Yesterday's game sucked, but that kind of last-out loss is bound to happen over the course of a 162 game season. So, we move on to the second game of the series where the Brewers will hopefully re-create the Rockies series, and win the final two games
Go ahead and follow the jump for the pitching match-up, in addition to line-ups and conversation!
Yovani Gallardo (0-1, 3.86 ERA) is coming into his first start since signing a shiny new 5 year/$30MM contract. He had a decent enough first start back on opening day, going for seven innings and giving up three runs with 5 strikeouts and 2 BB. There are only two current Cardinals who have had more than ten plate appearances against Gallardo (Pujols and Molina), though both have hit extremely well against him:
| Player | Albert Pujols | Yadier Molina |
| PAs | 13 | 11 |
| HR | 1 | 0 |
| K | 3 | 1 |
| AVG | .300 | .286 |
| OBP | .462 | .545 |
| SLG | .600 | .571 |
| OPS | 1.062 | 1.117 |
Amazingly enough, by OPS that is only slightly above average for Pujols, who has a career OPS of 1.055.
Jamie Garcia is somewhat of an unknown. Back when I wrote the series preview and looked at probably pitchers, the Brewers official site had said that the Cardinals would have Chris Carpenter start today, which would have been an awesome pitching matchup. Garcia, on the other hand, was ranked as the Cardinals #2 prospect by Baseball America. Garcia is also a nice story, as he is coming back from Tommy John surgery 19 months ago. No current Brewers have more than one plate appearance against Garcia. Ryan Braun, Jim Edmonds, Craig Counsell, Prince Fielder, and Rickie Weeks have all had one plate appearance, with Counsell being the only one able to get on base with a walk.
The Brewers line-up today, now with more Corey Hart, courtesy of Thomas H:
2B Rickie Weeks
CF Carlos Gomez
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
3B Casey McGehee
RF Corey Hart
C Gregg Zaun
SS Alcides Escobar
RHP Yovani Gallardo
And the Bullpen report:
Trevor Hoffman pitched 1 inning (20 pitches) yesterday.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1 inning (23 pitches) yesterday.
Todd Coffey pitched 1 inning (8 pitches) yesterday.
Chris Narveson pitched .1 innings (7 pitches) yesterday.
Neither Carlos Villanueva or Mitch Stetter have pitched since Wednesday, and should be fresh.
Claudio Vargas and Manny Parra still have yet to appear in a game.