There’s no sugarcoating it – brutal loss for Carlos Martinez and the Cardinals to open a four game set with the San Fransisco Giants.
After pitching 7 innings and giving up 3 runs, Jamie Garcia was in line for the win. In only his 3rd start of the season, this was an encouraging outing. And one that hopefully kick-starts his 2014 campaign.
Martinez came in for the 8th and surrendered 3 earned runs and a 4-3 lead evaporated. The Cardinals would need 3 more runs to win. We covered the offense yesterday… so yeah.
(Side note: No offense to Shane Robinson. But he simply can not be your best bullet off the bench if you plan on being a champion. I’m about to start a Indigogo to have a shock collar put on Al Hrabosky that we can use anytime he references Robinson’s minor league batting prowess.)
Here’s Martinez’s stats for 2014:
- 26 appearances | 28.0 innings pitched
- 27 hits surrendered
- 15 earned runs | 4.82 ERA
- – 0.8 WAR
- 21 strikeouts | 11 walks
- 12 holds | 0 wins | 3 losses
That’s the resume of a reliever that is living off of good will from 2013 and potential in 2014. With Randy Choate carrying a 7.20 ERA and Trevor Rosenthal at 4.26, this is a bullpen that is gripping. Pat Neshek has been the Cardinals only automatic arm from the pen… no one had money on that.
And let’s not talk about that defense. Whoa. Not a good look, ‘Los.
The Cardinals are 29-25 with a starting pitching staff that 29 other teams would kill for. It’s time that these guys started to get rewarded for their hard work.
Photo: AP
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