I didn't see a dead arm. I saw some pitches with a lot of life and a lot of movement. The problem was that Oliver didn't do that consistently. Until he gets a consistent arm slot, he's going to continue to struggle to throw strikes.
I thought he battled. He didn't have his breaking ball until his last two innings. That's a tough club to pitch against with basically just your fastball.
I don't find myself coming to grips with doing things like that at this early stage until we see him swing the bat and see what he looks like.
I could sit here and talk about those things until I'm blue in the face, but those are things if you're going to become a good club you have to pick up on and capitalize. Thus far, we've not been able to do that.
Any time you face a pitcher the caliber of Chris Carpenter, you get one opportunity against him. He started quick and it took us until the seventh to get our opportunity to crack through.
Just giving him two or three days. Hey, that kid can fall out of bed and hit. The first game we played he had three hits and every one was smoked. I said right then, 'Let's put him in a humidor until Opening Day. Why does he need to be out here?
That's the plan right now. But until we see how the leg responds in game-type situations, there is nothing that is completely certain. But there has to be a plan. And for the time being, that is the plan.