Baseball Notes: Cardinals' Chris Carpenter unlikely to pitch again

Posted: February 07, 2013

Chris Carpenter, one of the best clutch pitchers in the storied history of the St. Louis Cardinals, may have thrown his final pitch.

General manager John Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny announced Tuesday that Carpenter almost certainly won't pitch in 2013 and that his star-crossed career is probably over after a recurrence of a nerve injury that cost him most of last season.

Carpenter did not attend, and Mozeliak said the emotions for the 37-year-old were still too raw.

Retirement isn't official. Carpenter plans to seek further medical evaluation. But Mozeliak seemed resigned to losing him.

Carpenter's career numbers don't reflect his value to the team he helped lead to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011. He is 144-94 with a 3.76 ERA in a career that began in Toronto in 1997. He spent six seasons with the Blue Jays and nine in St. Louis. He won the 2005 NL Cy Young Award, going 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA, and was second in 2009 after going 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA.

More telling are his postseason results, including a 10-4 record and 3.00 ERA in 18 starts.

His career is all the more remarkable considering the amount of time he spent on the disabled list because of various shoulder, elbow and nerve injuries.

Braun in clinic records

Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun said he used the person who ran the Florida clinic under investigation by Major League Baseball only as a consultant on his drug suspension appeal last year.

"I have nothing to hide," Braun said in a statement released Tuesday night.

Earlier in the day, Yahoo Sports reported the 2011 NL MVP's name showed up three times in records of the Biogenesis of America L.L.C. clinic. Yahoo said no specific performance-enhancing drugs were listed next to his name.

- Wire reports

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