And here we are. After a day off to collect ourselves, the Brewers open a three game series with the Cardinals tonight, with first place on the line.
Follow us after the jump for tonight's pitching matchup, lineup and more on tonight's game!
Dave Bush (5-9, 6.38 last season) gets his first chance tonight to prove that 2009 was a fluke and he's still a major league caliber starting pitcher. Despite pitching just 114.1 innings in 2009, he allowed 131 hits (10.3 per nine innings), and led all NL pitchers by hitting 15 batters with pitches. He made two starts in September against the Cardinals: In the first one, he allowed eight runs on eleven hits in 3.1 innings. The next time around, he allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings. Since Bush has been around the Central for a while, the Cardinals are pretty familiar with him: Seven of them have faced him at least ten times.
| Player | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Felipe Lopez | 23 | .182 | .217 | .364 | .581 |
| Albert Pujols | 19 | .353 | .421 | .471 | .892 |
| Yadier Molina | 18 | .313 | .389 | .875 | 1.264 |
| Skip Schumaker | 16 | .400 | .438 | .400 | .838 |
| Ryan Ludwick | 14 | .333 | .429 | .333 | .762 |
| Matt Holliday | 12 | .273 | .333 | .364 | .697 |
| Jason LaRue | 12 | .300 | .417 | .400 | .817 |
Meanwhile, Kyle Lohse (6-10, 4.74 last season) is looking for a bit of a bounce back season of his own. He's in the second year of a four year, $42 million deal but had a very disappointing 2009, pitching just 23 games (117.2 innings) and posting a 4.74 ERA. Lohse made two starts and a relief appearance against the Brewers last season, allowing six earned runs in eleven innings of work (4.91 ERA). Six Brewers know him relatively well:
| Player | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Jody Gerut | 35 | .303 | .343 | .455 | .797 |
| Craig Counsell | 23 | .455 | .478 | .727 | 1.206 |
| Prince Fielder | 18 | .267 | .389 | .267 | .656 |
| Jim Edmonds | 16 | .214 | .313 | .214 | .527 |
| Rickie Weeks | 16 | .267 | .313 | .333 | .646 |
| Ryan Braun | 15 | .400 | .400 | .733 | 1.133 |
Via Tyler Barnes, we're back to the Opening Day lineup, with Edmonds and McGehee swapped:
Rickie Weeks 2B
Carlos Gomez CF
Ryan Braun LF
Prince Fielder 1B
Casey McGehee 3B
Jim Edmonds RF
Gregg Zaun C
Alcides Escobar SS
Dave Bush P
And in the bullpen:
Trevor Hoffman pitched one inning (11 pitches) Wednesday, and also pitched on Tuesday.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched one inning (15 pitches) Wednesday, and also pitched on Tuesday.
Mitch Stetter pitched .1 innings (2 pitches) Wednesday, and also pitched on Tuesday.
Todd Coffey pitched 2 innings (31 pitches) Wednesday.
Carlos Villanueva pitched .1 innings (7 pitches) Wednesday.
Chris Narveson pitched .1 innings (6 pitches) Wednesday.
Claudio Vargas and Manny Parra have yet to appear in a game.
Enjoy the game!