Good afternoon…
Since I have all of these numbers swirling in my head and don’t know what to do with them, I will try to offer a quickie preview of each Cardinals’ series the rest of the way.
So let’s take a look at Cardinals-Dodgers:
- It’s an old story, but the Cardinals need to get it going at home. Since June 17, they’re 8-13 at Busch Stadium and have a series record of 1-4-1 in that time.
- Welcome back, Chris Carpenter. He likes to pitch at home. From 2004-2007, Carpenter (including the postseason) was 27-11 at home with a 2.38. The Cardinals’ record in home games started by Carp? Only 38-14.
- Since June 17, the Dodgers have the NL’s best record, 25-17. They have won 7 of their last 10. They trail Arizona by 1.5 games in the NL West. They’ve entered the wildcard hunt at only 5 games behind Milwaukee as this series opens.
- Since June 17, the Dodgers have the best starting-pitching ERA in the majors, 3.17. The Cardinals will get a close-up look at this. They’ll see Chad Billingsley, who is 8-4 with a 2.60 ERA since May 20. Wednesday, it’s Derek Lowe, who is 6-4 with a 2.67 ERA since May 28. And on Thursday it’s the impressive LH rookie, Clayton Kershaw, who hasn’t allowed a run in his last two starts (12 IP).
- Since June 17, the Dodger bullpen also has the lowest ERA (2.81) in the majors and has saved 15 of 18.
- If the Cardinals get to Billingsley, chances are that it’ll happen early: he has an ERA of 5.32 in the first inning. But from the second inning on, Billingsley’s ERA is 2.62.
- This series features two of the best ground-ball pitching staffs in MLB. The Dodgers rank No. 1 with a GB rate of 61.9 percent. The Cardinals are 5th with a GB rate of 58 percent.
- The Cardinas are 24-9 against the Dodgers since the start of the 2004 season, and that includes the ‘04 NLDS. But these rosters have changed dramatically.
- Early returns on LA’s trade-deadline acquisitions are good, to say the least. Third baseman Casey Blake (Cleveland) is batting .364 in nine games. Manny Ramirez went 8 for 13 with two homers in his first series with the Dodgers. According to the LA Times, the Dodgers sold about $125,000 in Manny merchandise over the weekend in their home series against Arizona.
- This, from the good people at STATS: In the Arizona series, Ramirez and Blake hit .448 with three homers and seven RBIs. The other Dodgers batted .265 with one homer in the series.
- And that’s the point of getting Blake and Ramirez. Through the end of July, the Dodgers were ranked 13th in the NL in runs per game, 13th in OBP, and 14th in slugging. They desperately needed to upgrade the offense or else waste all of the terrific pitching they’re receiving.
- This nugget, also from my friends at STATS: Cardinals outfielder Skip Schumaker has the biggest differential in the majors this season in his batting average against RH pitchers compared to batting average against LH pitchers.
Schumaker is .351 vs. RH and .158 vs. LH, a difference of 193 points.
- In case you’re wondering, Sikeston, Mo. native Blake DeWitt was optioned to Triple AAA Las Vegas on July 25. DeWitt, only 23, got off to a fast start after being planted at 3B for the Dodgers early in the season. He was hitting .303 at the end of May. But in 129 ABs from June 1st through July 23, DeWitt batted .200 with a .263 OBP and a .240 slug and had only six RBIs. No shame in going down to the minors for a tune-up. DeWitt is still considered a valuable prospect.
-B