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| It is unclear if staff ace Chris Carpenter has ever shared pitching tips with Skip Schumaker, but Schumaker could have used some help in his emergency inning of relief on Tuesday night. - Photo courtesy of Getty Images |
Miles is no longer with the organization, so La Russa needed to find a new candidate on Tuesday night when he decided not to tax his bullpen any longer in the Cardinals 13-2 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
La Russa gave the ball to Skip Schumaker in the ninth inning, hoping that the outfielder, turned second baseman, and now reliever, can just get the inning over with so everybody can go home.
And almost fittingly, Schumaker was forced to face the man who he replaced on the Cardinals roster as "extra emergency reliever."
Miles stepped to the plate in the ninth inning with a Dodgers uniform on to face Schumaker and belted one of Skip's deliveries over the outfield wall for just his third home run of the season in 362 at bats.
Besides the home run allowed to Miles and a walk issued to Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier, Schumaker did not fair too badly in his inning of work. He managed to strike out two Dodgers hitters. Schumaker did hit 90 mph on the gun with his fastball. The Cardinals have experimented with Schumaker in the past when they converted him into a second baseman. But it is likelysafe to say they will not be looking to turn him into a long-reliever anytime soon.
Although if he was able to avoid facing Aaron Miles, of all people, he may provide depth to the woefully bad Cardinals bullpen.
For La Russa and the Cardinals, added bullpen depth in the form of September call-ups can not come any sooner.
Nobody wants to see Skip Schumaker pitch again.
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