DENVER • After losing spectacularly on the final swings of the first two games in this series, the reeling Cardinals didn't get many favors from Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez on the final day of their visit to Coors Field.
Except he did make sure it was over sooner, devoid of drama.
On the way to his 15th victory, Jimenez befuddled the Cardinals for eight innings and strong-armed the Rockies to a series sweep with a 4-2 victory Thursday.
The Cardinals got two runners on base once against the righthander and potential All-Star Game starter while their All-Star continued his stumble into next week's break. Groping for consistent mechanics, Chris Carpenter allowed four runs on nine hits through six innings.
As the team packed for its flight to Houston and its final series of the first half, Carpenter personified a perplexing team in search of some semblance of the contender it once was.
"I didn't pitch well enough to win," Carpenter said. "I've got to get better. I've got to be better than I am right now. Mechanically, I'm not there. I'm not where I need to be. Bottom line, I need to be better."
The same goes for his underachieving club.
The Cardinals stagger into Houston having been swept for the third time this season. They have lost or split four of their previous five series against National League opponents, and have fallen three games behind NL Central-leading Cincinnati. What has happened is only further aggravated by how it happened.
The Cardinals' mercurial offense roared for 16 runs in the first two games, but the bullpen ruptured. They lost Tuesday and Wednesday on ninth-inning, walk-off homers — the first losses on successive nights like that since 2003. For the first time in manager Tony La Russa's career, his club blew leads of at least five runs on consecutive nights, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It had not happened for a Cardinals' club since 1930.
Recent history was more pressing Thursday.
For the second consecutive start, Carpenter (9-3) struggled to find his usual mechanics. The first two batters of the game singled and scored as the Rockies had four hits and a 2-0 lead before Carpenter got the second out of the game. Jason Giambi, in his 2,000th career game, went three for three against Carpenter with two RBI singles, including one in the fifth that put the Rockies up 4-1.
"Really, I was fortunate I didn't give up more runs than I did the way it was going," Carpenter said. "Watch the results and see what's going on. I threw 120 pitches in six innings. That's not normal. I'm walking guys. That's not normal. I'm giving up a lot of hits. That's not normal. I've got to make an adjustment. I've got to get better."
Carpenter insists his forearm, however, is normal.
The righthander took a line drive off his right forearm on June 28, and he's gone 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA and 24 hits allowed in 16 innings since then. Pitching coach Dave Duncan said Carpenter no longer receives treatment for his arm, and both he and the pitcher insisted there is no residual effect of the bruising. Carpenter lost the feel for his curveball immediately after the line drive, and it's been inconsistent since. He said that's a function of faulty mechanics, not injury.
"He's fine," Duncan said. "(Coors is) a difficult place for him to pitch because the curveball is such a big part of his game. It's not that he can't use it here, but he can't use it the same as he normally does or as much."
Jimenez (15-1) was encouraged by his manager, Jim Tracy, to wait on the breaking ball and establish his fastball early because "98 mph in a good spot is hard to hit … even if the hitter knows it's coming." Tracy said Jimenez had become too dependent on his off-speed stuff while allowing 17 earned runs in his previous 17 2/3 innings. Once ahead with his 97- or 98-mph fastball, Jimenez got the Cardinals fishing for his diving 88-mph split-finger. The mix of pitches helped make Jimenez the first 15-game winner in the NL before the All-Star break since 1988.
"We tried to be aggressive with his fastball, and that wasn't really working," second baseman Skip Schumaker said. "So we tried to take a pitch to work the count and then you're 0-1. It was tough. … It felt like you're facing a closer almost every inning. He has that kind of stuff."
Rookie Jon Jay created both of the Cardinals' runs. In the fifth, he seized on center fielder Dexter Fowler's positioning to turn a sharp grounder into a double and then scored after consecutive groundouts. In the ninth, Jay hit a double of closer Huston Street to score Albert Pujols and bring the tying run to the plate. The only other time the Cardinals got as close was in the seventh against Jimenez when Jay walked to put runners at the corners for Yadier Molina.
When Jimenez wheeled for a pickoff throw, Molina showed a bunt, as if to attempt a squeeze. La Russa called it a "missed communication." Batting sixth despite his six-of-63 spiral because of absent middle-order hitters, Molina grounded into a double play for a missed opportunity.
That was about all Thursday shared with the previous two games.
Missed opportunities.
"This was a tough series, no doubt about it, especially with how it went down," Schumaker said. "There were a couple heartbreakers. This is obviously not the way we wanted to go in the break, and we have to somehow find a way to turn the pages as quick as we can. I thought we did a good job of that (Wednesday) after a tough one and then it happened to us again.
"We have to find a way."
