Man am I glad that former Cardinals-great, and new Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had the decision and not some of the other fans, or "posters" on the forums and message boards.
Following an off-season in which Chris Carpenter had gotten surgery; and team-ace Adam Wainwright was still nearing the end of his 'Tommy John' surgery, Lynn had a lot of weight and space to fill for the spot that he took to start this new season.
Following a season last year that Lynn had come from the heavily-used bullpen rotation that former manager Tony La Russa had been using, Lance finished 2011 with an ERA of 3.12, while giving up twelve earned-runs over twenty-five hits; in 34 2/3 innings pitched. In the postseason during the team's title run, Lynn stepped his game up as he appeared in ten games while giving the Cardinals eleven innings in relief with an earned-run average of 3.27. He gave up four earned runs on ten hits in his eleven innings, and finished with a 2-0 record.
Starting as the team's fifth overall starter to start the 2012 season, Lynn has been making sure the rest of the league is taking notice. He is 4-0 in four starts and has given up just four earned-runs on sixteen hits through twenty-seven innings pitched. Lynn currently leads the majors with his four wins, and will be getting his next start next week against the Houston Astros following the current three game series against the division-rival Brewers.
He is doing all of this and is doing nothing more than filling in the spot for one of the team's best starting pitcher in Carpenter. Lynn has done some pretty monumentus things during the first month of baseball, is certainly taking the league by storm at the moment.
Lynn has won each of his first four starts this season, and has not allowed more than one earned-run in each. The only other Cardinals starter in the last ninety seasons to start a new champaign with recording wins in each of his first four starts and not allow anymore than just one earned-run was in the year of 1937 by the late-great, well known Dizzy Dean--who did that through his first five starts that year.
I'm certainly not saying Lance Lynn is cy-young worthy right now; nor saying that he will be at any point during this season or the near future, but if he continues to do what he is doing, then it will most definitefly make it even harder to not keep him in the five-man starting rotation, atleast in my opinion. I most definitely did not expect the start from Lance that he is providing; but he is most certainly making sure the rest of the majors is taking notice.
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