Diamond Dust: Version 8.00

Jason Isringhausen's season is spinning out of control. After being relieved of his closing duties, Tony LaRussa has inexplicably continued to use him in close games. This has not worked out. In his last five outings, the much maligned veteran is 0-3 with 3 blown saves. During this time, he has allowed 6 earned runs in 4 innings pitched. For the year, he has an ERA of 8.00 and 6 blown saves. Paging Tony LaRussa: Stop putting this guy in the game unless you are up by 10!! The Not-So Crappy Cardinals are playing a very crappy brand of baseball recently, losers of 7 of 9 and falling to third behind the Cubs and the surging Astros. Pitching has been a struggle as of late, which is not surprising considering the excellent start. All teams will struggle, the key is how does a team weather the struggling. This might require LaRussa's best coaching job yet, which begins with the immediate cessation of putting Izzy into close games. Some random thoughts from around baseball:

• The top pitchers from last week's power players continue to excel. Volquez pitched 6 innings, allowing one run in picking up his sixth win of the season on Tuesday. Brandon Webb got his ninth win in as many starts last night. Cliff pitched 9 scoreless innings on Monday in a no-decsion, lowering his ERA to an obscene 0.67.
• As for the hitters, Pujols was left off of last week's list to avoid claims of bias, but he currently ranks fourth in the league with a .357 average , first with an OBP of .503, and first in walks with 41. Experience tells us that the power numbers will come. The two biggest sticks are still Jones-Hornsby and Lance Berkman-Ruth. Chipper's season has been well-chronicled here, but Berkman-Ruth has been sensational. He ranks second in average at .391 (Chipper leads at .418), and is first in home runs and RBIs with 15 and 43 respectively (Nady is second in RBIs, nine behind).
• A quick look at the standings shows the Devil Rays as the story of the year thus far with the A's a close second, and the Marlins a distant third. New York baseball is not good right now, the Yankees are in the cellar and the Mets are in the middle. Cleveland is where most thought they would be, while LWAL's prediction for World Series champ, the Terrible Tigers, continue to inexplicably struggle. The two worst records in baseball belong to Seattle and San Diego, no one had this.

+Go here and consider the best players of this generation and here for thoughts on the sad state of veteran players from my childhood.