Oh NOOOOO!!!! this never works out for the Cards when this happens…. everytime a Cardinal pitcher has had “a little soreness” in there throwing arm the last few years it has turned into disaster… I am praying that doesnt happen again.. but it doesnt sound good. it would be a horrible break for the team and for Todd. I got my fingers crossed. GO CARDS!!!

Ankiel needs to go on the DL. The Cardinals should know that nowadays infections dont just disappear in 3 or 4 days. As for Wellemeyer…..that’s a shame. Lets hope for the best. He could be a All Star candidate.

Wellemeyer should take his time to return. We don’t want to have another “Mark Mulder” situation. We have a strong enough pen and some options down in Memphis to spot start until Wellemeyer is ready to return pain free.If Wellemeyer’s injury is severe enough then it appears Mitchell Boggs or Mike Parisi might get a start.

The Birds are hurting themselves by not DL’ing Ank. This knee of Ank’s was supposed to be something that would be fine in a couple of days. He is just hindering the Cardinals by taking up roster space. I never thought I’d say this, but DL Ank and recall Chris Duncan.

Also….

Boggs 5-1 record down in Memphis shows that one of the Redbirds best pitching prospects needs a nickname.

What’s with all these weird infections from minor abrasions in recent years? Let’s see what I can list off the top of my head: Ankiel, Spezio, Duncan, Isringhausen? I could swear there have been others since at least 2006. If a guy making six or seven figures gets scraped up in a game, doesn’t the professional training staff clean it up and redress it every day until it’s healed? The average Boy Scout can do that effectively. And if a small infection does begin, it should get caught and treated with routine oral antibiotics before it ever becomes serious enough to keep a guy out of action.

It’s not like any of these have been reported as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections, the drug-resistant staph strain. Barring a MRSA outbreak, I can’t imagine how so many of these guys are getting such disruptive infections from minor cuts and scrapes. They’re generally young guys who should not have compromised immune systems, getting infections in their knees, elbows and hands. In Spezio’s case, it seems that the infected finger and whatever might have been the result of some drunken injury (punching walls or people). But severity of the rest of these infections are difficult to understand.

Hopefully, Wellemeyer is OK. He sure hasn’t been over pitched by TLR and Duncan. Ankiel’s injury is suspicious. I noticed him picking stuff out of his knee shortly after the catch in St. Louis. For a player who is used to getting scrapes, Rick’s knee must be pretty badly infected. Sidney Ponson just got released because of “off the field” problems. He’s been pitching well. Wonder if the Cardinals will take a flier out on him?

Fuhrig,

You perfectly expressed something that I’ve been wondering too. The number of infections that have kept players out of games does seem pretty strange. Although in Isringhausen’s case, I would guess that the “infection” was probably just a convenient excuse to put him on the DL — it may not have really been all that bad. But for Ankiel, for example, wouldn’t they have cleaned up the scrape and treated it with triple antibiotic ointment? Maybe they did that, and he still somehow got the infection anyway? Who knows? But it does seem odd.

Mozeliak mentioned in an interview on Ch 5 yesterday that they would have a report on Wellemeyer by noon today.

Nothing yet I take it? Cardinal Nation hangs in the balance!

Indirectly following up on Fuhrig’s comments, I recall that Ankiel ripped up his left hand and arm sliding in the warning track along the right field line. What gives with the groundskeepers at Busch? They using broken glass as ground cover on the warning tracks? Can’t they use that rubberized mulch or something a little less debilitating to give the fielders that same ‘warning’ feeling under their feet when they are approaching immoveable objects?

Ankiel’s previous injury was in September of last year, I failed to mention.

I’m not totally opposed to Kyle McClellan one day becoming part of the starting roation, but for right now keep him in the 8th inning set up role. If they really want McClellan to start then they need to send him to Memphis to build up his pitch count. The best we could expect out of Kyle on Thursday night if he was to start would be three to four innings.I’d love to see Jaime Garcia get the nod on Thursday but he pitched just a couple of days ago. Looks like Reyes.

Saw a couple of at bats for Wallace against Fresno ST. last night. He seemed patient and in his second at bat fouled off 9 or ten pitches. He battled hard.

Does Kyle McClellan have a nickname…