The Braves (8-10) travel to St. Louis (11-7) to face Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday in a 4-game series. The Braves, as you know, come into the series struggling, losing the past 2 series against the Phillies and Mets. The Cardinals come into the series after losing 2 out of 3 to the Giants, but have played well the first 3 weeks of the season. Surprisingly, they've only had 6 home games thus far and will kick off a 7-game home stand with the Braves.
Offensively, the Cardinals have been an average bunch so far. As a team, they're currently in 11th place in the NL with a .246 team batting average. It appears that the Cardinals are a bit reliant on the HR ball, scoring 51% of their runs via the long ball. The Cards, similar to the Braves, don't do too much running on the bases and are hardly an effective bunch, stealing only 9 bases in 16 attempts.
So how do the Cardinals have a record of 11-7? To be honest, it's 2 reasons. One is the level of opponent they've played; besides the Giants this past weekend, the Cardinals have mainly feasted on the weaker NL teams such as the Reds, Brewers, Astros, Mets and Diamondbacks. But the real reason for their early success is their pitching. Lots and lots of pitching.
The Red Birds come into Monday's game leading the National League in ERA (2.72), a ridiculous K/BB ratio of 124-to-51 and only 9 HRs given up to opposing teams. That's really, really good folks. The Cardinals starting rotation is led by aces Chris Carpenter and former Brave Adam Wainwright (traded in the JD Drew deal in '04). They're not as top-heavy as you might've guess though. Former ace Brad Penny is off to a tremendous start with a 3-0 record and 0.94ERA. Jaime Garcia, who is a 23-year old lefty out of Mexico, is 1-1 with an ERA of 1.42. Their rotation is rounded out by Kyle Lohse, who has struggled with command in each of his 3 starts this season.
In the bullpen, closer Ryan Franklin hasn't pitched all that well despite being 6-for-6 in save opportunities. Besides Franklin, LOOGY Denys Reyes has pitched very well and relievers Kyle McClellan and Jason Motte have been solid too. The bullpen should be fresh for the series, as the Cardinals starters average an impressive 6.2IP per start.
Pitching Match-ups:
Monday, 8:15EST - Tim Hudson vs. Kyle Lohse
Hudson's stat line: 1-1 2.89ERA 7BB/7K 18.2IP
Hudson's last start: Timmy pitched well in his last start against the Phillies, going 6 strong innings allowing 2 runs. Huddy continued to get little run support and took the loss on Tuesday night.
Lohse's stat line: 0-1 7.31ERA 7BB/5K 16IP
Lohse's last start: Lohse got pounded by the lowly Astros on Tuesday night, giving up 7 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks. The Cardinals offense bailed him out, but Lohse's ERA moved up to an ugly 7.31.
Bottom Line: The Braves really should win this game. Lohse has been very bad and Huddy has been excellent this year. If we can't win tomorrow night, I'm gonna really start to worry.
Tuesday, 8:15EST - Derek Lowe vs. Chris Carpenter
Lowe's stat line:3-1 5.24ERA 14BB/14K 22.1IP
Lowe's last start: His last start wasn't a pretty one, but was a victim of bad defense from the Braves' middle infield. He gave up 5 runs, over 5 innings while and allowed 6 hits and walked 2.
Carpenter's stat line: 2-0 3.60ERA 7BB/27K 25IP
Carpenter's last start: His last start was a strong effort, going 7 innings against the Diamondbacks. Carpenter struck out 10 and only allowed 2 runs against a potent DBacks lineup.
Bottom Line: Even if the offense comes around to bail Derek Lowe out, it's hard to imagine the Braves defeating an ace like Carpenter.
Wednesday, 8:15EST - Kenshin Kawakami vs. Jaime Garcia
Kawakami's stat line: 0-3 4.76ERA 4BB/6K 17IP
Kawakami's last start: Poor KK. All the guy does is pitch quality innings for the Braves, while the offense refuses to score for him. Kenshin pitched well until the 6th inning of Friday's game, where he lost command of his pitches.
Jamie Garcia's stat line: 1-1 1.42ERA 8BB/12K 19IP
Garcia's last start: Like KK, Garcia received little run support in his last start, when he took the Loss in a game against the Giants. He went 6 innings and gave up 4 runs, but only 2 were earned. Garcia walked 3 and struck out 2.
Bottom Line: Both pitchers have a history of their offenses not showing up for them. And to be honest, this game could go either way.
Thursday, 1:40EST - Jair Jurrjens vs. Adam Wainwright...(this should be good)
Jurrjens' stat line: 0-2 5.48ERA 11BB/15K 23IP
Jurrjens' last start: JJ pitched another good game, this time going 6 and 2/3 innings against the Mets. The Braves' defense certainly didn't help JJ out and he was a victim of a lack of run support yet again.
Wainwright's stat line: 3-1 1.69ERA 6BB/26K 32IP
Wainwright's last start: Adam's last start was a very good one (most of his are), but took a tough 2-0 loss to the Giants. He threw 8 strong innings, allowing only 2ERs on 7 hits and 1 walk.
Bottom Line: This could turn out to be a phenomenal game. Simple as that. Either team could win and both pitchers are studs.
I also exchanged 5 questions with Cardinals blogger Dan Moore, who posts on the Cardinals blog vivaelbirdos.com as DanUpBaby. Here are the 5 questions he answered for me. I also answered 5 Braves-related questions for their blog so be sure to check those out as well.