Tonight's game marks the rubber match of the series and the Crew's final game against the Cardinals this season. The drama builds.
Zack Greinke (14-5, 4.00 ERA, 2.92 FIP) will lead the Crew into battle tonight. I think we all know all about Greinke by this point in the season. We know that he is awesome (undefeated, infact) at home, and how he struggles on the road (5.31 ERA vs. 2.96 at home). We know that his ERA is not a true reflection of how well he has pitched this season. We know that he's gotten burned by a high home run rate this year. And we all know that Zack strikes out a ton of batters. But did you know that he is leading the league with a strikeout rate of 10.7/9 innings? Now you know. Yeah, I think
Greinke has faced the Cards twice this season. Both resulted in wins for the Crew and Greinke. But both games were also at home, so we'll see how he does when facing the Cardinals on the road. In his career against the Cards, Greinke is 5-2 with a 3.95 ERA. Five Cardinals have faced him at least 10 times. Matt Holliday has done the most damage against Greinke, with two homers and three RBIs.
| PA | slash line | |
| Nick Punto | 24 | .211/.348/.211 |
| Gerald Laird | 20 | .300/.300/.350 |
| Albert Pujols | 18 | .267/.389/.400 |
| Skip Schumaker | 13 | .385/.385/.462 |
| Matt Holliday | 10 | .444/.444/.556 |
Greinke will be facing off against Chris Carpenter (8-9, 3.92 ERA, 3.15 FIP), who is having a rough go of it lately. His last two starts were of the disaster variety, where he allowed 6 ER in 6 IP against the Reds, and 6 ER in 5 IP against the Pirates. However, in the start before that he allowed only 1 ER in 8 IP and the Cardinals still lost to the Dodgers. The last time the Cardinals won one of Carpenter's starts was almost a month ago, back on August 11th, against the Brewers. Still, Carpenter has been fairly solid this season. He limits his walks and regularly pitches deep into games. He is also allowing only a minuscule .6 HR/9inn.
Carpenter has faced the Crew three times this season, resulting in one win and two losses him. In the first two of those games, Carpenter allowed 5 ER in 6 and 5 innings, respectively. However in the third game, he dominated the Crew, pitching 8 innings and allowing only 2 ER. In his career against the Crew, Carpenter is 5-5 with a 5.18 ERA. Eight Brewers have faced Carpenter at least 10 times.
| PA | slash line | |
| Jerry Hariston | 30 | .214.233/.250 |
| Prince Fielder | 28 | .304/.429/.565 |
| Craig Counsell | 25 | .273/.333/.273 |
| Casey McGehee | 24 | .273/.333/.364 |
| Nyjer Morgan | 21 | .150/.150/.200 |
| Ryan Braun | 18 | .222/.222/.389 |
| Corey Hart | 18 | .294/.333/.529 |
| Mark Kotsay | 11 | .300/.364/.400 |
Tonight's lineup features a newcomer at second base:
Corey Hart RF
Nyjer Morgan CF
Ryan Braun LF
Prince Fielder 1B
Casey McGehee 3B
Taylor Green 2B
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Jonathan Lucroy C
Zack Greinke P
In the bullpen...
Kameron Loe pitched 1 inning (12 pitches) yesterday.
Frankie De La Cruz pitched 1 inning (16 pitches) yesterday.
John Axford pitched 1 inning (12 pitches) Monday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched 1 inning (15 pitches) Sunday.
Takishi Saito pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) Sunday.
Tim Dillard last pitched 1 inning Monday in Nashville.
Marco Estrada last pitched on Saturday.
LaTroy Hawkins last pitched on Friday.
Weather
It's going to be a cool night tonight in St. Louis. Temps in the low 50's with winds from the NNW at about 10 MPH. We'll see how much the wind plays a role in the game again tonight.