Reliever Brian Fuentes was placed on Major League Baseball’s restricted list on Tuesday.

Fuentes requested a leave of absence due to personal reasons.

Per Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com:

According to a release distributed by the organization, Fuentes “informed the team that he needed to step away from the game due to personal reasons.”

No immediate indication was given as to how long Fuentes is expected to be away from the Cardinals.

Signed to a Minor League contract in mid-July, Fuentes joined the big league team on July 25 and has since made six appearances out of the bullpen. He allowed five earned runs on six hits and five walks in five innings.

Fuentes began the year with the A’s, who released the struggling veteran reliever in early July.

A little more than two weeks after his first Major League call-up, Rosenthal was sent out to Triple-A Memphis when the Cardinals acquired Edward Mujica at the Trade Deadline. Rosenthal was plugged into Memphis’ rotation, and the 22-year-old right-hander had made two starts since the demotion. In those 10 innings, Rosenthal gave up seven earned runs on nine hits.

Because Rosenthal last pitched on Aug. 8, he will be available out of the Cardinals’ bullpen immediately.

In his four previous appearances with the Major League club, Rosenthal allowed two runs on four hits in four innings. He struck out three and walked two.

Here’s hoping Fuentes isn’t away for too long and whatever the situation causing him to leave, improves.

Also, here’s to continued success at the Major League level for Rosenthal. After some of the bullpen issues this past week, his arm could prove quite beneficial!

Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball. She’s also lead writer at Aerys Offsides in the NFL section. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda. 

Jon Jay

If one good quality has stuck from the 2011 World Champion Cardinals, it’s that this team … plays like a team.

If one person was down, someone always steps up. The whole team stepped up Monday.

By showing how they scored their runs, you can instantly tell this was a team effort.

Things got started in the second inning as Carlos Beltran blasted his 26th homer of the season. Rafael Furcal singled to center and allowed David Freese to score. In the sixth inning, Freese hits a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Matt Holliday to score. Matt Carpenter pinch hits for Jake Westbrook. Matt Carpenter singled to left. Yadier Molina and Jon Jay score. And in the seventh inning, Freese singles to third, allowing Allen Craig to score. Jay then singled allowing Beltran and Freese to score.

There were plenty more good things to discuss from this game. Let’s go!

*Jake Westbrook Isn’t THAT Bad: OK, so giving up that first batter up homer to Angel Pagan wasn’t pretty. At all. But, in true Jake Westbrook fashion, he had one blow up and then turned it completely around and was the pitcher the Cardinals needed him to be. He pitched six innings. He gave up seven hits, including two homers – one to Pagan and the other to Buster Posey. Westbrook did strike out four.

*The Bullpen: Edward Mujica pitched the seventh inning. He gave up one hit but also struck out one. Fernando Salas pitched the eighth. He struck out one. And, Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth inning. He struck out two.

*This Time Last Year? Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch posted this little tidbit of information after the game Monday on his Twitter account.  Here’s what he said: For whatever it’s worth (probably not much) Cardinals were 57-52 after 109 games last season. They are 60-49 now.

Other Interestings:

* Jon Jay was 4 for 4 for the Cardinals with one run and two RBI.

* Carlos Beltran hit his 26th homer of the season. Beltran was 1 for 3 for the Cardinals Monday. He scored one run and one RBI.

* David Freese was one for two for the Cardinals. He scored two runs and two RBI.

* Ryan World Series Champion Ryan Theriot returned to Busch Stadium for the first time Monday since he wasn’t re-signed by the Cardinals. He went 0-for-4 and struck out once.

* Lance Lynn takes the mound against Barry Zito and the Giants tonight. Gametime is 7:15 p.m. CT at Busch.

Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball. She’s also lead writer for Aerys Offsides. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.

We’ve seen this before from the St. Louis Cardinals, haven’t we?

The National League’s top offense shut down by a kid just back from Triple A who’d given up 35 runs in his last 10 major league starts.

The bullpen making another kid with 18 total games of major league experience continue to look like Babe Ruth.

Tyler Colvin doing what Tyler Colvin does against the Cardinals.

Yep. Last night’s 8-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies was something familiar.

Alex White and his 6.45 ERA shut down the Cardinals, retiring 10 in a row at one point. Hot Matt Holliday? He was 0 for three. David Freese and his 12-game hitting streak? Also 0 for three. The Cardinals only had five hits total, two by Jon Jay, and the Colorado bullpen allowed no hits. Zero. The Colorado bullpen.

» Continue reading “This Cardinals Loss Looks Familiar”

The Cardinals lost a very winnable game today.

How many times could that sentence have been written so far this season? Many — too many, actually.

And the disappointments started in the very first inning.

Jenifer Langosch wrote this to describe how Jeff Samardzija began the game:

The Cubs’ starter opened his outing with seven straight balls. Sixteen pitches into the inning, Samardzija had walked the bases full.

He took a visit from pitching coach Chris Bosio as Carlos Beltran walked to the plate.

But rather than forcing Samardzija into proving he could command the strike zone, Beltran swung at the first pitch. It resulted in a weak groundout, scoring one run. Five pitches later, Samardzija was out of the inning with no further damage done.

Really?

Yes, the Cardinals old nemesis — runners left on base — was back in earnest today. Nine left total, even as the Cards were gifted with seven total walks.

» Continue reading “Missed Chances Cost Cardinals”

Last Saturday, the Cardinals hit double after double after double in the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs to tie a Major League record. Yesterday, even with the wind blowing in at Wrigley Field, they hit homers instead.

Five home runs in the first five innings set a St. Louis Cardinals team record, as the Cards went on to a 9-6 victory over the Cubs. It was their fourth straight win and, given last weekend’s sweep, the fourth consecutive win over Chicago as well.

The Cardinals have gained no ground in the NL Central, however, as the damn Reds have won eight straight games. St. Louis remains 5 1/2 back, with the Pirates — who’ve now won three straight — two back in second. On the plus side, the Cardinals are now eight games over .500 for the first time since they were 20-12 on May 11.

» Continue reading “Cardinals Set More Records Against The Cubs”