Cardinals/Giants Preview

The schedule makers didn't do the St. Louis Cardinals any favors this week - they traveled to Milwaukee and played the Brewers for 3 games (the Birds won the last 2 games of the series to win the series) and now they travel for a 3 game series in San Francisco starting Friday night. After the game Sunday - the Redbirds fly home for an 8 game home stand. Usually when the Cards travel out to the West Coast, they get to play another series against the Dodgers or the Diamondbacks - but not this time. In a way it is a good thing - the Cardinals have traditionally been a bad team on the West Coast. The Cardinals are 7-2 in their last 9 games even though they are only batting .228 as a team and averaging only 3.4 runs a game. Their pitching over that span of games is almost historic - 81.2 innings pitched, allowing 8 earned runs - 0.81 ERA...mmmm wonder why they are 7-2. I was always taught by my Father and coaches while growing up playing baseball that if the other team didn't score - we wouldn't lose...and that is still true to this day!! Pitching Probables for the series

Friday night, Joel Pineiro will toe the rubber for the Cardinals against Matt Cain. I am telling all gamblers out there...BET THE OVER in this game. In 2 career starts against the Giants, Pineiro is 0-2 with a 8.10 ERA. Cain against the Cardinals, 2 career starts, 0-1, 9.58 ERA...OVER!!!

Carpenter vs. Zito on Saturday

Wainwright vs. Sanchez on Sunday

The Cards should take the final 2 games of this series...and if they can win the 12-11 game on Friday night - they may sweep the series in San Fran.

Major League Baseball Scoreboard May 27

SCOREBOARD
Cardinals (28-19) 3 at Brewers (27-20) 2
W: Wellemeyer (5-4) L: Parra (3-6) S: Franklin (12)

Blue Jays (27-23) 10 at Orioles (21-26) 12 - F/11
W: Baez (4-1) L: Wolfe (1-1)

Tigers (26-19) 8 at Royals (23-24) 3
W: Porcello (6-3) L: Davies (2-4)

Pirates (21-26) 2 at Cubs (23-22) 5
W: Marmol (1-1) L: Chavez (0-2) S: Gregg (7)

Dodgers (33-15) 8 at Rockies (18-28) 6
W: Kershaw (3-3) L: Jimenez (3-6)

Mariners (22-26) 6 at Athletics (18-26)
W: Bedard (3-2) L: Cahill (2-5)

Rays (23-26) 7 at Indians (20-28) 12
W: Aquino (1-0) L: Sonnanstine (3-5) S: Vizcaino (1)

Marlins (22-26) 6 at Phillies (25-20) 2
W: Badenhop (3-2) L: Myers (4-3)

Astros (18-27) 1 at Reds (26-20) 6
W: Arroyo (7-3) L: Paulino (1-4)

Nationals (13-33) 4 at Mets (26-20) 7
W: Santana (7-2) L: Zimmerman (2-2)

Yankees (27-20) 9 at Rangers (27-19)
W: Burnett (3-2) L: Holland (1-2)

Red Sox (27-20) 2 at Twins (24-24) 4
W: Slowey (7-1) L: Matsuzaka (0-3) S: Nathan (8)

Padres (24-23) 8 at Diamondbacks (20-27) 5
W: Peavy (5-5) L: Buckner (1-1) S: Bell (14)

White Sox (21-25) 1 at Angels (24-22) 3
W: Weaver (4-2) L: Floyd (3-5) S: Fuentes (13)

Braves (23-23) 3 at Giants (23-23) 6
W: Johnson (4-4) L: Kawakami (3-6) S: Wilson (10)

HR LIST
Jay Bruce 2 (14)
Hideki Matsui 2 (7)
Adrian Gonzalez (18)
Adam Dunn (16)
Mark Teixeira (15)
Jason Bay (14)
Ian Kinsler (13)
Aaron Hill (12)
Evan Longoria (12)
Russell Branyan (11)
Miguel Cabrera (10)
Dan Uggla (9)
Robinson Cano (9)
Cody Ross (7)
Luke Scott (6)
Mark Teahen (6)
Shin-Soo Choo (6)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (6)
Ben Francisco (5)
Nolan Reimold (4)
Ryan Spilborghs (4)
Daniel Murphy (4)
Matt Stairs (3)
Reed Johnson (2)
Carlos Ruiz (2)
Placido Polanco (1)
Bobby Crosby (1)

