Chris Carpenter, who was scheduled to start Tuesday despite elbow soreness after his last outing, is not going to start after all. Carpenter woke up on Sunday with swelling and stiffness in that throwing elbow, and the Cardinals canceled his Tuesday go. Instead, he's meeting with a doctor today to determine the extent of the injury. The missed start is the second in a row for Carpenter, who missed the Cardinals' game Friday with similar problems.
"We're always going to be real careful with him, we just got excited [Saturday] because he threw the ball so well in the 'pen," La Russa said. "But he didn't back off, he really wanted to test it and he came in [Sunday] and said he's got some discomfort."Carpenter also had some discomfort following his Opening Day start against the Mets, which caused the team to skip his next scheduled start. He was supposed to be back in the rotation on Tuesday.
"[There's] just enough [swelling] this time that he's not going to pitch Tuesday," La Russa said. "I don't want to say anything more until we compare notes, but I know he's not pitching Tuesday."
Of course the Cardinals are being extremely careful with Carpenter -- he's their No. 1 pitcher on a rotation that isn't at all deep. If they were to lose him for an extended period of time, well, the Cardinals could be looking at a disastrous follow-up to their miraculous 2006 World Series run.
