Baseball

Healthy Carpenter makes Cardinals contenders

Pitcher admits he has 'a long way to go,' but he's close to 2006 form

Jeff Roberson / AP

St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter won his first game since the 2006 World Series on Thursday.

OPINION

By Stan McNeal

updated 5:45 p.m. ET April 11, 2009

ST. LOUIS - Chris Carpenter said he was happy, but you sure couldn't tell. There was no fist-pumping, no more than the routine hand shakes and not a hint of a smile. Even though he had just won his first game since the 2006 World Series, Carpenter was his usual matter-of-fact self on Thursday afternoon.

"This is a nice start, but it's one, and we've got a long way to go," the St. Louis Cardinals righthander said. "I can build off today and go deeper the next time out."

Improving on Thursday's performance won't be easy. In seven innings, Carpenter allowed one single and an unearned run to a Pirates club that had bashed Cardinals pitching for 17 hits the previous night. He allowed baserunners in only two innings; in the other five innings, he didn't throw more than 12 pitches.

The Pirates' hit came with two out in the seventh and might not have come at all if second baseman Skip Schumaker had converted a routine double-play chance. With one out and a runner on first base, Schumaker fielded a routine grounder cleanly but his throw to second was high and off line, giving shortstop Khalil Greene no chance to double up Brandon Moss at first base for what would have been an inning-ending play. The next hitter, Ramon Vazquez, then smacked a grounder up the middle that just eluded a diving Schumaker.

Despite the near flawless outing, Carpenter left the game trailing 1-0 because the Pirates had scored in the third inning on two misplays. But the Cardinals made Carpenter a winner by rallying for two runs in the seventh after he was removed for a pinch hitter.

The 2-1 victory salvaged a split of the four-game series for the Cardinals, but that's not why Thursday's game will be remembered. It will be remembered for one reason: Carpenter's return. This was, as pitching coach Dave Duncan said, "the Chris Carpenter of old."

"He worked quick innings, he was aggressive with all of his pitches. He made them put the ball in play early a lot," Duncan said. "The quality of his pitches was outstanding. He had good sink on his fastball, good break on his curveball and threw strikes with it, and he had a good cutter."

A scout who watched the performance was equally impressed. "I think he's all the way back," said the scout, who clocked Carpenter's fastball as high as 94 mph.

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Even Cardinals manager Tony La Russa found reason to gush. "First start, we're down two games to one in the series, you'd think he'd be a little bit normal," La Russa said. "He's a great pitcher, a great competitor. When he's healthy, he's as good as anybody out there."

As long as he's healthy, Carpenter also makes the Cardinals a contender. He makes a good rotation deeper and, along with opening-day starter Adam Wainwright, gives the Cardinals a top of the rotation that any team would envy.

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Of course, that's when Carpenter is healthy.

He has been hurt so much that his low-key reaction to his '09 debut was understandable. Carpenter was one of the game's best pitchers from 2004-06 -- he won the N.L. Cy Young in '05 and finished third in the voting in '06 -- but missed virtually all of the past two seasons with arm problems. He had surgery to repair a compressed nerve in his right arm last November, and the Cardinals have been holding their breath since. The team didn't make a move to add a starter in the offseason, instead waiting -- hoping -- to see how Carpenter recovered.

CONTINUED : Cardinals wary of getting hopes up

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