News
Lohse looking for sustained success
St. Louis (70-53) at San Diego (51-72), 9:05 p.m. CT
By Matthew Leach / MLB.com
08/21/09 2:30 AM ET
SAN DIEGO -- When the season started, Kyle Lohse was considered one of the surer things in the Cardinals' rotation. Now he's one of the biggest question marks. Lohse has been up and down from one start to the next since he returned from a lengthy disabled list stint. He made one start in seven weeks due to a right forearm strain after starting the year pitching fairly well. Since then, though, Lohse can't put two good starts together. He's coming off of a rough one against the same Padres team he'll face on Friday. In his last outing, Lohse lost the feel for his pitches and allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings after starting with three shutout frames. "I felt great for four innings, and then things kind of got out of whack," Lohse said. "Part of that is mechanical, part of it is probably fatigue, and part of is probably when you start throwing the wrong way, you get tired quicker. We're doing things different this week. Hopefully everything will go better than it has." The Cardinals need Lohse to get right, though the necessity may be diminished a bit by the emergence of Joel Pineiro this season. Lohse now looks like the Redbirds' fourth starter, as opposed to the No. 3 man at the start of the year. Still, the National League Central isn't salted away yet, it's only August, and for the team to be at its best, Lohse needs to improve. He's hoping to start doing just that on Friday. Lohse has been working on some specific exercises between starts to make sure his forearm is sound, and he liked the way things went in his bullpen session on Tuesday. "It felt normal," he said. "But that's a bullpen where I threw maybe 50 pitches. I can't really say how it's going to react until I get to that point in my next start. I think it's a combination of mechanics and probably being a little fatigued and trying to compensate for it, so I get a little out of whack. I've got a vicious circle thing going on." Pitching matchupSTL: RHP Kyle Lohse (5-7, 4.58 ERA)
Lohse will have an extra day of rest before his start in San Diego, but oddly that hasn't seemed to benefit him this year. In nine starts with five or more days' rest, the righty is 1-6 with a 7.23 ERA (4-1, 2.34 on four days' rest). SD: LHP Clayton Richard (6-3, 4.66 ERA)
It was just Sunday that Richard last faced the Cardinals, and the results weren't at all what he wanted. Richard, who has shown a tendency to walk hitters, lost control of the strike zone and a 3-1 lead when he allowed two runs in the fourth inning. Richard walked three in that inning and left having issued a career-high six walks in 3 2/3 innings in a no-decision. Richard threw 93 pitches, though just 48 were strikes. He had walked a combined nine hitters in his previous 17 1/3 innings with the Padres. Tidbits
Brendan Ryan has faced Richard three times, and reached base every time, with a single and two walks. ... Adrian Gonzalez is 7-for-17 with three doubles and a home run against Lohse. ... On the morning of July 27, the Cubs led the Cardinals by one-half game. Since then, the Cards are 17-5 while the Cubs are 10-13, allowing St. Louis to open a seven-game lead in under four weeks. ... Since acquiring Matt Holliday, the Cardinals are 9-1 when the opponent starts a left-handed pitcher. Tickets
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• Saturday: Cardinals (Chris Carpenter, 13-3, 2.27) at Padres (Kevin Correia, 8-9, 4.32), 9:05 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Cardinals (John Smoltz, 2-5, 8.33) at Padres (Cesar Carrillo, 1-1, 11.88), 3:05 p.m. CT
• Monday:: Off-day
Matthew Leach is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
