Wow – haven’t done this in a while, so we’ll start it up again – The Good Chris Carpenter & The Bad Pittsburgh Pirates…

Chris Carpenter is Good, real good.  The Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter threw his 1st complete game shutout in 3 years in Monday’s 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Labor Day.  He needed just 99 pitches and gave up only 1 hit – a harmless double to Jody Gerut in the 5th inning.  He struck out 10 Brewers and won his 11th straight decision.  During the 2009 MLB schedule, Carpenter is 16-3 and he leads all of baseball with a sparkling 2.16 ERA.  He has a WHIP under 1.00 at 0.97 and he has allowed more than 3 ER in a game only 2 times all season long (4 runs against the Pirates on August 4th and 6 runs against the Giants on June 30th).  He has allowed 2 ER or less in 17 of his 24 starts.  He and teammate Adam Wainwright (18-7; 2.59 ERA; 1.21 WHIP) will be duking it out for the 2009 National League Cy Young Award.  It’s not surprising that Manager Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals have run away with the NL Central with 2 dominating pitchers like Carpenter and Wainwright at the top of the rotation.  The Cardinals are 27 games over .500 @ 84-57 and they now have the best record in the National League.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are Bad, real bad.  The Pirates have lost 12 of 13 games and are now 54-84 overall, 28.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for last place in the NL Central.  The Pirates have only 7 more wins than the lowly Washington Nationals and are the 3rd worst team in all of MLB baseball (the Royals are 1 game worse with a 53-85 record).  The Pirates have guaranteed the franchise another losing season – 17 consecutive losing season for that matter.  That streak sets the longest season losing streak for any professional sports team in the four major professional sports (baseball (MLB); football (NFL); basketball (NBA); hockey (NHL)) ever.  Bad, bad, bad.  Only the Philadelphia Phillies of MLB have have had 16 consecutive losing seasons (from 1933-1948).  Bad, bad, bad…

John Smoltz and Brad Penny are shining in their new homes outside of the bright lights of Fenway Park in Boston.

In 3 starts with the Cardinals, Smoltz is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and miniscule 0.82 WHIP.  He suffered his 1st loss on Thursday when he gave up 4 ER on 6 hits over 6 innings.  In his previous 2 starts (both Cardinals wins), Smoltz gave up just 1 ER on 7 hits over 11 innings pitched.  He also struck out a combined 15 batters in those 2 games against the lowly Padres and Nationals.  The Cardinals have all but locked up the NL Central division, and Smoltz will be a welcome arm for the Cardinals in the post-season.  It will be interesting to see if Manager Tony LaRussa goes with Smoltz as a #3 (ahead of 14-gaem winner Joel Pineiro) or as a #4 in October.

In his 1st start with the Giants, Brad Penny earned the win with 8 scoreless innings against the Phillies, giving up just 5 hits and 1 walk.  Penny pounded the strike zone throughout the game, needing just 103 pitches to go the 8 innings.  As a point of reference, Penny pitched into the 7th inning only 2 times in 24 starts for the Red Sox in 2009 (7-8 record, 5.61 ERA & 1.53 WHIP).  The Giants are looking for Penny to serve as the team’s #4 behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.  With more starts like that, the Giants could have one of the deepest starting pitching staffs for the post-season if they can overcome the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead.

We’ll see if it holds up for the remainder of the season, but these guys are veteran major league pitchers and with prior success for each in the National League, it’s not surprising that both are thriving back in the light-hitting NL.

The St. Louis Cardinals made another solid move in their push for the 2009 MLB post-season by signing John Smoltz to the league minimum on Wednesday.  Smoltz struggled in 8 starts for the Boston Red Sox during the 2009 MLB schedule.  Smoltz posted a 2-5 record in 40 innings pitched.  He gave up a whopping 37 ER’s and 8 home runs, sporting a hefty 8.32 ERA and 1.70 WHIP.  Smoltz rejected the Red Sox offer to stay in the ‘pen for the rest of the season, and when the Red Sox could not orchestrate a trade with another team, Smoltz became a free agent after this Monday’s deadline.

The Cardinals will pay Smoltz the pro rate portion of the league minimum for the rest of the season.  The Red Sox are still on the hook for the $5 million deal they signed him to this off-season, less the portion paid by the Cards.

Smoltz will likely serve as a set-up man for Cards closer Ryan Franklin or as a late inning reliever.  This is a GREAT MOVE for the Cards.  Smoltz was once a closer for the Braves – - so he has the experience there.  Smoltz also seemed to fare better during the 1st few innings of his starts this season – in his last 5 starts for the Red Sox, he did not give up any runs in the 1st 2 innings of any start.  That could mean that Smoltz still has what it takes for an inning or 2, but lose his good stuff or become more predictable the longer he stays in the game.  The Cards are in the driver’s seat with a 6-game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central, and the addition of Smoltz just makes them that much deeper in the bullpen.  With the earlier additions of Mark DeRosa and Matt Holiday, the Cardinals have clearly made some of the best mid-season moves in all of baseball.  Kudos to General Manager John Mozeliak and his staff and Manager Tony LaRussa for putting the pieces together to form one of the best teams in the National League in 2009.