St. Louis Cardinals vs. Colorado Rockies 5/10/13 Game 1 Preview

After a quick 6 game road swing that saw the Cardinals go 5-1 against divisional members Milwaukee and Chicago, the Redbirds return home tonight to face the Colorado Rockies in the first of a 3 game Ladies weekend matchup.  

While the Cardinals enter tonight’s tilt surging (7-3 in their last 10), the Rockies come in scuffling a bit (4-6 in their last 10, 2-4 on their recent 6 game home stand, and losers of their last 2), but still sit only a half game out of 1^stplace in the West Division at 19-15.

Apr 12, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Shelby Miller (40) pumps his fist after getting the second out of the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. St. Louis defeated Milwaukee 2-0. Image Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The pitching matchup seems to favor the Cardinals in this one as Shelby Miller takes his 1.96 ERA to the hill to face Jon Garland and his 4.75 ERA. Miller has been very good this year, not allowing more than 3 runs in a single outing while striking out 38 and walking 11 in 36.2 IP. Garland, on the other hand, has given up 12 earned runs in his past 3 outings, going 1-2 in the process. By comparison, Garland has only struck out 17 hitters and walked 10 in 36 IP.

Cardinals Lineup

1.       Carpenter 2B

2.       Beltran RF

3.       Holliday LF

4.       Craig 1B

5.       Molina C

6.       Jay CF

7.       Freese 3B

8.       Kozma SS

9.       Miller P

Rockies Lineup

1.       Young RF

2.       Fowler CF

3.       Gonzalez LF

4.       Tulowitzki SS

5.       Rosario C

6.       Helton 1B

7.       Arenado 3B

8.       Rutledge 2B

9.       Garland P

The Rockies struggled on their past home stand, hitting only .239 as a team, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous tonight. There is a lot of youth in their lineup, but also a ton of potential for damage.

Yadier Molina has a sterling track record against Garland going 7-9 for a .778 average. David Freese has faced Garland 5 times and has collected 3 hits. Small sample sizes, obviously, but certainly indicates that the capability is there to do some further damage to a recently struggling Garland tonight.

I believe the Cards will step off on the right foot tonight and get the series, and 10 game home stand, opening win behind a strong effort from Miller and more mashing from Molina and company.

Let’s Go Cards!