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[h1]Pujols considering having torn elbow ligament fixed[/h1]
ESPN.com news services
Updated: September 9, 2008, 9:22 AM ET
Albert Pujols told a St. Louis television station that he's considering offseason surgery to repair a damaged ligament in his right elbow, a procedure that could cost him the start of next season.
Pujols, who was hosting his annual charity golf tournament on Monday, told KSDK-TV that he's thinking about surgery to correct the ligament damage, which was diagnosed last winter. Pujols chose to play this season instead of having surgery and is leading the National League with a .359 batting average entering Tuesday's games. He has 166 hits with 38 doubles and 32 home runs and 95 RBIs.
But the St. Louis Cardinals and Pujols have both said that surgery on the elbow will eventually be necessary. He's been playing with the injury since 2003.
"I'm thinking about it; I'm thinking really hard," he said. "There's just a lot of things next year going on, the All-Star Game [in St. Louis], the [World Baseball] Classic, you know. But I think in the long run, the sooner that I get it done, the better it's going to be for me, because I'm going to heal quicker than if I wait two or three more years. But it needs to be done."
Recovery time for the surgery is estimated at seven to nine months, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. So even if Pujols elects to have surgery immediately after the season ends, he might still miss the opening months of the 2009 season.
Pujols is five RBIs shy of his eighth consecutive season with at least a .300 average, 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. He has six home runs and 13 RBIs in his past 13 games.
He recently said that that the swelling and soreness he experienced in the elbow last season has not been a problem this season, according to the Post-Dispatch.
"Last year was a little bit up and down, [and I couldn't find myself at the plate where I am right now," he said over the weekend, according to the newspaper. "I struggle a little bit through that. These last six weeks I'm driving the ball the other way. ... That's why I struggled last year. I couldn't find myself for even a game at the plate."
[h1][/h1][h1]La Russa 'looking forward to giving' closing job to Carpenter[/h1]
Associated Press
Updated: September 8, 2008, 3:56 PM ET
ST. LOUIS -- With Chris Carpenter limited to relief duty the rest of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals may be calling on their ace to get the final outs.
Whenever he's available, perhaps once a series, manager Tony La Russa said the 2005 NL Cy Young winner will be his first choice as the closer.
"I'm looking forward to giving it to Carp," La Russa said Sunday, echoing remarks from the previous day. "We'd have some fun."
The Cardinals have been leaning on 22-year-old rookie Chris Perez since demoting Jason Isringhausen for the second time this year. Perez had six straight saves before blowing two straight, although he got the last two outs for his seventh save in 10 opportunities overall in Sunday's 3-1 victory over the Marlins.
Lately, another fireballing rookie, Jason Motte, has been used in late-inning situations. It's a matter of necessity after Isringhausen twice failed to hold the closer role and Ryan Franklin also faltered after some initial success.
"It would be great to be able to use Chris and Jason in the sixth, seventh and eighth," La Russa said. "That's the way it should work this year."
The Cardinals lead the major leagues with 30 bullpen losses and 30 blown saves, a major reason they're five games behind the Brewers in the NL wild-card standings entering a three-game series against the NL Central-leading Cubs on Tuesday. They're not quite ready to give up.
"This game is too crazy to give up on something, especially the way we've played all year," Adam Wainwright said after beating the Marlins on Sunday. "There's no quit in this team, there's no quit in me."
The same goes for Perez, who can't recall blowing saves in consecutive games at any level in his career.
"That's one of the good things about the game, you get more chances," Perez said. "I was happy to be put out there again."
The next time a game is on the line, it figures to be Carpenter -- if he's available. That's a big if, because the former 21-game winner must be handled with care. He wasn't available on Sunday, after experiencing difficulty warming up on Friday.
Carpenter injured his shoulder in his third start of the season coming off reconstructive elbow surgery that limited him to one start in 2007, and the Cardinals decided to use the right-hander in the bullpen last week rather than wait for him to feel perfect with the season winding down.
Carpenter is 0-1 with a 1.76 ERA in 15 1/3 innings and has been used only once since coming off the DL on Sept. 1, working around two hits in a scoreless inning at Arizona last Tuesday. That was Carpenter's first appearance since Aug. 10, when he left in the sixth inning of a start against the Cubs, and his first relief outing since Oct. 1, 2000, at Cleveland, when he was with the Blue Jays. He has no career saves or save chances.
With Carpenter, the Cardinals are attempting to duplicate their success with Wainwright, but in reverse. Wainwright was the stand-in closer for the Cardinals' 2006 World Series run after Isringhausen had hip surgery in September, won 14 games in '07 and is an impressive 9-3 with a 2.85 ERA this year although he missed two months with a tendon injury to the middle finger on his pitching hand.
La Russa minimized the risk with Perez on Sunday, starting the ninth with left-hander Randy Flores against Mike Jacobs, who homered off Perez on Friday in the Marlins' 4-1 11-inning win. Flores ended up retiring pinch-hitter Wes Helms.
Rookie Kyle McClellan, normally a middle reliever, began warming up after Dan Uggla greeted Perez with a single. Perez said he never noticed while getting two routine outs to end it.
"I look back to see the lineup sometimes, see who's coming up, but I don't look at the bullpen," Perez said. "If they want to make a change, they want to make a change and it's out of my hands."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
2 interesting stories, it might be too late once Carp returns. It looks like our season is finshed.
