TOWER GROVE — Manager Tony La Russa met with reliever Jason Isringhausen before Monday’s game to talk about more than just Sunday’s ninth-inning mess. La Russa expressed an opinion that he said the night before and was about to offer publicly: Isringhausen is scuffling because he’s “distracted.”

He’s thinking about the role he wants, not the role he has, La Russa suggested.

He’s thinking about getting eight more saves, not the one at hand.

“My two cents is, No. 1, he’s feeling good,” La Russa said. “He’s getting distracted by ‘What’s my role? I want to get eight saves.’ You can’t get distracted in this game. Tune out the distractions and get more consistent.”

In the last couple weeks, La Russa has been reluctant to definitively discuss a plan for Isringhausen or how the Cardinals will close games. Ryan Franklin has done the job in Isringhausen’s absence, and La Russa has at times suggested that Franklin would continue to do so until Isringhausen is “the best candidate.” The manager has also suggested he would use matchups to guide him, and his actions have supported that. He used Franklin for a two-inning save Saturday with the idea that he was the best choice — and he had Isringhausen available to close Sunday.

A modified closer by committee approach seemed to be brewing.

But on consecutive days, both Franklin and Isringhausen have had trouble. Isringhausen blew his chance at save No. 293 on Sunday because of what he called a “(cruddy) curveball” and an inability “to finish off hitters when I had the chance.” Franklin admitted to fighting a mechanical problem recently — he’s “falling off the mound”, or taking himself too far afield after his follow through. Russ Springer said he plays catch with Franklin everyday and said, “I know he has the stuff, and it seems he found out tonight what’s been bothering him.”

The Cardinals are faced with a quandary — bordering on a quagmire — when it comes to closing out games. Franklin has done, as a few teammates said, ”a great job under pressure in a role he didn’t expect to have.” Isringhausen does not appear any closer to taking the closer role, but there remains internal interest in having him seize the role, get his 300 saves and restore order to the bullpen.

Still, seems it’s time for a conversation, at least externally, on alternate candidates.

The Cardinals have a pitcher who is nearing a return to the major leagues after missing time with an injury. When he’s healthy: He’s got velocity. He’s got that put-away pitch. He’s got the poise, certainly. He knows what it’s like under the spotlights, in the heat of the moment — and he’s succeeded in those situations. You’d think he has the guts to close, because he’s shown the stuff to close.

But the plan right now is to use Chris Carpenter as a starter.

It has become a popular parlor game to play. Who else should be given a chance to close, or can the Cardinals call on to close if the current situation erupts again? Candidates, beyond Franklin and Isringhaunse, offered up on the air and in conversation include:

• Adam Wainwright, RHP. His turn in the role as closer during the 2006 Postseason still resonates. The longer he goes without being in the rotation means the longer he’s gone since throwing a competitive pitch. Time could run out on a rehab assignment, and the idea would be to bring him back conditioned to throw a few innings, not the load a starter has to be ready for. Wainwright has taken time to keep his arm, his shoulder and his legs in shape to pitch while he’s recovered from the ruptured pulley in his right finger. He believes that will allow him to get back to the rotation more quickly. As magnified as the late-inning situation has become, the Cardinals still need quality innings from their starters and are in no position to turn an arm capable of being a No. 1 starter into a ninth-inning reliever. Better to have that arm throw seven or eight innings every five days and get the lead than one inning when they have a lead.
• Kyle McClellan. This would be filed on the Wainwright Plan. Just as Wainwright did in his rookie year, McClellan is serving an apprentice role as a reliever before he’s expected to join the rotation. McClellan has four quality pitches, and he and Springer have the best strike-out pitches in the bullpen. Ron Villone leads the relievers with a 9.25 K/9, followed by Chris Perez’s 8.37, Springer’s 7.84 and McClellan’s 7.17. While McClellan appears to have the Teflon confidence needed and ability to bounceback from disaster (see: Miguel Tejada) Durability would be a question, as McClellan has pitched a lot but the Cardinals have also been protective of having overusing the righthander from series to series. A twist here, however, is whether it’s worth exploring McClellan as not just the closer now, but the closer eventually. Isringhausen’s contract expires at the end of this season and the Cardinals will be looking.
• Chris Perez. Colleague Joe Strauss had one of the lines of the year about the “overheated” prospect watchers “standing down” on the fireballer. Perez has been returned to Triple-A to work on his slider. The Cardinals gave him specific instructions to throw a slider for every three fastballs, and that he shouldn’t focus so much on box-score results but pitch-to-pitch results. The fastball is nice, but even velocity needs a complement to be effective. He’s been groomed for the role, but isn’t seen as ready for it now.
• Outside the organization. There are some experienced closers out there, who may be available via trade. But the cost is high. The Cardinals have expressed interest in some, and found what it would take in some cases distasteful.
• Chris Carpenter. This is a lark. A conversation-starter here, but a non-starter at the ballpark, I imagine. Carpenter expects to get his arm strong and ready to start when he returns from the rehab assignment he’s on. And, as with Wainwright, the Cardinals need quality innings from starters as much as they need a quality finisher for the bullpen. Still, Carpenter has to increase his pitch count to be ready to return to the majors. That means climbing to, say, 75 in his next outing, 80 or 90 in that third outing – not unlike the building pitch count a starter has in his spring training starts. The only way the Cardinals would consider using Carpenter as a reliever is if he has a problem building his pitch count to the level a starter needs.

The addition of a healthy and effective tandem of aces in Carpenter and Wainwright to the rotation radically changes how the Cardinals would look down the backstretch of the season. Combined with tonight’s starter, Kyle Lohse (12-2, 3.35), that threesome could offer the Cardinals the kind of rotation that thrives in a playoff series and certainly is a worthy answer to the rotations fielded by the Sabathia-Sheets Brewers and Zambrano-Harden Cubs.  

But even with that trio of starters, the Cardinals fully expect to play a lot of close games. Close games means having a closer. And that’s the question here: Who should be that guy? Who will be?

“I you look at it, we’ve played a (heckuva lot) of close games,” Franklin said. “It’s not like we have a three-run lead or or more when we’re going out there. Everybody says we need help, that the bullpen needs help. I don’t see it. We can (bounce back). You can’t let (the potholes) bother you, can’t let it get you down. Stay focused and work your butt off the next day.”

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