GDT 5/10/13-Rockies (Garland) @ Cardinals (Miller) 7:15 CDT

[docellis]

i hate the world. day games, off days, then finally a nice friday night game. but it isn't on tv. and by amazing luck TOMORROW's game is the free mlbtv game.
this was the game to watch, when i really wanted a game to watch.

[jim]

I'm pissed because there was a deal earlier today where you got mlb.tv premium for the rest of the year for $57, but the link was dead by the time I got home so I didn't get to watch.

I had the game on but was more focused on the Bulls/Heat game. I kept seeing outs and knowing it was good, but didn't realize how good until the Bulls game was over and I watched the 9th uninterupted. I felt guilty.

[fanforever]

St. Louis 3, Colorado 0
WP: S. Miller (5-2)
LP: J. Garland (3-3)

HR: STL - C. Beltran (9)


Miller's magnificent outing

Beltran's solo smash

Kozma's RBI single











http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=330510124

Cardinals' Miller retires 27 straight in 1-hitter

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Shelby Miller gave up a leadoff single then retired 27 in a row for his first career complete game, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies .

Eric Young Jr. had a line drive hit to right field to start the game for the Rockies but Miller (5-2) gave up nothing else in his first shutout. The right-hander struck out Young to end it with his 13th K, tying a Cardinals rookie record.

The one-hitter was the fewest hits allowed by a Cardinals pitcher since Bud Smith tossed a no-hitter on Sept. 3, 2001, and it was the second one-hitter of the night in the major leagues. Boston's Jon Lester was perfect until he allowed a two-out double in the sixth against Toronto.

In a near-perfect performance, Miller threw 113 pitches.

Miller lowered his ERA to 1.39, which is the lowest for a Cardinals pitcher in his first eight starts since Howie Pollet had a 2.09 ERA in his first eight in 1941.

Carlos Beltran hit a solo homer - his ninth - for St. Louis. Pete Kozma added an RBI single and Jon Jay a sacrifice fly for the Cardinals, who are National League-best 22-12.

Yadier Molina had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, which is the longest for a Cardinal this season.

Rockies starter Jon Garland (2-3) gave up all three runs in five innings. Garland allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out five.

Garland retired the first five batters he faced before Jay singled to center with two outs in the second. David Freese walked, and Kozma drove home Jay with a single to left.

Beltran made it 2-0 when he hit Garland's first pitch of the third inning 409 feet into the seats in right. Jay gave the Cardinals a three-run cushion with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

NOTES: Dick Hughes and Scipio Spinks also struck out 13 for the Cardinals as rookies. ... Molina is batting .461 (18 for 39) during his hitting streak. ... Colorado has not won a series in St. Louis since sweeping four games from June 5-8, 2009. ... Jay extended his hitting streak to seven games with his second-inning single. ... Garland is 1-6 with 6.61 ERA in his career against St. Louis. ... Former Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter took another step toward possibly returning to the mound by tossing a pain-free bullpen session. The 38-year-old's career appeared as if it may be over when it was announced in February that he was unlikely to pitch in 2013 because he was still experiencing chronic pain in his neck, shoulder and arm. Friday's bullpen session was the fourth for Carpenter, who tossed about 70 pitches.

[fanforever]

Jeff Passan ‏@JeffPassan

Shelby Miller, 22, on the season: 45.2 IP, 29 H, 11 BB, 51 K, 3 HR, 1.58 ERA. Matt Harvey, 24: 49.1 IP, 22 H, 12 BB, 58 K, 2 HR, 1.28 ERA.

Jeff Passan ‏@JeffPassan

9 1 0 0 0 13. Damn, Shelby Miller. That's just not fair.

[pioneer98]

Wow. Amazing. Usually you can project a player to put up slightly worse numbers in the majors than they did in the minors...but sometimes players get to the big leagues and actually get better, because they are getting the best coaching they've ever had, and are getting to play alongside some of the best players on the planet on a daily basis. I don't know if that's what's going on with Shelby or not, or if he's just on a really hot streak. Enjoy it however long it lasts.

