Another dud of a rehab outing probably had John Mozeliak reaching for the Tums in order to settle that queasy feeling he had heading out to his hotel room after watching Mark Mulder allow 13 runners on 9 hits, 2 walks and 2 HBPs that led to 7 big time Earned Runs.
He tossed 90 pitches, 61 of them being strikes, which is a pretty good strike to ball ratio. But the reports have him sitting at between 85 and 87 with his fastball, and that seems to not be getting the job done with the AAA’ers.
This certainly upsets the apple cart as far as the Major League rotation. We have seen the seams on the staff recently, as Pineiro and Lohse have tossed out a few clunkers recently and Wellemeyer has joined them in a lack of quality starts. Now that it appears that Mulder is likely headed back to extended spring training, that is going to put more pressure on four guys not named Adam Wainwright to keep this on all four wheels and moving forward. Can they handle it? Stay tuned.
UPDATE!
After I wrote this entry, it was announced that Mulder was on his way from Memphis to St. Louis to see the good Doc Paletta about what he described as “shoulder fatigue” he experienced in the later stages of his last outing at Memphis. After Mulder saw Paletta, the Cardinals announced that Mulder would be shut down for seven to ten days to calm down a mild shoulder strain. Mark Mulder cannot catch a break, and if he cannot, neither can the Cardinals. I hope that this is just a small set back and he can finally work his way back to the active roster in June [even though he agent claims it is not a set back. Okey Dokey Gregg Clifton] as this guy does have the talent to be a #2 and would bring a different look to an all righty rotation currently for the Cardinals. Time will tell.
