MLB Preview: Chris Carpenter, Cards host Braves
The Braves are reeling with last night's missed opportunity their sixth straight loss. They'll have to break the skid now against one of the top pitchers in the game, Chris Carpenter.
If Atlanta misses the playoffs by a game or two this year, it will be defeats suffered in the final week of the season that stand out. Monday night's loss in St. Louis will be forgotten by most, but will be as guilty as any.
Yadier Molina drove home the game-winner with an eighth-inning double to lift the Cardinals to a 4-3 win. The Braves had a 3-0 lead heading into the sixth as 110 favorites in the game and appeared headed towards their fourth consecutive win in the Gateway City after sweeping a series here last September.
Atlanta will now have to break its six-game losing streak against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter (3-1. 3.60). The Braves will send Derek Lowe (3-1, 5.24) to the mound. St. Louis opened as 170-175 chalk in the Monday afternoon line releases, with the number pushed up to the 180 mark at most shops as of Tuesday morning. The total has stuck at 7 ½.
Despite his lofty ERA, the Braves are still winning with Lowe on the hill. One reason is the Atlanta hitters are putting runs on the board when the right-hander is on the mound. Braves hitters have plated 35 runs in Lowe's four starts, exactly half of their season total entering Monday's game.
He is coming off his only loss, an 8-3 defeat last Thursday at home to the Phils. Five Phillies scored, four of them earned, in Lowe's five innings. His lone road start resulted in an Atlanta victory on April 10 in San Francisco, 7-2.
Lowe missed the Cardinals when the two teams met in 2009, his first season in Atlanta. He faced them twice in 2008 while with the Dodgers. LA lost both games, and Lowe was belted in a 9-6 loss at Busch that season.
Not many current Cardinals have seen him, but the few that have generally enjoyed stepping into the batter's box versus Lowe. Matt Holliday is 18-for-32 lifetime (.563) with a home run and five doubles.
Carpenter takes the mound with two consecutive 10-K winning performances just behind him. The former first-round pick whiffed 10 at home against the Mets and on the road in Arizona during 4-3 and 9-4 Redbird victories. The win over New York was his lone start at Busch to this point in the young season.
Whether he's been a Blue Jay or a Cardinal, Carpenter has not had a lot of great personal outings against the Braves. His six career starts versus Atlanta have yielded an ERA over seven, though a lot of that did come early in his Toronto days in two interleague assignments. The Cards and Jays have won four of the six starts.
Carpenter is 3-1 versus the Braves while part of St. Louis' rotation. The one loss was last season in mid-September. Atlanta got to Carpenter for seven run in six innings in the 9-2 win.
Mark Wegner, now in his 13th season, is the scheduled home-plate umpire. It's his fourth time with plate duty this season, going 2-1 for the home team and 1-1-1 on the totals for no real trends. He worked a win by Lowe over the Giants in Atlanta last July.
It will be a cool evening in St. Louis for Game 2, but the skies should be clear. The thermometer will be in the upper-50s, maybe scratching 60ºF, at first pitch. Winds are forecast from the NNW at 5-10 mph (in from left to behind 1B bag).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2009 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
The Braves are reeling with last night's missed opportunity their sixth straight loss. They'll have to break the skid now against one of the top pitchers in the game, Chris Carpenter.
If Atlanta misses the playoffs by a game or two this year, it will be defeats suffered in the final week of the season that stand out. Monday night's loss in St. Louis will be forgotten by most, but will be as guilty as any.
Yadier Molina drove home the game-winner with an eighth-inning double to lift the Cardinals to a 4-3 win. The Braves had a 3-0 lead heading into the sixth as 110 favorites in the game and appeared headed towards their fourth consecutive win in the Gateway City after sweeping a series here last September.
Atlanta will now have to break its six-game losing streak against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter (3-1. 3.60). The Braves will send Derek Lowe (3-1, 5.24) to the mound. St. Louis opened as 170-175 chalk in the Monday afternoon line releases, with the number pushed up to the 180 mark at most shops as of Tuesday morning. The total has stuck at 7 ½.
Despite his lofty ERA, the Braves are still winning with Lowe on the hill. One reason is the Atlanta hitters are putting runs on the board when the right-hander is on the mound. Braves hitters have plated 35 runs in Lowe's four starts, exactly half of their season total entering Monday's game.
He is coming off his only loss, an 8-3 defeat last Thursday at home to the Phils. Five Phillies scored, four of them earned, in Lowe's five innings. His lone road start resulted in an Atlanta victory on April 10 in San Francisco, 7-2.
Lowe missed the Cardinals when the two teams met in 2009, his first season in Atlanta. He faced them twice in 2008 while with the Dodgers. LA lost both games, and Lowe was belted in a 9-6 loss at Busch that season.
Not many current Cardinals have seen him, but the few that have generally enjoyed stepping into the batter's box versus Lowe. Matt Holliday is 18-for-32 lifetime (.563) with a home run and five doubles.
Carpenter takes the mound with two consecutive 10-K winning performances just behind him. The former first-round pick whiffed 10 at home against the Mets and on the road in Arizona during 4-3 and 9-4 Redbird victories. The win over New York was his lone start at Busch to this point in the young season.
Whether he's been a Blue Jay or a Cardinal, Carpenter has not had a lot of great personal outings against the Braves. His six career starts versus Atlanta have yielded an ERA over seven, though a lot of that did come early in his Toronto days in two interleague assignments. The Cards and Jays have won four of the six starts.
Carpenter is 3-1 versus the Braves while part of St. Louis' rotation. The one loss was last season in mid-September. Atlanta got to Carpenter for seven run in six innings in the 9-2 win.
Mark Wegner, now in his 13th season, is the scheduled home-plate umpire. It's his fourth time with plate duty this season, going 2-1 for the home team and 1-1-1 on the totals for no real trends. He worked a win by Lowe over the Giants in Atlanta last July.
It will be a cool evening in St. Louis for Game 2, but the skies should be clear. The thermometer will be in the upper-50s, maybe scratching 60ºF, at first pitch. Winds are forecast from the NNW at 5-10 mph (in from left to behind 1B bag).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2009 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
