Los Angeles @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 15, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 1, St. Louis 7
For the Los Angeles Dodgers, the All-Star break was a welcomed hiatus. It meant that the club could finally get its starting nine fully healthy for once, something that hasn’t happened all too often this season.
Manny Ramirez returned to the lineup after being activated from the disabled list - his second stint - in time for Thursday’s affair with St. Louis and started in left field, making it just the 14th time that the Dodgers (49-40) had fielded their Opening Day lineup.
Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier have also both missed significant time because of injuries for the two-time defending National League West champs.
But even with Ramirez returning, it wasn’t enough to solve Chris Carpenter as the Cardinals (48-41) secured a 7-1 win in the opener. Carpenter allowed a run on four hits in eight innings to move his team to within a half-game of first place in the NL Central behind the idle Cincinnati Reds.
Los Angeles pitchers haven’t been clear of the injury bug as Chad Billingsley, who continues to work his way back into form after a stint on the DL, will take the ball in the second game of the four-game set on Friday at Busch Stadium.
Billingsley (7-4, 4.14 ERA) missed a couple of weeks in June with a strained right groin but has been strong since his return on June 28. The 25-year-old right-hander is unbeaten in those three starts with a pair of no-decisions. He has allowed five runs with 17 strikeouts over his last 13 innings.
Billingsley will be making his sixth career start against the Cardinals, a team which he is 1-2 with a 4.40 ERA when facing.
St. Louis will turn to a rookie as the team eyes its third win in a row with a chance to possibly move back into first place as Jaime Garcia (8-4, 2.17 ERA) gets the call.
The 25-year-old Garcia will be working on seven days rest as he goes for a second straight win. The left-hander has been good all year, but downright filthy at home, where he has gone 3-1 and allowed just six earned runs in 45 innings for a 1.20 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .205 average.
Six different players drove in runs for St. Louis in Thursday’s win, including rookie Allen Craig, who recorded the first two RBIs of his career.
Ethier, an All-Star outfielder, supplied the Dodgers’ lone run with a solo homer in the fourth, his 15th of the year.