Royals/Cards Preview

The St. Louis Cardinals will start a 3 game series against the Kansas City Royals tonight at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals just finished sweeping the Chicago Cubs in a 3 game series, winning the last game of the series last night 3-1. The Cardinals pitching staff only allowed 2 runs in the series and better yet, the Birds got a boost from getting ace Cris Carpenter back, as he pitched 5 shutout innings on Wednesday night. Before the Cubs series, the Cardinals were 3-7 in their last 10 games...so yes, Albert Pujols is the MVP of the team, if not the league, but Carpenter is just as important to this organization. The Cardinals are lucky enough to miss Zack Greinke during this 3 game series, although Greinke has started to look human the last outing or two. If the Cards can win the 1st game of the series - I think they will sweep the weekend I-70 series. The probable pitching mathcups for the series are:

Fri, May 22 KC Davies (2-2, 5.01) vs. STL Wellemeyer (3-4, 5.87)

Sat, May 23 KC Hochevar (0-1, 16.88) vs. STL Lohse (3-3, 4.66)

Sun, May 24 KC Bannister (3-1, 2.75) vs. STL Pineiro (5-3, 3.48)