St. Louis Cardinals (22-14)
@
Milwaukee Brewers (16-18)
2008 NL Cent Standings
Code:
Date Time: TV: Radio
05/09/08 7:05 FSMW KTRS
05/10/08 2:40 *FOX KTRS
05/11/08 1:05 KSDK KTRS
05/12/08 7:05 FSMW KTRS
Cardinals Links:
Official Sites:
Official Site of St. Louis Cardinals
MLB Press Pass - Cardinals
SI - Cardinals
Sporting News - Cardinals
CBS.Sportsline - Cardinals
ESPN.com - Cardinals
Yahoo Sports - Cardinals
Blogs:
Matthew Leach Blog
St. Louis Post Dispatch
Derrick Goold - Bird Land Blog
STLToday: Bernies Pressbox
Blog: Future Redbirds
Blog: Viva El Birdos
Player Sites:
Albert Pujols Family Foundation
Rick Ankiel Official Site
TV/Radio:
KSDK TV
Big 550 KTRS
Pitching Matchups:
Game 1:
RHP Wellemeyer (3-1, 4.07) vs. LHP Parra (1-2, 5.86)
Cardinals: Wellemeyer lasted just five innings in his last start, on Sunday against the Cubs, which matched his shortest start of the season. The right-hander allowed two runs on three hits, struck out four and walked four. He threw 95 pitches, with 57 for strikes. In his next start, Wellemeyer will have to find a way to be more efficient with his pitches and try to get through six or seven innings to give the bullpen a break.
Brewers: Parra has not pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his six starts, and that fact is starting to upset him. He lasted only four-plus frames against the Astros on Saturday, taking a 1-1 tie into the fifth inning and then allowing a five-run outburst sparked by back-to-back homers by the opposing pitcher, Brandon Backe, and slumping leadoff man Michael Bourne. Parra has great pure stuff -- a 92-94 mph fastball and three serviceable offspeed pitches -- but he has been up in the strike zone way to often, manager Ned Yost said. He has already started twice against the Cardinals, taking a pair of no-decisions while allowing six earned runs in nine total innings.
Game 2:
RHP Piņeiro (2-2, 4.33) vs. RHP Sheets (4-0, 2.29)
Cardinals: Pineiro lasted only three innings and three batters Monday in Colorado, leaving the game after failing to retire a hitters in the fourth, yielding three hits and two runs -- one earned -- that inning after already allowing five hits and two runs in the first three innings. His problems were compounded by his fourth inning at bat, when he swung and missed at a pitch that struck his right forearm as he completed his swing. He had trouble keeping his breaking pitches down in his first Coors Field start, and he left too many pitches over the middle of the plate.
Brewers: The Brewers and Cardinals have already played series at Miller Park and at Busch Stadium, but Sheets managed to miss both matchups. He probably didn't mind; Sheets is 5-14 in 23 career starts against the Cardinals with a 4.30 ERA. Pittsburgh is the only other National League Central rival against whom Sheets has a losing record (he's 6-8 against the Pirates). Sheets worked 6 1/3 innings against the Astros in his last start and showed no signs of the triceps injury that dogged him last month. He's one strikeout shy of Teddy Higuera's franchise record (1,081).
Game 3:
RHP Looper (5-1, 3.95) vs. RHP Suppan (1-2, 5.22)
Cardinals: Looper pitched a gem Tuesday night in Colorado, making it to the ninth inning for the first time in his professional career. He held the Rockies two runs through eight, then let two more slip in before leaving in the ninth, finishing with 8 1/3 innings and 114 pitches. His sinker and his splitter were both on, and he made the Rox put the ball in play, walking none and striking out one, keeping the ball from the fat of the barrel. He made a couple mistakes, but until the ninth, they were isolated, allowing him to minimize the damage.
Brewers: Suppan improved over a tough outing in Chicago when he matched up against the Marlins on Tuesday, but he still was not particularly sharp, allowing three runs on eight hits in five innings and needing help from the bullpen to escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth inning. Suppan needed to be virtually perfect because he matched up against Marlins ace Scott Olsen, who twice was one strike away from a two-hit shutout before settling for an 8 2/3-inning win. The Brewers have already played a pair of series against the Cardinals, Suppan's former team, but he did not pitch either time. He's 5-2 with a 3.32 ERA in nine career starts against St. Louis.
