Bizarre season brings Schumaker to mound

ST. LOUIS In a bizarre season that has left the Cardinals ten games out of the division race, 5-foot-8 infielder Aaron Miles launching a long home run off position player Skip Schumaker might have been the most unpredictable thing yet. With the Cardinals down 11-0 and their playoff hopes shrinking by the day, manager Tony La Russa elected to have the hard-throwing Schumaker make his first career pitching appearance in the ninth inning to save his bullpen. The outfielder-turned-infielder recorded two strikeouts in the inning but served up a long two-run homer to Miles, who ironically was the last position player to pitch for the Cardinals. "You never want to be in that situation because that means your down by a lot," Schumaker said. "It's a lot closer to the plate and to the hitter than I remembered from college. To give up a homer to Miles of all guys, was a little disappointing, but it is what it is. "It was fun, but I don't think I want to do it again because that means we're down by a lot." Schumaker, who made four pitching appearances during his senior year at UC-Santa Barbara, warmed up in the bullpen during the eighth inning. When he jogged out to the mound to start the ninth, the small gathering of fans that remained greeted him with a standing ovation. His first pitch was a 91 MPH fastball, which the Dodgers' Trent Oeltjen took for a called strike. The righty got ahead in the count 1-2 before throwing a 77 MPH offspeed pitch that Oeltjen swung through for a strikeout. According to research done by FOX Sports Midwest producer Tim Trokey, Schumaker became the first Cardinals position player to record a strikeout since Rod Brewer had a strikeout against Atlanta on July 21, 1993. "I keep saying the biggest mistake I made last year was not bringing him in against the Mets in that 20 inning game," La Russa said. "I think he just took Miles for granted. "He can throw it. He didn't even use his curveball today. He's saving that for next time." Schumaker's fastest pitch, which was clocked at 93 MPH on the FOX Sports Midwest broadcast, came during a five-pitch walk to Andre Ethier. That brought up the scrappy Miles, who entered with just 18 career home runs in 2,734 at-bats. But after making two scoreless pitching appearances for the Cardinals last year, the Dodgers third baseman wasn't as kind to his former infield mate. Miles launched the first pitch he saw from Schumaker, an 84 MPH pitch down the middle of the plate, deep into the seats in right for a two-run homer that put the Dodgers up 13-0. "I definitely didn't want to strike out so I was swinging at the first pitch, that's for sure," Miles said. "I've played catch with Schu' probably 1,000 times so I know exactly what it looks like coming out of his hand. He's throwing it 92 up there. He provided all the power. "I just didn't want him to strike me out because then he'd have that over me." Catcher Rod Barajas flew out to center before Schumaker recorded his second strikeout of the inning, a called third strike to his friend, Dodgers pitcher Blake Hawksworth, to end the inning. Schumaker became the first big league position player in more than two years to record two strikeouts in a game. According to additional research done by FOX Sports Midwest producer Tim Trokey, Schumaker is the first Cardinals position player to strike out two batters since Hal Jeffcoat in 1959. Jeffcoat converted to a pitcher a few years before and research as far back as can be found doesn't show any other Cardinals position players recording two strikeouts in a game. "You don't want to make it a mockery so I wasn't trying to blow anybody away," Schumaker said. "I didn't want to get anybody hurt. I threw one up and in to Barajas which I wasn't happy about. I'm not trying to get anybody hurt. You want to get it done as quickly as possible and that's what I was trying to do." Asked about the pitch to Miles, Schumaker joked that, "Apparently I was tipping (his pitches). Of all guysMiles?" Miles has made five career pitching appearances for the Cardinals including a pair of scoreless innings last season. The righty also tossed a scoreless frame in 2008 after giving up a home run and two earned runs in a pair of appearances in 2007. It took Schumaker just one appearance to do something the pitching veteran Miles has yet to achieve - record a strikeout. "I've got five innings pitched and I haven't struck out one guy yet so I was kind of jealous when he struck out the first guy," Miles said. "He's doing it better than me." La Russa noted that using Schumaker allowed the Cardinals to have enough pitching for Wednesday's afternoon game. While weighing the potential of an injury to Schumaker, La Russa decided to use the infielder after telling him to be careful. "When you put him in there, you really hope he doesn't hurt himself," La Russa said. "You hesitate with a guy like Schu' because he's going to put a little on it. When Aaron did it for us, he would just throw slow, slower, a little bit harder. He was just playing around. But Schu', I know can throw in the 90s, so I was just worried about him getting hurt." Schumaker said that while his arm is fine, he doesn't plan on asking La Russa for another shot on the mound anytime soon. "It was close," Schumaker said. "I'm not happy about being on the mound. It was close with big league hitters up."