Chris Carpenter leaves game, headed for DL?

The St. Louis Cardinals entered the 2009 season with one big question mark: Could Chris Carpenter stay healthy? After nine games it looks as if he could be headed to the DL for the ninth time since 1999.

Carpenter apparently strained his rib-cage grounding out to third in the top of the fourth inning last night in Arizona. He came out to warm up in the fourth, but the pain became to much for him to continue. The Cardinals led the game 3-0 at the time, but went on to lose for just the third time all season, this time in extras, 7-6.

Tony La Russa commented after the game,

“The most important thing is that Chris Carpenter got hurt,” La Russa said, “No matter what happens in the game, the most important thing is it looks like he’s going to be out for awhile. That kind of overwhelms everything else that happened in the game.”

Luckily for the Cardinals and for Carpenter, the injury is not arm related, and even if he spends some time on the DL, the effects are likely to be less of a long term issue (again I am a few credits short of my medical degree). You have to wonder, however, what psychological toll this takes on not only Chris, but on this team as a whole.

I think the Cardinals have enough talent to compete for a division title without Carpenter, and their offense is off to great start. The Cardinals have played in more games than any team in the NL, but they are still hitting .293 as a team, which puts them atop the leaderboard in that category and they are second to only the Cubs in on base percentage at .368. No doubt they will miss Carpenter in the rotation if he is forced to the DL, but this is nothing they haven’t dealt with before.

It’s early in the season, but this injury can’t sit well with Cardinal fans.