St. Louis Post-Dispatch
April 5, 2003

The Real Curves In Lifting Morris: 103 pitches, April date

By Bernie Miklasz

After scuffling in his opening-day start against Milwaukee, Cardinals pitcher Matt Morris retreated to the bullpen with pitching coach Dave Duncan to search for his missing curve ball. And Morris found it in time for Saturday's matinee with the Houston Astros.

Morris tantalized the Astros through eight dominant, shutout innings, getting nicked for three hits and striking out 10. Morris ran his pitch count to 103 after a tidy 1-2-3 eighth inning.

And that's when Cardinals manager Tony La Russa threw a curve to the crowd of 33,878 at Busch Stadium: he lifted Morris and turned a 1-0 lead over to the team's unsettled bullpen. The Astros, undoubtedly pumped by seeing Morris depart, got to Jeff Fassero and Dustin Hermanson for four hits and two runs, and picked La Russa's pocket for a 2-1 victory.

La Russa provided considerable material for the second-guessers in the stands and in the press box. The Cardinals are facing off against the top competition in the NL Central. They dropped a 6-5 heartburn of a game in Friday's 12-inning series opener. So why yank Morris when he's three outs from a complete game and deadlocking the series with a shutout?

Morris wanted to continue, but didn't debate his manager. La Russa, who has a law degree, is the judge and jury on matters before the Cardinals' bench. "He'd given us all that he could give, so let's go with someone else," La Russa said. "This is April. Not the time to push guys. The lead gets away so it's 'what if, what if?' But if we don't have Matt Morris pitching every fifth day, we don't have a chance to win this season."

I side with La Russa on this one.

If Morris does the ninth, against Houston's most dangerous hitters, then he's probably pushing extra hard to get those final three outs. He's probably increasing his pitch count to 120, 125. And that's a lot for a game played on April 5. Imagine the repercussions - not to mention the whining - had Morris suffered an injury by exerting himself in the ninth.

Last April 6, Morris threw 125 pitches in a start against Houston. It took his arm a while to recover. Over his next four starts, he allowed 15 runs and 31 hits in 26 innings.

"Tony and Dunc are always watching the pitchers," Morris said. "They don't want us to get into any trouble, physically. (Tony) made it clear right off the bat that I was coming out, and I wasn't going to put up a stink. Maybe if it's later in the year, I would have."

Besides, the Cardinals lost this game before the ninth by squeaking for only one run. And if third baseman Scott Rolen supplies the usual golden defense in the ninth - he threw high to second to ruin what would have been a victory-clinching double play for the Cardinals - then we're not talking about La Russa's handle-with-care stamp on Morris.

Moreover, the Cardinals will be shaky with ninth-inning leads until closer Jason Isringhausen returns from the disabled list. That is, unless Steve Kline is closing. He's been terrific so far, but it wouldn't have made sense to use him Saturday. Kline had toiled two days in a row, including a two-inning gig on Friday night.

Still, La Russa is having a rough series. He had sound reasons for most of his calls in the first two games, but many of the decisions went against the Cardinals, and so did the results. It wasn't a bad idea to allow Fassero to pitch to so many of Houston righthanded hitters in the ninth; except for Jeff Kent, Fassero had good career numbers against them. But why is Fassero challenging RH batters with inviting fastballs when he's more effective utilizing his forkball and slider?

The Cardinals are also coping with sore legs in the lineup. Regulars Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols and Eli Marrero are limping and must be used with discretion. The losses to Houston are difficult to absorb, but La Russa's caution will pay off later. He'd be a fool to risk injuries to win April games.

That said, La Russa should never allow lefthanded hitting Tino Martinez to swing the bat against the wicked lefty Houston closer, Billy Wagner.