No one in the organization is saying it publicly, but there has got to be some growing concern about the performance of closer Jason Isrinhausen after his 4th blown save of the season ended in a 4-3 loss to the Rockies last night.
The blown save overshadowed a fantastic effort by starter Adam Wainwright, who pitched 7 shutout innings before handing a 3-0 lead to the bullpen. Ryan Ludwick continued his torrid pace at the plate, going 2-4 and knocking in 2 runs on a sac fly and a solo h run. But when Isringhausen was called on to appear in the 8th inning, everything unravelled as he wound up with his 4th blown save and 3rd loss of the year, both well beyond his normal numbers this time of year. While it is too early in the year to be sounding the alarms, it is definately something to be keeping an eye on. You want to give a veteran like Isringhuasen the benefit of the doubt, but you also don’t want to be blowing winnable games when the NL Central may very well come down to the wire.
The Cards will try and pull it together in a few hours at Coors Field, sending Kyle Lohse (3-1, 3.79 ERA) to the hill against Rockies’ lefty Jorge DeLaRosa (0-1, 20,25 ERA).
