Carp cleared; Molina returns; Wellemeyer skipped; Reyes to start
Back from a quick trip to Alabama to learn his rehab can continue on a scaled-back schedule but continue nonetheless, Chris Carpenter said he plans to throw a side session at Busch Stadium and get back to Florida shortly so he can face hitters.
The Cardinals ace, recovering from Tommy John surgery in his right elbow, said specialist Dr. James Andrews confirmed the diagnosis from Cardinals team doctors that there was nothing structurally wrong with the joint. Carpenter classified it as part of the pain of recovery and described it as something he’s “going to have to push through.”
“Everybody is different,” Carpenter said at Busch before Tuesday night’s game. “Unfortunately mine went through pain at 10 ½ months. If I had this issue in February when I first started throwing, there would be no issue. … My ligament and my reconstruction looks good. Everybody reacts differently.
“It’s just a frustrating process.”
Carpenter halted his throwing progress and his rehab last week after experiencing pain during a 60-pitch simulated game. He met with Cardinals team doctors Friday and flew to Birmingham, Ala., on Monday for a second opinion with one of the most renowned orthopedic surgeons in the field. Both sides concurred, Carpenter said. There was nothing wrong with his elbow that would require surgery — nothing structurally wrong with the joint itself, its ligaments or the nerve, which sometimes requires transposition after a surgery of this type.
The news, as Carpenter described it, is “good.”
Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said that he still expects Carpenter to pitch sometime this season for the big-league team. It won’t be the previously believed All-Star break target date, but even after slowing down Carpenter’s schedule to accomodate more rest between appearances and fewer pitches in those appearances, Mozeliak sees Carpenter returning to Busch, to start, sometime this summer.
“We’ve changed his throwing program a bit,” Mozeliak said. “We’re hopeful he can pitch in 2008.”
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Todd Wellemeyer will be skipped this time through the rotation to buy his irritated elbow another few days of rest. Manager Tony La Russa confirmed Tuesday that Anthony Reyes will be held aside — “as much as we can,” the manager said — to make the start for the Cardinals in the final game of this series against Kansas City. Wellemeyer returned from an irritation and impingement in his right elbow to throw Friday and said he still felt dogged by the soreness. The Cardinals do not see a reason to put him on the disabled list as they do not believe he miss any more starts than just one. La Russa said Wellemeyer could be rescheduled for a start early next week.
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Sporting a scab on his cheek as on the only outward sign of his collision at home plate Sunday, catcher Yadier Molina took part in some pre-game activities Tuesday and rode a bike that afternoon. He said felt good and added that “in an emergency, I want to be ready to go tonight.” La Russa put the brakes on that assertion saying Molina, at best, would be ready for game action Thursday.
“Good thing we won,” Molina joked about what happened after he left the game in a stretcher after keeping the game tied by applying the tag in the midst of the collision. “I feel fine right now. My body feels fine right now. … I’m going to play catch, stretch, run a little bit — see how my body reacts to that. We’ll see.”
Mozeliak called Molina’s recovery “miraculous.”
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Albert Pujols, on the disabled list with a strained left calf, took groundballs today, participating lightly in the infield taken by the other infielders before batting practice.
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The lineup for tonight’s ballgame:
CARDINALS: 1. Skip Schumaker, LF; 2. Brendan Ryan, 2B; 3. Ryan Ludwick, RF; 4. Rick Ankiel, CF; 5. Troy Glaus, 3B; 6. Chris Duncan, 1B; 7. Jason LaRue, C; 8. Joel Pineiro, RHP; 9. Cesar Izturis, SS.
ROYALS: 1. David DeJesus, CF; 2. Mike Aviles, SS; 3. Alex Gordon, 3B; 4. Jose Guillen, LF; 5. Mark Grudzielank, 2B; 6. Mark Teahan, RF; 7. Miguel Olivo, C; 8. Ross Gload, 1B; 9. Kyle Davies, RHP.
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More on Carpenter, Molina and Wellemeyer later tonight on StlToday.com and in tomorrow’s editions of The Post-Dispatch
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
good stuff, DG. I, for one, think Molina should be DLed as a precautionary measure. He did some serious stuff to his back and neck and should just take a couple weeks to get straightened out. Thursday is too soon, in my opinion.
Do you think Welle is All-Star bound? With his record and how well he’s pitched, he’d have to be in consideration, even as an alternate.
DG: Thanks, as always, for keeping us up to date. Concussions are nothing to gloss over and it’s not a “toughness issue”. I love Yadi’s grit– but this is not the place to “prove your toughness.” I hope they’re doing the right thing. Curious what your take on Mulder is. From the last pitch-by-pitch account it sounds like he was consistently at 90 with his sinker. If he can get that up a notch or so– perhaps we have something. It would be nice to get some bodies back.
Allen in Portland OR
I just want to say that the Chris Duncan “situation” is nepotism at work. There could be no other word to describe it. Ask yourself one thing he does well. Also, I live in Mobile and have the baseball package to watch the Cards and I watch other games as well. I think Dan and Al are equally awful. Im not asking for Jack Buck or anything, but could we at least pull a Vin Skully with Mike Shannon and put him on the tube?
Ok, so I read about Anthony Reyes making the start on the final game against the Royals. Is that such a good ideah? I mean he pitched great like two years ago in the World Series starting the game and did fine, but that was two years ago. How many bad and embarrasing starts has he had since then? Many. Hes a good reliever, he uses his good stuff then and there instead of trying to go for long innings. They should keep him there.
I agree I think you have to either DL Yadi,or wait a little longer than Thursday to start him again.
The news on Mulder sounds encouraging. The real question ,though, is whether or not he can consistently throw in the 90’s while avoiding sorness in his shoulder. It might take some time to build up a little strength in the shoulder so he can go deep into games without being sore the next day.
It is a small wonder are bullpen is struggling. The starters have to start going deeper into games. These five and six inning starts are not going to cut it. Its forcing the bullpen to handle three and four innings a night.
We need some left handed relief pitching. Villone has really struggled after a nice start. I don’t trust Flores late in games. There is just not a whole lot of depth as far as lefthanded pitching goes. DG, if LH pitching continues to ail the birds what are the chances that Jaime Garcia is called up from Memphis?
Why not give Joe Mather a start at 1B? Since Duncan’s call-up on Jun 11, here are his numbers: 24 AB / 3 H (all singles) / 1 RBI / 1 BB / 4 SOs.
Right now if Dunc does not start hitting for power then he has no value. Before his power dissapeared all the horrible definsive plays and all of his strikeouts were cancled out by the 20 HR’s he would hit in a year. Now that Dunc’s power is not there, Joey Bombs is an up grade defensively and he has shown that potentially he will become a solid hitter with 30 HR power. I’ve always thought Dunc would fit nicely on an AL team where he could DH. No doubt there would be some interest in AL teams looking for a solid power hitting DH. Wonder right now what the value of Dunc and Reyes in a package is. Thanks for the injury updates,DG.
What’s the MATHER with Duncan?
I haven’t seen this many broken starters since I owned a Chevy Cavalier….
DG - any truth to rumors of Thompson down and Parisi back up?