Los Angeles @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 17, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 0, St. Louis 2
The St. Louis Cardinals have dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers with a combination of solid pitching and timely hitting.
The Dodgers' best chance at victory may come Sunday as they face one of the few weak links of the Cardinals: their No. 5 starter.
Jeff Suppan looks for his first victory in 10 months as the Cardinals aim for a sweep of the visiting Dodgers. St. Louis has won four straight games overall to close to within a half-game of the Cincinnati Reds for the top spot in the National League Central.
It's hard to identify one key component of the Cardinals' success against the Dodgers, the team that knocked them out of last year's postseason picture. Everything has been clicking for St. Louis, which has outscored Los Angeles 17-5 in the series to improve to 20-4 in its last 24 home games against the Dodgers dating to 2004.
Pitching was the difference in the series opener as Chris Carpenter outdueled Clayton Kershaw in Thursday's 7-1 victory. The St. Louis bats did the bulk of the damage Friday as Yadier Molina's home run and four RBIs paced an 8-4 drubbing. Adam Wainwright was the story in Saturday's win, tossing six shutout innings to lead the Cardinals to a 2-0 triumph.
The cold stretch leaves the Dodgers 4 1/2 games back of the San Diego Padres in the NL West race. Even worse, the Dodgers are now fourth in the division, with the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies both four games off the lead.
Motivation should be plentiful for Los Angeles, which hopes to tee off against Suppan (0-5) in today's matinee finale. The 35-year-old right-hander was a disaster with Milwaukee earlier this season, and has been only slightly better since coming to the Cardinals after the Brewers released him in early June.
Suppan is 0-3 in five starts with St. Louis, boasting a strikeout-to-walk ratio that is nearly even and allowing opposing hitters to bat .340 against him. He was knocked around in his last outing, allowing four runs on seven hits with three walks over 4 2/3 innings on the way to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Houston Astros.
Suppan owns a 4-4 career record against the Dodgers with a 4.02 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts).
The Dodgers counter with fellow veteran Vicente Padilla (4-2). The 32-year-old righty has been on fire of late, allowing just five earned runs over his last four starts (3-1). His strongest outing came last time out as he tossed eight shutout innings to lead the Dodgers past the Chicago Cubs 7-0.
Padilla is 2-1 with a 3.68 ERA all-time against St. Louis. Cardinals fans will remember his last outing well - he tossed seven scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory last Oct. 4 that clinched the Dodgers' divisional series sweep.