I haven't read any official announcements as to who is in or out of the starting rotation, but for tonight anyway, it appears that Villanueva's spot is safe. Maybe that means Ned is trying to keep his main guys on a regular schedule; maybe it means Bush is out of the rotation. Whatever it means, we have Carlos to look forward to tonight, and he's taking on Adam Wainwright.
Tom H has the lineups, and there are no surprises. With a righty on the mound, Gross is in there again. I know some of you are apoplectic about all the playing time Gross has gotten, but he does have a .763 career OPS against righties, while Kapler's OPS vRH is .724. It's not a slam-dunk decision either way, but there's no reason to think that just because Gross is off to a rough start (in all of 44 PAs) means that his career is over and the Brewers are handicapped every time he's in the lineup.
While you're waiting for the game to start, give KLSnow some feedback as to who the AL award winners are up to this point. So far we've got a grand total of three votes, including his and mine.
Finally, the project-a-tron likes our chances back at Miller Park:
- Brewers 5.1
- Cardinals 4.65
- Brewers WinExp: 58%
It didn't look that way in the last series, but I still maintain that the bottom of the Cardinals lineup (Molina/Kennedy/pitcher/Izturis) could be brutal. Let's hope Villanueva got that memo.
Go Brewers!