Major League Baseball Scoreboard May 26

SCOREBOARD
Blue Jays (27-22) 2 at Orioles (20-26) 7
W: Berken (1-0) L: Romero (2-1) S: Johnson (1)

Rays (23-25) 1 at Indians (19-28) 5
W: Pavano (5-4) L: Garza (4-3)

Marlins (21-26) 3 at Phillies (25-19) 5
W: Blanton (3-3) L: Miller (1-2) S: Lidge (9)

Astros (18-26) 4 at Reds (25-20) 6
W: Masset (2-0) L: Byrdak (0-1) S: Cordero (13)

Nationals (13-32) 1 at Mets (25-20) 6
W: Hernandez (4-1) L: Stammen (0-1)

Cardinals (27-19) 8 at Brewers (27-19) 1
W: Wainwright (5-2) L: Suppan (3-4)

Yankees (26-20) 3 at Rangers (27-18) 7
W: Jennings (2-1) L: Aceves (3-1)

Pirates (21-25) 1 at Cubs (22-22) 6
W: Marshall (3-3) L: Snell (1-6)

Tigers (25-19) 1 at Royals (23-23) 6
W: Greinke (8-1) L: Jackson (4-3)

Red Sox (27-19) 2 at Twins (23-24) 5
W: Blackburn (4-2) L: Lester (3-5) S: Nathan (7)

Dodgers (32-15) 7 at Rockies (18-27) 1
W: Milton (1-0) L: Cook (3-2)

Padres (23-23) 5 at Diamondbacks (20-26) 6
W: Scherzer (2-3) L: Correia (1-3) S: Gutierrez (1)

White Sox (21-24) 4 at Angels (23-22) 2
W: Colon (3-4) L: Saunder (6-3) S: Linebrink (1)

Mariners (21-26) 3 at Athletics (18-25) 4
W: Braden (4-5) L: Batista (2-1) S: Bailey (2)

Braves (23-22) 0 at Giants (22-23) 4
W: Lincecum (4-1) L: Medlen (0-2)

HR LIST
Chris Davis 2 (12)
Jayson Nix 2 (4)
Carlos Pena (16)
Adam Dunn (15)
Mark Teixeira (14)
Justin Morneau (14)
Mark Reynolds (13)
Adam Jones (11)
Torii Hunter (11)
Aubrey Huff (8)
Mark DeRosa (8)
Joey Votto (8)
Colby Rasmus (5)
Ryan Garko (5)
Gary Sheffield (5)
Kosuke Fukudome (5)
Clint Barmes (5)
Chris Duncan (4)
Kelly Shoppach (4)
Laynce Nix (4)
Jose Guillen (4)
Nolan Reimold (3)
Asdrubal Cabrera (2)
Jeff Keppinger (2)
Adam Wainwright (1)
Nick Stavinoha (1)
Bobby Abreu (1)
Chris Burke (1)

Major League Baseball Scoreboard May 25

SCOREBOARD
Astros (18-25) 5 at Reds (24-20) 8
W: Harand (5-4) L: Rodriguez (5-3) S: Cordero (12)

Blue Jays (27-21) 1 at Orioles (19-26) 4
W: Guthrie (4-4) L: Tallet (2-3) S: Sherrill (10)

Cardinals (26-19) 0 at Brewers (27-18) 1 - F/10
W: Villanueva (2-3) L: McClellan (2-2)

Yankees (26-19) 11 at Rangers (26-18) 1
W: Hughes (3-2) L: Harrison (4-4)

Tigers (25-18) 13 at Royals (22-23) 1
W: Verlander (5-2) L: Meche (2-5)

Red Sox (27-18) 6 at Twins (22-24) 5
W: Penny (5-1) L: Liriano (2-6) S: Papelbon (12)

