36-year old righty starting pitcher Chris Carpenter struggled earlier this year, but he’s looking good right now and the Cardinals need that to continue. Carpenter has pitched in 30 games (all starts) for the Cardinals so far this year and he is 9-9 with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has now pitched in 191 games (190 starts) in his first 8 years with the Cardinals and he is 93-42 with a 3.10 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.

Edwin Jackson, Marc Rzepczynski and Octavio Dotel have been pretty solid for the most part since coming to the Cardinals in the Colby Rasmus deal at the end of July. Jackson has pitched in 6 games (all starts) for the Cardinals so far and he is 3-2 with a 3.99 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. He has given up 46 hits in his first 38 1/3 innings with the Cardinals, so he hasn’t been missing a lot of bats. Marc Rzepzynski has pitched in 10 games (0 starts) for the Cardinals and is 0-0 with a 0.90 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP as he has given them a solid lefty out of the pen. Octavio Dotel has pitched in 13 games (0 starts) for the Cardinals this year and he is 0-2 with 1 save, a 3.18 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP as he is throwing the ball well. These guys are doing their part and the Cardinals might still have a run in them as they are too talented to keep playing like they are right now.

36-year old righty starting pitcher Chris Carpenter got off to a slow start in 2010. But, in his last 9 starts, Carpenter is 6-1 with a 2.64 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He has now pitched in 24 games (all starts) overall this year and he is 7-8 with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He has given up 177 hits in his first 163 1/3 innings this year, so he’s getting hit a lot harder than usual this year. But, he has limited the damage by walking only 40 batters so far this year. The Cardinals have a good starting rotation, but they need Carpenter to continue being the stopper the rest of the year.

32-year old righty swinging Kyle Lohse has been a little bit rocky in June but solid overall this year. Lohse has started 3 games so far in June and he is 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. But, he has started 14 games overall this year for the Cardinals and he is 7-3 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. Lohse is pitching the best baseball of his major league career and they need him to keep up the good work.

40-year old righty reliever Miguel Batista is doing a very solid job for the Cardinals so far this year. He has pitched in 21 games (1 start) for the Cardinals so far this year and he is 3-1 with 4 holds, a 2.08 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Batista has good stuff as he has only given up 21 hits in his first 26 innings this year. But Batista needs to trust his stuff and throw more strikes as he has walked 14 batters already this year and that’s way too many. Batista’s control has hurt him most of his career and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.