St. Louis Cardinals defeat Houston Astros, 5-3

It was not so much that Cardinals righthander Joel Piñeiro won just seven games last year.

It was that he squandered a dozen other leads, in games that often became losses for a beleagured-enough Cardinals bullpen that had to work far too many innings when he started.

Piñeiro, who was bothered by a couple of ailments, averaged under six innings a start. That was worst on the staff and he even was lifted briefly from the rotation. But this spring Piñeiro, after getting o...