Retiring the Colonel

If last night was supposed to be Todd Wellemeyer pitching for his job, he didn't act like it.

I know the spin from the Cardinal manager and others is that it was a step forward, that it wasn't as bad as the line indicated, but let's be honest, it still wasn't good.  Anytime your starter can't get through the fifth, it's bad.  Anytime your starter gives up more runs than innings pitched, it's bad.  The real problem is that this isn't surprising, but the norm out of Wellemeyer in the last few months.

It heartened me to see that, according to the now-Twittering Joe Strauss, the Cardinals are still in the mix for Roy Halladay.  I've beaten the drum for him quite a bit lately, as you all know, but was afraid that John Mozeliak was just going to settle for what the team had.  The Cardinals might not get Halladay (though I think they can), but they should make some move.  There's no way you can keep running Wellemeyer out there.

Speaking of Strauss, he'll be doing his weekly chat today at 1 Central at the Post-Dispatch site.  With his Halladay news and the Tweet that Washington had scouts in Memphis last night, there should be a lot of trade talk during that tsumami of chat.

On the positive side, it was good to see some power out of Mark DeRosa.  Two home runs may mean that the wrist is well enough to play on.  Ryan Ludwick's late home run also helped the Cards get serious, but not serious enough.  Getting DeRosa healthy enough to play a regular third base can only give a boost to the lineup.  Or, if the Cards don't make a deal, maybe he moves to left and Brett Wallace finally gets the call?

UCB Radio Hour is tonight.  Yours truly will be hosting the show with Pip from Fungoes as my cohost.  I'm sure we'll talk about tonight's game, the Houston series in general, and I'm guessing Adam Dunn and Halladay might just come up.

Chris Carpenter vs. Roy Oswalt tonight.  Should be a great pitching matchup and it's a game the Cards really need to win.