I agree that there is a time to worry about his innings but tonight was not it. He threw 136 innings in the minors last year and 139 the year before that. He can probably go above that this year, but it is something they'll have to watch.

[phins]

More amazing stats:

ESPN: Shelby Miller: 3rd P age 22 or younger to throw 1-hit shutout with 13+ K, 0 BB in Live-Ball Era. Other 2: Dwight Gooden and Kerry Wood

Take care of that arm kid...both had career cut way short.

I'm not as worried about pitch count tonight, but I subscribe to research that shows a +60 IP jump increases chances of injury quite a bit.

Just skip him and baby him on some nights and we should be fine.

How good is this kid? I said he'd be Matt Cain and I see nothing that makes me believe he can't absolutely be that and perhaps more. Remember, Matt Cain is highest paid right hander in baseball.

[Vidor]

Oh, for those who didn't see it, that one hit was a cheap blooper.

[Cheddar Tom]

It doesn't confuse me, I just think it's mindless and stupid.

It's neither mindless or stupid...it's recognizing that young arms (in this case one that hasn't even thrown 150 innings) expected to go through a 6-month grind and if they are lucky, 7 months, should not be throwing 110+ pitches every other time they go out there. This is not as simple or reductive as "it's just one inning...it's just 10 pitches." There is far more that goes into it.

Well, it's certainly mindless. Stating that we should bench our star pitcher and prevent him from achieving a historic performance just because "it all adds up", due to the fear that letting him pitch the ninth might increase his chance of injury by 0.0000000000000000000000000000001%, is essentially the definition of mindless. You can manage a pitcher's innings in smart ways. You can lift him in games like I was talking about where he's leading 8-2 after the sixth. You can skip his starts once in a while. You can limit him to 5 IP a start in September when the team's storming to a division title. You can do it in smart ways; tonight would be a very dumb way.

...no your reply is what is mindless since you apparently lack the ability to distinguish between the two ideas.

Stating that we should bench our star pitcher and prevent him from achieving a historic performance just because "it all adds up", due to the fear that letting him pitch the ninth might increase his chance of injury by 0.0000000000000000000000000000001%, is essentially the definition of mindless.

It was also historical when Johan Santana threw the first no hitter in Mets history. Those extra pitches certainly "added up" since he was never the same afterward. The idea isn't that one game will be the sole wrecker of a pitcher's elbow, rather that continuously throwing a young arm with 0 IP over 150 innings out there for 100 pitches will be his undoing.

You can limit him to 5 IP a start in September when the team's storming to a division title.

...and what if this doesn't come to pass? What if they need Miller to help pitch them into the playoffs, the same as they needed Lynn last year but he was unable to? How can they possibly think about skipping starts right now when they have won 7 of 8 yet lead by just 3 games and he's arguably their 2nd best starter?

Lance Lynn was allowed to throw 100+ pitches 16 times in his first 24 starts. By August he was cooked. We as fans should not be surprised if Miller is gasping his way to five inning abbreviated starts based on the current usage.

[Jocephus]

My brother is getting his phd tomorrow so we are in fayettevile and we are in fsmw cardinal territory (wichita is royals)...well anyways we got in town around 7, Hung out with jack and watched the game and postgame...it was fun..will always remember shelbys game today

[Jmodene]

Did a little checking - Shelby's GS of 98 tonight may be the highest ever for a Cardinal starter, at least in a nine-inning game. By way of comparison, Gibby's famous 17-K game in the 1968 World Series "only" produced a GS of 93. Carpenter's magnificent 1-0 win over Halliday in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS "only" produced a GS of 84, which surprised me until I saw he only had 3 K's.

I think it is fair to say that Shelby's performance tonight ranks among the greatest single-season performances by a Cardinal starter *ever*.