600♦ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (WITH Pineiro over Stauffer)
The Padres have now given up 21 runs the past two days – 12 in Milwaukee on Thursday and nine last night in the series opener with the NL Central-leading Cardinals. It’s a shame for the lowly Friars they have to continue this series on a Saturday night, and the opposing pitcher is red-hot Joel Pineiro.
A shame!
Pineiro, who is one of three St. Louis pitchers with 10 or more wins, should have no trouble earning his fifth straight victory, while leading the Cardinals to win their eighth straight home game over the Padres tonight. Impressively, Pineiro’s 4-0 run is accompanied by a 2.76 ERA over his last seven starts, dating back to an Interleague loss to Minnesota on June 28. And the Cardinals, well, they’re 7-0 during that stretch.
The right-hander, who allowed three runs over seven innings last Sunday to earn the 7-3 win at Pittsburgh, has shown so much improvement on the mound this season, as he simplified his delivery from a high three-quarters to an overhand, and by saying back on the rubber and driving to the plate better, he’s getting tremendous sinking action on his two-seam fastball.
So after being baffled by Adam Wainwright’s junk yesterday, San Diego’s lethargic lineup will find it extremely tough when Pineiro challenges hitters inside with his heater, and then mixing in with his downer curveball (which could be misconstrued for the sinking fastball). He’ll also play ball with a wide slider that has plenty of depth, and an above-average changeup to freeze batters.
Simply put, this San Diego lineup is poised for humiliation against a rotation like this.
We’ll get our run support from a lineup that stroked 15 hits in last night’s 9-2 win over San Diego for their 12th victory in 16 games. And it’s not necessarily just last night, as Albert Pujols is batting .457 in his last nine games while newly acquired Matt Holliday has three straight three-hit games and is batting .493 with 20 RBI in 19 games since being acquired in a trade with Oakland last month.
This is a lineup that will jump all over Tim Stauffer, who has lost two straight and is 1-4 on the season.
The Cardinals, who have won six straight over the Friars, are currently on a 12-4 tear since winning a four-game set that began on July 27 against the Dodgers.
They’ve opened up a 4-1/2-game lead over Chicago in the NL Central and came into series after winning two of three against the Reds earlier in the week. The Redbirds showed no signs of slowing down with last night’s win over these Padres – their 7th straight over San Diego at Busch – while improving to 8-3 in their last 11 at home.
Jordan 8/15
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