Today's Matchup: MIL (Gallardo) at STL (Wainwright)

Normally when a team's top starting pitcher is taking the mound, a fan should feel more comfortable than with anyone else on the mound. Today, however, the Brewers should really just push Yovani Gallardo (0-0, 5.73 ERA, 5.19 FIP) back until the next series.

Gallardo has had a poor start to the season thus far and if history holds true, it's going to get even worse. The Cardinals absolutely kill Gallardo for whatever reason. Over 14 career starts against St. Louis, Gallardo has a 6.72 ERA--his worst against any team in the MLB except the Boston Red Sox, against whom he has a 15.00 ERA in just one start. Cardinals hitters have an .827 OPS against Gallardo. St. Louis has hit 17 home runs off of him. The Reds are second with 11 home runs hit off of Gallardo.

Gallardo made three starts against the Cardinals last year. His third was pretty good as he allowed two earned runs in six innings. The other two starts though...they weren't as good. Between them, Gallardo pitched a combined 5.2 innings and gave up 14 earned runs. Against team not named the Cardinals in 2012, Gallardo had a 3.13 ERA. His actual ERA was 3.66.

Five current Cardinals have at least ten plate appearances against Gallardo. They all crush him.

Adam Wainwright (1-1, 3.46 ERA, 1.25 FIP), on the other hand, loves pitching against the Brewers. Over his career, he has confounded Milwaukee hitters to the tune of a 2.07 ERA and 0.888 WHIP over 24 appearances (17 starts). The Brewers easily have the lowest OPS of any National League team against Wainwright in his career as they stand at a paltry .531.

Wainwright made three appearances against the Brewers last year and allowed just five earned runs over 21.2 innings, good for a 2.08 ERA. In 2012, the Brewers got on base at a .190 clip against Wainwright. They slugged just .263. They struck out 22 times and took a walk once. This is about as bad of a matchup as there could be for Milwaukee.

Just three Brewers have faced Wainwright ten or more times. In 51 plate appearances, Ryan Braun has a .624 OPS. In 40 plate appearances, Rickie Weeks has a .500 OPS. And in 13 plate appearances, Alex Gonzalez has a .167 OPS.

Lineup:

RF Norichika Aoki
SS Jean Segura
LF Ryan Braun
2B Rickie Weeks
CF Logan Schafer
C Martin Maldonado
3B Yuniesky Betancourt
1B Blake Lalli
RHP Yovani Gallardo

In the bullpen:

• Tom Gorzelanny pitched one inning (12 pitches) yesterday.
• Mike Gonzalez, John Axford and Alfredo Figaro last pitched on Tuesday.
• Brandon Kintzler and Jim Henderson last pitched on Monday.
• Burke Badenhop last pitched on Sunday.
• Mike Fiers last pitched on Saturday.