Mulder leaves early

Mark Mulder faced three batters tonight in his first start since last September. Strike out, walk, walk, inning over -- for Mulder. The Associated Press says it was a left arm injury.

There will be those that say this is a classic case of a pitcher getting rushed back when he's not ready. I'd like to see some comments from Mulder before drawing any conclusions. It's hard to say he was rushed back when he was given two relief outings and pitched 34 innings in the minors before getting his first MLB start. He hadn't started a game for the Cardinals in almost 10 months.

Before Tuesday's game, Tony La Russa expressed a good deal of confidence in Mulder, at least more than he had in his other options.

"There's a spot open, and it's an opportunity for him to go out there and throw extended pitches," La Russa said. "I think it would be a really difficult assignment. But there isn't anybody he's bumping that gives us a better chance to win, even though it's really difficult for him."

If you take a hard look at the state of the Cardinals staff, however, you understand it is an overachieving unit held together at the back end with Scotch Tape and Band-Aids. The Cards needed Mulder before this start, but they held off. He could've climbed the hill weeks ago, but they were not going to push the limit.