St. Louis @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 19, 2009 ) Arizona 1, St. Louis 2

The St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup - which features the game’s best hitter in Albert Pujols - has been known to wear out a pitching staff. In other words, it is not exactly the team the Arizona Diamondbacks need to be welcoming to Chase Field for a three-game series. It gets started Monday with the Diamondbacks’ Rodrigo Lopez (1-0, 4.09 ERA) opposing former Arizona farmhand Brad Penny (1-0, 0.64 ERA). The Diamondbacks are in desperate need of a well-rounded pitching performance, which is never an easy thing against the Cardinals. Arizona, which finished a six-game road trip with a 1-5 mark, saw its bullpen implode like Texas Stadium. Three of the last four defeats have come after the Diamondbacks led after six innings. But that is putting it politely. There have been walkoff defeats, five-run innings and extra-inning losses. Now they take on the Cardinals before the two-time defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies come in for a weekend set. It’s too early in the campaign to call it a critical week, but chances are if the bullpen doesn’t start to correct itself, the shuttle to Triple-A Reno will get an early start this season. The Diamondbacks’ offense also needs to come around as it has scored early in recent games but hasn't been able to add on to give the bullpen some breathing room. First baseman Adam LaRoche has been limited to one pinch-hitting appearance over the last four games and left fielder Conor Jackson came out of Sunday’s game with what appeared to be a right leg problem after making a running catch. Asking for big-run production against Penny might be difficult as the right-hander has been very impressive in his first two starts. Penny has allowed just two runs in 14 innings. He yielded nine hits, two walks and struck out eight. The Cardinals offense has four regulars hitting over .300 while averaging 4.6 runs a game to grab the early NL Central lead. Pujols is off to his typical start, hitting .327 with an OPS of 1.115 with five home runs and 15 RBIs. Former All-Star outfielder Ryan Ludwick was off to a slow start before Sunday’s game-winning home run against the New York Mets. He reached base in all five plate appearances to possibly break out of the early season funk. St. Louis will see what it can do against Lopez, who is Arizona's third starter despite struggling to find a consistent rotation spot since 2006 with the Baltimore Orioles. The right-hander hasn’t had a sub-4.00 ERA since 2004 and just twice in his career in his nine-year career.