Overtaxing the bullpen

ST. LOUIS -- Leading the major leagues in bullpen holds may not be a statistic the St. Louis Cardinals want to trumpet as a strength.

Just ask rookie Mitchell Boggs, forced to face 10 hitters in a six-run third inning last week because manager Tony La Russa wanted to save weary relievers for a weekend series against the Central Division rival Cubs. He had called on five of them to make it through an 8-7 victory over the Mets the previous evening, and nobody even warmed up until Boggs slogged through six innings and left trailing 11-0.

Jason Marquis got that treatment twice in 2006, soldiering through blowout losses on days when he had nothing and when he was told by the absence of action in the bullpen that help was not coming anytime soon.

The up side of pitching in the Cardinals' bullpen -- you'll get plenty of work. Rookie Kyle McClellan and stand-in closer Ryan Franklin had 41 appearances apiece in the first 90 games. Ron Villone and Russ Springer had been in 35 games each and Randy Flores (32) had a fairly high total despite time on the 15-day disabled list.

The down side -- La Russa prides his team on always playing a "hard nine" innings, but occasionally, because he has a tendency to churn through relievers, he just has to throw in the towel and let one of his starters take one for the team. The heavy workload has taken a toll on a unit expected to be one of the team's strengths, with the team's 18-loss bullpen total tied for the most in the majors and 20 blown saves the most in the majors.

So much for those 60 holds in 90 games, which was seven more than the next-best Mets bullpen.

"I definitely think it's a stat that you can read whatever you want into it, and put whatever spin you want on it," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. "I think the most important thing for us, our starters have been giving us innings."

The Cardinals have had a quick hook for Joel Pineiro, twice on the DL, as well as Boggs and lately Todd Wellemeyer, struggling to adjust to the work load in his first full year in the rotation. The result: the appearances pile up. The holds, too, of course. And the occasional stinkers from the starters.

Marquis finished 2006, his last year with the Cardinals, with an artificially ramped up 6.02 ERA and was not used in the postseason before taking a free-agent deal with the Cubs. The 24-year-old Boggs, an impressive 3-0 in his first four major league starts, added more than two points to his ERA, to an unsightly 6.59, in the Mets debacle, and was demoted to Class AAA Memphis on Sunday when Mark Mulder was elevated to the rotation.

"I've done some good things, and I've done some bad things," Boggs said. "It's been a good experience for me. I think it'll make me better, that's what I'm taking out of it."

The manager said he had no worries about Boggs' psyche, and pointed out the right-hander worked two scoreless innings before giving up a two-run homer to Carlos Delgado in the sixth. La Russa was booed after spending about 10 seconds talking to Boggs during the six-run inning.

"It wasn't anything too magical," La Russa said. "I had a point or two where I thought he was different from when he was pitching effectively and that's what I said. But he's a smart guy. He knew he was going to have to stay out there."

The next day, Boggs, speaking softly, wasn't complaining.

"It's not as hard when the game is going on because you're in that competitive mode," he said. "You look back on it and wonder 'What was I even doing out there?'

"It wasn't a good night at all, but I guess that's part of baseball."