27-year old righty Blake Hawksworth will be going back to the pen. He started 8 games for the Cardinals this year and he was 3-4 with a 5.83 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. He has now pitched in 30 games (8 starts) for the Cardinals this year and he is 4-7 with a 5.37 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. Hawksworth has given up 96 hits (11 homers) in 70 1/3 innings and he has walked 32 batters so far this season. The Cardinals hope that a move back to the pen will get Hawksworth back to the pitcher he was as a rookie for them last year.

The Cardinals have had two huge holes in the starting rotation ever since Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse have been placed on the D.L. Neither of them is anywhere near a return for the Cardinals so they will need to look for some help and I don’t think that Jeff Suppan is the answer. P.J. Walters, Adam Ottavino and Blake Hawksworth are all failing so far this season trying to pick up the slack. Walters has pitched in 4 games (2 starts) for the Cardinals this year and he is 1-0 with a 7.94 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. He has given up 22 hits (4 homers) and he has walked 8 batters in only 17 innings pitched this year for the Cardinals. Ottavino has started 3 games for the Cardinals this year and he is 0-2 with a 7.53 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP. He has given up 19 hits (4 homers) while walking 8 batters in only 14 1/3 innings. Blake Hawksworth has been a reliever most of this season. He has pitched in 20 games (1 start) for the Cardinals this year and he is 0-3 with a 6.11 ERA and a 1.86 WHIP. He has given up 42 hits including 5 of them which have left the yard in only 28 innings this year. The Cardinals will likely be targeting Jake Westbrook of the Indians and Jeremy Guthrie of the Orioles in the trade market soon.

The Cardinals tried to give closer Ryan Franklin a day off using Jason Motte in the 9th inning and he imploded once again as they lost the game. The Cardinals should have learned their lesson last season when Motte went into the season as the closer and lost the job before saving a game. Motte has great stuff but the Cardinals should never pitch him in pressure situations as he can’t handle the heat. Motte has pitched in 2 games this season and he is 0-1 with a 27.00 ERA and a 6.00 WHIP.

Acquiring Mike Maroth was one of the worst things the Cardinals have done in a long time so they didn’t want to compound the problem so they released him. He pitched in 14 games (7 starts) for the Cardinals last season and he was 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA and a 2.32 WHIP. He pitched 38 innings for the Cards and he allowed a stunning 71 hits, 11 homers, walked 17 batters and whiffed 23. The Cardinals will lose no sleep over losing Maroth.

Adding Mike Maroth looked like a solid move for the Cardinals at the time they acquired him but he has been downright awful.  Maroth has pitched in 8 games (6 starts) this season and he is 0-4 with a 11.08 ERA and a 2.24 WHIP.  He has worked 31.2 innings for the Cards and he has allowed 58 hits, 10 homers, walked 13 batters and whiffed 17.  The Cardinals need to find a way to get Maroth off of their roster because he is absolutely PATHETIC!