The Cardinals may have been sluggish in Game 1 after playing on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball the night before, but expect a better performance with one of their aces taking the hill tonight.
St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis dropped the first game of its current road trip, 12-4, to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. “It was just a rough night,” Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said. “They hit some soft balls that were hits, but they also had some hard-hit balls where we turned some double plays.” The Cardinals are 133-138 all-time at Dodger Stadium, which represents the highest winning percentage (.493) amongst all opposing National League teams at Chavez Ravine. OF Colby Rasmus was out of the starting lineup on Monday night because of tightness in his left calf. He was named as the National League Player of the Week for May 31 to June 6, batting .500 with three HR and 9 RBI. The offense missed his presence, with sluggers’ Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday combining to go hitless in seven at-bats. The loss dropped the Cardinals a game under .500 (11-12) when playing teams with a winning record this season (-410).
Cardinals SP Chris Carpenter is coming off one of his best starts of the season, allowing just a single run over eight innings in a 4-1 home victory over the Reds. “I was happy with the way my stuff was,” Carpenter said of his last start. “I’m going to continue to work to get it better and hope I can build on it.” The right-hander has a great chance of building off that start, as he’s 9-0 with a 2.42 ERA in his last 14 regular-season road starts. Carpenter is also a dominating 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in six career starts against the Dodgers (+480), including going 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two starts versus Los Angeles last year. One factor that could prove critical for the former Cy Young Award Winner is the amount of rest he’s pitching on. He is 5-0 with a 1.91 in eight outings with regular rest and 1-1 with a 5.21 ERA in three when he’s had five days or more between starts. St. Louis is a dominating 10-2 with him on the mound (+540).
Los Angeles moved its home record to 21-10 (+580) on the year and moved ahead of the Atlanta Braves for baseball’s best record since May 1 (25-10). Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully will certainly focus in on the managerial matchup from a historical point-of-view, considering LaRussa ranks third all-time with 2,585 wins and Los Angeles manager Joe Torre is fifth with 2,280. 2B Blake Dewitt paced the offense last night, collecting a career-high five RBIs and is batting .538 (7-for-13) in hitting safely his past four games. The lineup may get a lift with the return of 3B Casey Blake and C Russell Martin. Blake has been out since Wednesday with a back injury, while Martin has been rested the past two games due to a 4-for-21 slide. The Dodgers have been placed as a home underdog of +100 to +125 for just the third time this season, going 1-1 in the prior situations (+10).
Dodgers SP Hiroki Kuroda is 5-4 with a 3.63 ERA in 11 previous starts this season (+220), but has dropped three straight coming into tonight. The right-hander allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits over six innings in a 4-3 home loss to the Braves last time out. He made his only previous start against the Cardinals on July 30, 2009 at Dodger Stadium, surrendering two runs and four hits over six innings in a no-decision. Kuroda has seen his earned-run-average escalate each month since the start of the season, posting a 2.36 mark in April, followed by a 4.42 and 4.50 ERA the last two months respectively. Los Angeles is a solid 4-2 with him on the mound at home (+120).
In such a matchup, it’s always important to check out the home plate umpire. Dana DeMuth is set to call balls and strikes on Tuesday night, as pitchers have tallied an average of 14.5 strikeouts and 6.2 walks in his 13 games this season. Both teams are perfect with tonight’s starters on the mound and DeMuth behind the dish, with the Cardinals posting a 2-0 record and Dodgers winning its only contest against the Pirates earlier this year on May 2.
