san fransisco giants
minnesota twins
st louis cardinals
minnesota twins
st louis cardinals
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GAME 1
While part of the San Fransisco Giants' stellar rotation cooled in recent weeks, no pitcher has been as dominant in his last three starts as Matt Cain. The right-hander will go for his third straight victory and tries to lead the Giants to their fifth win in six games against the Reds. Cain is 2-3 with a 3.96 ERA in six starts against Cincinnati, though he did pitch well in his last trip to Great Ameriacn Ball Park. He gave up one run over eight innings ina 2-1 loss back in Aug 09. The Giants have dropped 6 of Cain's last 11 starts but it hasn't been because of poor pitching. it has mostly been due to a lack of run support, but improvement on that topic has began as the Giants have scored 4 r more runs have been scored behind Cain in his last 2 of 3 games. Cain has been amazing in his last 3 starts posting a 2-1 record with a phenominal ERA of .36. San Fransisco has won 2in a row and 7 of their last 10 games.
Losers of consecutive home games after winning 9 of 10, the reds will turn to the Rookie Sam Lecure, who has made two career MLB starts for the Reds posting a 1-1 record with a 3.97 ERA in both starts. Lecure allowed two runs over six innings in his major league debut, getting plenty of run support in a 15-6 win, but Cincinnati was unable to give same offensive performane Friday at Busch Stadium as Lecure gave up three runs over 5 1/3 innings of a 1-4 loss. The rookie has yeilded 12 hits, 8 walks and 2 hits batters in 11 1/3 innings. Look for the Giants to wins 3 in a row here as the runs for Cincinnati will be a lot harder to come by with Cain on the hill.
SAN FRANSISCO GIANTS -121Comment -
GAME 2
Back from a Sub .500 trip, the AL central leading Twins ope a nine game stead tonight against the Royals. Dispit holding the biggest division lead in the majors at 3 1/2 games, is facing plenty of aversity. The middle infeild line combination of Hudson andHardy could be placed on the disable list prior to this series with a left wrist injuries and Morneau hasn't started the last 2 games due to th flu. Minnesota will give the ball to Kevin Slowly, who is pitching well this season posting a 6-3 record with a 3.84 ERA. Slowly suffered his first career loss against the royals back in April when he allowed 4 runs on 4 hits over 5 1/3 innings in a 4-3 loss, but still has a healthy 4-1 lifetime record against Kansas City with a 3.82 ERA. Now Slowly will not only try to continue his dominance against the Royals but will look to get his 3 win in five starts. The right-hander has pitched well in his last 3 starts posting a 1-0 record with a 1.86 ERA, and Target Feild has not been a bad place for Slowly to pitch dispite his 3-2 record, the Twins have won 4 of his 6 starts there Minnesota is 4-2 against the royals this year.
Zack Greinke will counter for the Royals. He will try and avoid matching his loss total from last season. The right-hander holds a 1-7 record thus far with a 3.60 ERA. Greinke walked a season high five batters in a 10-3 loss against against the twins back in mid-April and posted a 7.04 ERA while dropping each of his last 3 starts, but it would also help if he recieved more runs support from the Royals. Kansas City is batting 2.79, among the best in the AL, But Greinke gets less than 3 rpg. It's among the leagues lowest. Greinke is 0-4 witha 2.48 ERA in 6 road starts and a 3-5 lifetime record against the Twins. Minnesota gets it done behind Slowly tonight.
MINNESOTA TWINS -140Comment -
GAME 3
After continuing his dominance of one opponent. The St. Louis Cardinals, ace Chris Carpenter gets to face another Club he has enjoyed great success against-although not the last time he opposed them. Carpenter will try to improve to 6-0 in the regular season the los Angeles Dodgers. Carpenter, who is 7-1 with a 2.76 on the season has been quite tough on the Dodgers going 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in six career regular-season meeting, including a 2-0 record from last season with a 1.80 ERA against Los Angeles. The crafty right-hander has not had many problems overall, even though he only has 2 decisions (both wins) out of 5 road starts, The Cardinals have won 4 out of his last 5 road games this year while posting a 3.69 ERA, but his last 3 starts, have been flawless posting a 2-0 record with a 2.61 ERA.
Hiroki Kuroda will be the countering pitcher for the Dodgers. He has dropped three straight decisions for the first time in his career, posting a 6.19 ERA in that span. The right hander yeilded four runs over six innings Thursday ina 4-3 loss to Atlanta. The Dodgers have won 4 of his 6 starts at home, but is 2-2 in decisions with a 3.76 ERA, and has allowed three runs or less in 5 of his last 7 trips to the hill. Kuroda has faced the Cardinals once allowing two runs in six innings of the Dodgers 5-3 , 10 inning victory in July of 09 at busch Stadium. But I still think the Cards get it done as Carpenter has done well not only against the Dodgers but has and outstanding road record posting a 9-0 record with a 2.42 ERA in his last 14 regular season road starts.
ST LOUIS CARDINALS -125Comment