Game 4:
RHP Wainwright (3-1, 2.25) vs. RHP Bush (0-4, 6.98)
Cardinals: Wainwright was on his game in Colorado, throwing seven shutout innings and earning a no decision in a game the bullpen lost in the eighth. He avoided his curve against the Rockies, pitching off his fastball and using a four-seam changeup effectively against righties. Wainwright excelled at limiting traffic, keeping Colorado from having multiple men reach base in all but one inning. He relished the chance to pitch at Coors Field - after the fact, anyway - noting that it forced him to tighten his attention to mechanics, staying out front on his pitches and keeping the ball down in the zone.
Brewers: Bush keeps getting burned by a few poorly placed pitches. That was the case again on Wednesday in Miami, when he returned to the rotation to replace an injured Yovani Gallardo and was roughed up for six runs in six innings. The Brewers were only trailing, 3-2, entering the sixth inning, but Bush surrendered a two-run home run to Jorge Cantu followed by a Dan Uggla solo shot. "He just can't get away with a mistake right now," manager Ned Yost said. Bush lost to the Cardinals in St. Louis on April 15 in his only quality start (three or fewer earned runs in six or more innings) this season.
Rotation:
Starter W L ERA IP ER H HR BB K
Wainwright 3 1 2.25 52.0 13 38 4 12 36
Looper 5 1 3.95 41.0 18 42 3 10 19
Wellemeyer 3 1 4.07 42.0 19 35 6 16 40
Piņeiro 2 2 4.33 27.0 13 27 3 6 8
Lohse 3 2 4.87 44.1 24 49 1 15 18
Bullpen:
Reliever W L ERA HLD SV IP ER H HR BB K
LH Villone 1 0 0.63 3 0/0 14.1 1 6 0 8 14
SU Franklin 1 1 2.12 11 1/3 17.0 4 15 0 6 8
LH Flores 1 0 2.08 6 1/3 8.2 2 9 0 7 8
MR McClellan 0 1 3.06 10 1/1 17.2 6 17 1 3 16
P Parisi 0 0 3.60 0 0/0 5.0 2 6 0 2 3
CL Isringhausen 1 3 6.60 0 11/15 15.0 11 16 2 7 11
SU Springer 0 0 7.50 1 0/0 6.0 5 9 1 5 5
- Disabled List -
SP/MR Thompson 1 1 4.58 0 0/0 17.2 9 19 1 10 13
- Minor Leagues -
MR Reyes 1 1 5.27 2 1/1 13.2 8 16 2 3 10
Probable Lineup:
Player AVG H AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Schumaker .301 37 123 26 8 1 2 11 15 14 3/3
Kennedy .310 27 87 10 3 1 0 13 8 14 2/3
Pujols .341 42 123 20 10 0 6 24 34 12 2/2
Ankiel .279 34 122 21 8 0 6 19 17 26 0/0
Glaus .225 29 116 9 12 0 1 21 21 26 0/0
Duncan .247 19 77 12 3 0 2 6 16 18 1/2
Molina .302 32 106 7 6 0 2 11 9 5 0/0
- Pitcher -
Looper .385 5 13 1 2 0 0 2 2 2 0/0
Wainwright .261 6 23 2 1 0 1 3 0 6 0/0
Wellemeyer .154 2 13 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 0/0
Lohse .133 2 15 0 0 0 0 3 0 6 0/0
Pineiro .091 1 11 1 1 0 0 2 2 9 0/0
- End -
Izturis .244 22 90 13 4 0 0 5 11 6 2/5
Bench:
Player AVG H AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Ludwick .363 33 91 20 11 2 7 21 11 26 1/1
Miles .319 22 69 8 2 0 0 5 6 4 0/1
Barton .288 16 52 7 4 1 0 5 8 12 0/1
Ryan .281 9 32 4 1 0 0 2 1 3 1/1
LaRue .067 2 30 2 0 0 0 0 5 5 0/0
Random Notes
Record vs. NL Central: 12-7
Record vs. Central (Home): 8-4
Record vs. Central (Away): 4-3
Record vs. Milwaukee: 3-2
Record vs. Chicago: 2-1
Record vs. Cincinnati: 2-1
Record vs. Houston: 4-2
Record vs. Pittsburgh: 1-1
Runs in Wins: 22 GM, 126 Runs, 5.7 AVG
Runs in Losses: 14 GM, 39 Runs, 2.8 AVG
Game One:
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Boxscore
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Gameday
MLB Baseball - CBSSports.com
Game Two:
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Boxscore
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Gameday
MLB Baseball - CBSSports.com
Game Three:
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Boxscore
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Gameday
MLB Baseball - CBSSports.com
Game Four:
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Boxscore
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Gameday
MLB Baseball - CBSSports.com
Series Thread - Cards @ Brewers (5/9-5/12)
Series Thread - Cards @ Brewers (5/9-5/12)
