Washington @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( May 17, 2010 ) Washington 2, St. Louis 6
Opposing hitters have noticed that Chris Carpenter has lost some juice on his over-powering fastball. That doesn’t mean that they have figured out a way to solve the St. Louis Cardinals ace, however.
Carpenter has seen his fastball drop nearly four mph from a season ago to around 92 this season with no reasonable explanation. Although there has been no physical ailment to report, Carpenter is trying his best to regain last year’s form when he went 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA.
The 2005 Cy Young winner will take the mound on Tuesday as the Cardinals go for the two-game sweep of the visiting Washington Nationals.
St. Louis has dominated the series, winning seven straight and 10 of the last 12 meetings.
David Freese and Yadier Molina each drove in a pair of runs as the Cardinals won Monday’s opener. Manager Tony LaRussa shuffled the lineup, dropping slugger Albert Pujols one place in the order to the cleanup spot, and it worked as he produced three hits and scored a pair of runs to send the Nationals to their fourth loss in a row.
Washington will try to bust out of its slump, but it could be tough as Carpenter holds a 1.93 home ERA.
Carpenter is, however, coming off his first loss of the 2010 campaign as he gave up four runs over eight innings against the Houston Astros.
The veteran right-hander has been solid otherwise, posting a record of 4-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 52 strikeouts through 53 innings.
Carpenter has faced only five Nationals batters in his career, with Ivan Rodriguez’s 10 hits in 28 at-bats serving as the benchmark.
Washington turns to left-hander John Lannan, who is winless over his previous five starts. On the season, he is 1-2 with a 6.51 ERA in seven outings.
He enters his meeting with the Cardinals having left his last start in the fifth inning when he experienced tightness in his elbow tendon. Lannan said he isn’t overly concerned with the injury and doesn’t believe it will have a lingering effect.
Washington slugger Adam Dunn was limited to pinch-hitting duty for the second day in a row because of flu-like symptoms. His status continues to be day-to-day.
Pujols has been mired in a mini-slump of late with just one home run in his last 20 games. He still leads the Cardinals with a .324 average, eight homers and 29 RBIs.