Houston @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Apr 12, 2010 ) Houston 0, St. Louis 5
Legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey had a famous quote about his pitching staff one year, saying: “Our pitching staff is a conspiracy of ifs.”
Today, the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros meet for Game 2 of a three-game series at Busch Stadium, and both teams hope to eliminate any “ifs” surrounding a reliable No. 3 starter with their off-season acquisitions.
The Cardinals, who are off to a 5-2 start, send right-hander Brad Penny to the mound. And the Astros, who are off to horrific 0-7 start, would love to see right-hander Brett Myers become a solid, middle-of-the-rotation starter behind Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez.
Going into the season, the Cardinals - like the Astros - didn’t have any ifs at the front of the rotation with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. But when they lost Joel Pineiro, it forced the club to add a veteran starter this past winter.
The Cardinals opted to go with Penny on a one-year, $7.5 million deal. Penny, of course, had a solid track record, as he was a Cy Young Award contender in 2007 and started the All-Star Game in 2006.
Last year, though, Penny got off to a rough start with Boston before finishing strong with San Francisco, going 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA. He’s off to solid start this season, too, going seven innings, allowing one run on six hits with four strikeouts in a no-decision game against Cincinnati.
The Cardinals offense should provide plenty of support for Penny. St. Louis has scored at least five runs in each of the past four games and Albert Pujols is off to a red-hot start yet again.
The Astros, on the other hand, are simply trying to find the win column. And it won’t happen unless Myers improves from his first start on April 7, when he allowed four runs (all earned) on 12 hits with three strikeouts against San Francisco.
Unfortunately for the Astros, Myers also hasn’t pitched well in six lifetime appearances at Busch Stadium, going 2-1 with a 7.27 ERA. In his lone start against St. Louis last year, Myers lasted only 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits.
Myers, however, isn’t the only missing piece in Houston this year. The Astros, who are making a strong case to supplant - if they haven’t already - the Washington Nationals as the worst NL team, haven’t been able to get anything going on offense.