Chris Carpenter leaves game with strained rib cage
PHOENIX — St. Louis Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter abruptly left his second start of the season with what team officials said was initially diagnosed as a strain in his left rib cage.
Carpenter had pitched three innings and allowed four hits before walking off the field in what’s become an all too familiar scene for the Cardinals. Carpenter’s health was a paramount issue for the Cardinals entering spring training as the righthander has had essentially the past two seasons robbed from him because of two elbow surgeries and a nerve condition in his shoulder.
The Cardinals plan to re-evaluate the righthander Wednesday, and it is too early to tell how long the injury will keep him from pitching, officials said.
He felt the strain during his at-bat in the fourth inning.
Carpenter completed his warmup tosses at the beginning of the fourth inning, but he and catcher Yadier Molina motioned for the trainer immediately after Molina threw to second base. Trainer Barry Weinberg and manager Tony La Russa converged on the mound, and after a brief discussion Carpenter walked off the field with Weinberg.
The Cardinals had just taken a 3-0 lead against Arizona on three doubles in fourth inning. Molina drove in two with his one-out line-drive double to left-center field. Two batters later Carpenter grounded out to third base to end the inning.
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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. 
Dang…that’s about all I can about it.
…common baseball injury, unrelated to Carp’s previous physical ailments–I’m not too concerned.
Whew!…. I was hoping it had NOTHING to do with any part of his arm. Still sucks, but could definitely be worse!
i dunno,i find it real suspicious when athletes always find a way to be injured all the time. i hope im wrong.
And this is why I am so tired of all the talk of “Carpenter is the only way we will get to the postseason” talk I hear. Carp is a great pitcher, but if we lose him for any extended period of time, I am not prepared to kiss the season goodbye.
It stinks, for sure. But, I wonder if they’re just being really careful with Carp. It’s not any part of his arm and not even on the same side as his pitching arm, so that’s great news. So, if he has to go on the DL for a brief period, do they start McClellan and bring up Perez or do they bring up P.J. Walters (or perhaps Boggs)? I’m thinking they would go with the latter.
He’ll be out at least 2 months, then he’ll pitch one great game and get injured again. Haven’t we seen this movie before?
What ever happened to durable pitchers, like Nolan Ryan? Steroids?
what does tony have against ludwick
I am tired of this…I’ll bet Carpenter can make it to the bank every couple weeks….
Really starting to wonder if Carpenter is just plain “DONE” as a major league pitcher.