St. Louis, MO (My Sportsbook) - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter underwent surgery Tuesday on his right elbow. The procedure included decompression and transposition of the ulnar nerve, and was performed by Cardinals team physician Dr. George Paletta. St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols had the same operation done on October 13. The surgery is not expected to interfere with the physical rehabilitation of his ailing shoulder, which forced an end to his 2008 season. Carpenter was forced to stop pitching in September after just four appearances because of persistent shoulder weakness. He had strained his right triceps in early August, which sent Carpenter to the disabled list. After being activated he tossed an inning of relief September 2, but felt further weakness. Carpenter underwent a shoulder evaluation and tests confirmed a strain of the teres major and indicated new nerve irritation in the shoulder. The oft-injured Carpenter logged just 21 1/3 innings in five games over the past two seasons and made just one appearance in 2007 before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery. The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner has a career mark of 100-70 and a 4.08 earned run average in 250 games, including 232 starts, over parts of 11 seasons for Toronto and St. Louis. |
