Wellemeyer Could Be Key

Weather permitting, the Cardinals will play the first of three at home against the Giants tonight. Todd Wellemeyer gets the start for St. Louis, and hopes to better his last performance.  Last Saturday in San Francisco, he pitched brilliantly through five, striking out seven, before running out of gas in the sixth.  While the Giants’ starter in that game, Matt Cain, was just as good or better, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to keep the Cardinal bats as quiet again tonight.  Runs may be at a premium, so it’s important for the Redbirds to be able to drive them in when given the chance.  More importantly, in my opinion, will be the performance of Wellemeyer. If he can give his team a quality start, the Cardinals will win.  [Photo credit: Chris Lee/PD]

The scheduled game time is about an hour away.  That may change depending on the forecast.  Here’s a link to the radar.

Here are tonight’s lineups:

San Francisco

  1. Fred Lewis  LF
  2. Eugenio Valez  2B
  3. Randy Winn  RF
  4. Bengie Molina  C
  5. John Bowker  1B
  6. Aaron Rowand  CF
  7. Jose Castillo  3B
  8. Brian Bocock  SS
  9. Matt Cain  P

St. Louis

  1. Skip Schumaker  RF
  2. Chris Duncan  LF
  3. Albert Pujols  1B
  4. Rick Ankiel  CF
  5. Troy Glaus  3B
  6. Adam Kennedy  2B
  7. Jason Larue  C
  8. Todd Wellemeyer  P
  9. Cesar Izturis  SS

One thing that stands out is the fact that Ryan Ludwick isn’t in there.  He had his first four-hit game in yesterday’s loss, and is tied with Ankiel for the team lead in home runs and runs batted in.  According to Rick Hummel, Molina gets the night off, but will catch in both day games over the weekend.Let’s hope they get this game in, and it ends in a Cardinal victory.

Schedule