St. Louis @ Florida Preview
Sun Life Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 7, 2010 ) St. Louis 4, Florida 5
Needing a historic comeback over the last two weeks, the St. Louis Cardinals could use a little rest.
The Cardinals will be playing their 18th game in as many days when they make up a rainout against the Florida Marlins on Monday.
St. Louis is in the midst of 31 games in 31 days due to Monday’s makeup. The game could not be scheduled for the day after the regular season ends because the Miami Dolphins are playing a home Monday Night Football game on Oct. 4 and the field could not be converted in time to accommodate both contests.
Both teams were initially resistant to making up the game all, but on the slim chance that the Cardinals manage to do to the improbable and make up a six-game deficit with 14 contests to play, this game will become an important part of the surge.
St. Louis made up two games on the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend by taking three of four from the San Diego Padres. The series fit a strange pattern in that the Padres are a winning team, and the Cardinals have had little trouble against teams in the playoff chase since the beginning of August. St. Louis is 10-5 against postseason contenders over the last month.
The problem has been against sub-.500 teams.
The Cardinals own a 4-17 record against losing teams since taking over first place in the NL Central with a three-game sweep of the Reds from Aug. 9-11. Those failures allowed Cincinnati to not only regain the lead, but to run away with the division.
St. Louis is out of luck if the pattern continues, as Monday opens a string of 10 straight against losing teams before ending the 2010 campiagn with a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies.
Chris Carpenter has had some problems of his own lately.
The veteran right-hander and former Cy Young Award winner has gotten pounded in each of his last two outings, allowing a total of 13 runs - 11 earned - in 11 1/3 innings against the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs, respectively.
In both games it was one big inning that doomed Carpenter, with the Braves rallying for six runs in the sixth inning and the Cubs surging for four runs in the seventh.
He has yet to face Florida this season but has great numbers against the club in his career. Carpenter is 3-2 with a 2.17 ERA and two complete games in nine starts.
The Marlins will counter with Chris Volstad, who has not pitched since Sept. 12 after serving a six-game suspension for his role in a brawl with the Washington Nationals.
The right-hander, who turns 24 on Thursday, looks like he is hitting a wall at the end of the season. He has allowed five earned runs or more in each of his last three starts while not recording an out in the sixth inning in any of the three.
Volstad has faced the Cardinals twice in his career, going 1-1 with a 7.59 ERA.