarkable start with your obstinacy!!!!! I could have managed the closer situation better than you!!!!!

I agree with several comments here but closely with Mr Berkowitz and the Fuhrig ones as well. This New look of the website is horrible and very awkward. Plus it takes significantly more time to load…

Izzy is probably not finished as a closer. Closing is very mental work and the more insulting crap he has to put up with doesn’t help. Tony knows more about baseball than any ten of us… and that is why he is a hall of famer and not I. Do I wish he pulled Izzy after the first hit or the walk… ? You betcha. But I don’t always make the perfect call either. I will bet that Duncan and LaRussa will look at a new set of standards immediately for the Izzster. He has lost something and is struggling. But if he is not hurt, he has the skills and the power and is the one with experience. Tony (and I) would go with that every time. But the calls for Perez and others are not going to be lost on Mo. Mo is implementing the reforms that are necessary and will grow a new team. Change is a big part of life.

The 2008 Cardinals are a great upgrade from last year and I already have a bunch of favorite memories especially Ankiel’s throws… Holy Cow ! as Harry used to say in the day.

I’m in no position to evaluate J.I.’s firepower vs. previous years. I don’t get to see him pitch everyday. It is my observation that successful closers must have one overwhelming pitch they can throw for one inning 3 days out of 5. A pitch that, as J.I. says, you only get beat on with flares and bloops. When the other teams regularly start hitting liners, you can bet the killer pitch is no longer there.

So, regretfully, the results we are seeing dictate a move. Try a minor league closer for awhile, try someone already up for awhile, etc. When we regain a starter, perhaps Looper could also be tried. And, perhaps J.I.’s arm actually does need just a little rest (and his hips, and his legs, and his back. Closer is a tough job. None of us can do it, few do it exceptionally well. )

Another point is that the team isn’t scoring nearly as many runs as they should be, given the number of men on base. Things may average out, though.

It is really amazing to see the vitriole with which so many seem to post. You would all be well served to remember what 2003 was like, when the bullpen was horrific due to Isringhausen’s absence. Conducting a season without a defined closer is NOT a recipe for success.

I’m not burying my head in the sand. Something is currently wrong with Isringhausen, and he needs to be removed from the closer’s role until he figures it out. Time may very well have caught up with him. It happens to everyone. In the game last night, one could tell that he was clearly frustrated and uncomfortable on the mound. One might even say exasperated.
That said, the guy has been extremely successful here; and I, for one, appreciate what he has accomplished. If this is the end, then we should honor him on the way out.

I hope you all remember what you asked for when they do bring up Perez or Motte or Worrell to take his place. These guys are not going to be perfect, either; and you will have to live with the growing pains of a young man learning the role. There is call for this, but it is NOT going to be an easy transition to a new closer. I hope you all show a little more reasoning for the new kid.

I find it hard to believe that all of the so called Cardinals Fans would turn their heads on Izzy so soon. I have seen the same fans that booed him one night turn around the next day a celebrate him like a god the next day.
Remember Rick Ankiel and the backstop. All the redbird nation wanted hi head on the chopping block. Thank god cooler heads won that decision. Give JI a break he will be back to greatness!!
GO CARDS!!!