St. Louis – Rain rain go away, come again another day. With the second hand ticking closer to first pitch of Game 3 between the Cardinals and Brewers at Busch Stadium, the sky is darkening and the clouds are waiting to open up. Our friends over at www.weather.com are saying that the rain should hold off until 8:00pm CST, giving the lord of thunder a 45 percent chance of making an appearance at that time.
Should the game go on as scheduled, here are some important items of note.
Chris Carpenter: Carpenter has a .500 (6-6) record against the Milwaukee Brewers over his career with a 4.58 ERA in 15 games. He does have two complete game shutouts against the beer makers. This year he is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA, recording one of those complete game shutouts during the regular season. Coming off of a fantastic complete game shutout against the Phillies in Game 5 of the NLDS where he only allowed three hits to propel the Cardinals into the NLCS, Carpenter is poised for another big game. After being harassed the majority of the season by Nyjer Morgan and Zack Greinke’s recent comments calling Carp a “phony,” a few close shaves followed by some dominant slides down and away may be in store for the Brewers.
Albert Pujols: Pujols had a monster evening on Monday night, going 4 for 5 with 5 RBI’s, scoring 3 runs, with 3 doubles and a homerun on just 16 pitches. That homerun tied Pujols at 8th all-time on the postseason list with David Justice at 14 homers and just 1 long ball away from Babe Ruth. The Machine bats an astonishing .44 against tonight starter for the Brewers, Yovani Gallardo with 4 homeruns, 11 RBI’s, 5 walks and just 3 strikeouts in 33 plate appearances over his career. In a year where Pujols has hit into a lifetime high 29 double plays, Cardinals fans should not expect to see that happen tonight; Pujols has never grounded into a double play off of a pitch from Gallardo.
Jon Jay: Jay was batting a lowly .167 in the NLDS but he has certainly changed that around through the first 2 games of the NLCS. In 9 at bats, he has scored 4 runs on 4 hits, including a double, with an .500 OBP. The historic-caliber display put on by Pujols during Game 2 on Monday night was in no short part due to the bat of Jon Jay. While the Brewers and, more specifically, Gallardo have found ways to stump Jay, he’s on a hot streak now and is ready to let the ball fly.
David Freese: Freese has gained a lot of supporters during the post-season after proving himself as a man with a powerful bat. The Cardinals have hit 5 homeruns during the post-season this year, and 3 of those belong to St. Louis’ third baseman. He’s hitting .375 in the NLCS and has driven in 5 of the Cardinals 16 runs during the series.
Bullpen: While it seems overly simple to say that the bullpen has been a positive point of interest for the Cardinals during the post-season, they should not be overlooked. Tony LaRussa has done a great job placing the occupants of the ‘pen in specific situations that play up the strengths of each member of the pitching staff. While some Cardinals fans may be critical of TLR’s “over-managing,” he has played his chips like a World Series of Poker caliber card player; all he needs is a cigar to go with his emotionless facial expressions and sunglasses. Cardinals relives let up just 3 runs in the first 2 postseason games against the Brewers in 8.2 innings and 12 runs in 22.1 innings; as a note Jamie Garcia and Chris Carpenter are the only starting pitchers to have thrown at least 7 innings in the first two series.
The Cardinals play host to the Brewers tonight with a 7:05pm CDT start. The game can be found locally on TBS, KMOX 1120, or 101.1 ESPN – WXOS.
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