Chris Carpenter: Uh, Oh

Remember a week back when I wrote a piece, emphatically titled "Chris Carpenter: The Ace is Back"? Well, that story is now on hold or just a waste of time. Carpenter is hurt, yet again.

ESPN.com:

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter appears headed for the disabled list after straining his left rib cage swinging the bat Tuesday night.

Carpenter was injured grounding out to third base to end the top of the fourth. He went to the mound to warm up before the bottom of the inning, then called for a trainer.

"I felt it just a little bit on that swing, and every warmup pitch got worse and worse until the last one bit pretty good," Carpenter said after the Cardinals' 7-6 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings. "So there's nothing I could do about it but come out."

Not to make Cardinals fans feel any worse, but manager Tony LaRussa thinks Carpenter will be out "for awhile."

Yikes. That's not good.

Obviously the Cardinals cannot afford to lose Carpenter for an extended period of time. Without an ace, the Cardinals are no better than 2nd or 3rd in the NL Central and will have a very difficult time fighting for the wild card.

Bad break for the Cardinals and Carpenter last night.