(Busch Stadium) As the season turns the page on the first month of the season, St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Mike Leake finds himself atop the National League with a 1.35 ERA.
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“Yeah, absolutely,” said Leake of taking some pride in the mark. “This is the elite level of baseball, so any time you’re doing a very good job at this level, it’s definitely an honor. Hopefully, I can carry it on for the next month and for years to come. Hopefully it’s not a one month thing.”
While there is a friendly competition amongst the rotation to try and one-up each other when they take the mound, Leake shared he isn’t inclined to add his ERA title to the conversation.
“I suppose I could, but I know how fast this can go away so I try not to put it in their faces,” he smiled. “For now, I take fun in learning how to get better and just the fun part now will be seeing if I can continue to do this and keep a hold of it.”
As a rotation, the Cardinals starters have allowed just 52 earned runs in 140 innings pitched and their 3.32 ERA is tops amongst all MLB teams.
“I’m pretty happy with where I’m at,” assessed Leake after yesterday’s outing. “Pretty happy with where the team is too–I know we’re playing .500 but I still think we have what it takes to put some wins together. I think that’s kind of what we need, put a win streak together and let it continue.”
Fellow starter Carlos Martinez ranks second among NL pitchers with a rate of 12.24 strikeouts per 9 innings.
Relievers Matt Bowman and Brett Cecil are tied for third in the NL with 14 appearances each.
NEW LOOK FOR MARTINEZ
–The braids are gone for Carlos Martinez who arrived in the clubhouse today sporting a natural, afro style instead of the silver braids of the last couple weeks.
“Yeah, changing it up,” smiled Martinez, who then joked through a team translator “I want to win again…A little bit of superstition.”
As for the old braids…
“In the trash,” Carlos answered.
Martinez is still looking for his first win of the season and has allowed 15 earned runs in his last four starts (21.1 innings). The Cardinals have scored only five runs overall for Martinez this season, which ranks 3rd-lowest in the National League.
“I think things are getting better,” said Martinez, who aside from working at a quicker pace shared he concentrated on staying focused in on Yadier Molina during his last start.
“Apart from my focus, I didn’t really do anything better but just tried to locate my pitch where it needs to go.”
In that last outing, Martinez struck out 8 Toronto batters in 6.0 innings of work.
photo credit: Benny Sieu, Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
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