Here come the Cardinals who are on a mission. Since the start of the three-game series against the Pirates May 22 they swept us in, the Cardinals have played .525 baseball (31-28) and are just six games out.
When they win, they win big. In their nine wins since the break they have outscored their opponents 64-23. In their eight losses, they have been outscored 74-20.
Tuesday’s game is a rematch of the April 11th starters – Wainwright vs Maholm. The Cards won that game 3-2 in Pittsburgh where Maholm allowed two runs tossing a six hitter over 5 innings. Torres was scored on closing.
But two of the Buccos who mash Wainwright the hardest – Bautista and Duffy – won’t be in the lineup, and Bay, Doumit, and LaRoche haven’t done much with him in their careers. Since Wilson and Sanchez rake him, so don’t be too surprised if you see Wilson leading off or in the two hole Tuesday with Nady in the four hole surrounded by Bay and LaRoche.
If Wilson isn’t batting 1st or 2cd, then Tracy has packed it in, imo.
Wainwright and Maholm are dead even in their last three starts both having an ERA around 3.35 and a WHIP around 1.38. Even the home/away splits this year for these two don’t show an advantage. But the Cards have won two of the three games Wainwright has started against the Pirates and the Bucs have lost two of three Maholm started. Go figure.
I think this game boils down to how well the opposing pitcher handles three players on each team — Duncan, Pujols, and Encarnacion for the Red Birds, and Bay, LaRoche, and Nady for the Pirates. Here the edge clearly goes to Wainwright and I suppose that’s what Vegas is seeing too as the Cards are favorites to win.
The rest of the series is a toss up – which Armas takes the mound, how do they hit Youman, do we finally figure out Looper, and do we rip to shreds Maroth as expected?
One thing for sure – the Cardinals badly need a sweep and will be playing for it, and the Pirates badly need redemption and will be playing for it. Should be a good series IF we show up and Paulino starts the games catching.
Road to the cellar. Ok.. for everyone who emailed wanting to know how the future schedule looks for the #1 draft pick in 2008, here you go.
The Rays, once again, are the clear favorite to take home the #1 pick probably in Alvarez who played with Price. Man they are sure building equitiable value while losing so much.
| Opposing Team | ||
| # Gms | Median Win % | |
| Rays | 57 | 0.533 |
| Reds | 56 | 0.494 |
| Pirates | 59 | 0.497 |
Here is the rest of the Pirates schedule broken down by number of games home and away:
| AWAY | HOME | |||
| @ ARI | 3 | SF | 2 | |
| @ CHC | 3 | ARI | 3 | |
| @ MIL | 3 | CHC | 3 | |
| @ SF | 3 | MIL | 3 | |
| @ COL | 4 | NYM | 3 | |
| @ SD | 4 | PHI | 3 | |
| @ STL | 4 | CIN | 6 | |
| @ HOU | 6 | STL | 6 |
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