Dodgers (31-15) 16 at Rockies (18-26) 6
W: Ohman (1-0) L: De La Rosa (0-5)

Padres (23-22) 9 at Diamondbacks (19-26) 7 - F/10
W: Mujica (2-1) L: Pena (4-2) S: Bell (13)

Mariners (21-25) 1 at Athletics (17-25) 6
W: Anderson (2-4) L: Jakubauskas (3-5) S: Cameron (1)

Braves (23-21) 2 at Giants (21-23) 8
W: Sanchez (2-4) L: Vazquez (4-4)

Rays (23-24) 10 at Indians (18-28) 11
W: Sowers (1-2) L: Isringhausen (0-1)

Marlins (21-25) 5 at Phillies (24-19) 3
W: Volstad (4-3) L: Moyer (3-5) S: Lindstrom (9)

Nationals (13-31) 2 at Mets (24-20) 5
W: Maine (4-3) L: Lannan (2-4) S: Rodriguez (13)

Pirates (21-24) 10 at Cubs (21-22) 8
W: Gorzelanny (2-1) L: Cotts (0-2) S: Burnett (1)

White Sox (20-24) 17 at Angels (23-21) 3
W: Danks (4-3) L: Santana (0-2)

HR LIST
Ryan Howard 2 (12)
Ryan Garko 2 (4)
Adrian Gonzalez (17)
Nelson Cruz (12)
Jermaine Dye (12)
Joe Mauer (11)
Lance Berkman (10)
Michael Cuddyer (8)
Jim Thome (8)
Nate McLouth (8)
Paul Konerko (7)
Chris Snyder (5)
Milton Bradley (5)
Chase Headley (4)
Gary Sheffield (4)
Freddy Sanchez (4)
Jeff Bailey (3)
Kenji Johjima (3)
Gabe Gross (3)
Gerald Laird (2)
Travis Buck (2)
Travis Ishikawa (1)
Wes Helms (1)

Rays/Indians Preview

Happy Memorial day to all our active troops, our retired veterans and obviously God Bless to all that died fighting for our country. Baseball is a huge part of the Memorial Holiday....so let's get to the preview.


The Tampa Bay Rays will travel to Cleveland to play the Indians in a 4 game series starting tonight. The Rays come in at 23-23 for the season - but they are 7-3 in their last 10 and have finally shown flashes of the 2008 team that was AL East Champs. Even though the Rays are at an even .500 - they are only 4 games back of the division leading Boston Red Sox. About 10 days ago - these two teams played a 4 game series in Tampa - and the Rays took 3 out of 4...and that was the start of this impressive run. And now - the biggest, smartest move the Rays have made all season...David Price is been called back up to the big club - and he will make his season debut tonight to open the series. Price was the closer for the Rays in the playoffs in 2008, and he was, how do you say it - what's the word I'm looking for...oh yeah...MONEY!! He was surprisingly sent down to AAA during spring training - and management has obviously swallowed its pride and admitted they were wrong...who are we kidding? Scott Kazmir was put on the 15 day DL and that opened a spot in the rotation. Management admitting they were wrong - like that would ever happen!!

The Indians are headed in the other direction going 4-6 in their last 10 games and sit in last place in the AL Central at 17-28, 8.5 games back of the division leading Detroit Tigers. Look for a similar result in this series from 10 days ago - the Rays taking 3 of 4. Pitching Probables

Mon, May 25 TPA Price (0-0) vs. CLE Carmona (2-4)

Tue, May 26 TPA Garza (4-2) vs. CLE Pavano (4-4)

Wed, May 27 TPA Sonnanstine (3-4) vs. TBA

Thu, May 28 TPA Niemann (4-3) vs. CLE Huff (0-1)

Cardinals/Brewers Preview

Happy Memorial day to all our active troops, our retired veterans and obviously God Bless to all that died fighting for our country. Baseball is a huge part of the Memorial Holiday....so let's get to the preview.

The St. Louis Cardinals travel to Milwaukee to start a 3 game series today against the Brewers. The Cards allowed a late run to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, otherwise they had a chance to have back to back 3 game series sweeps. The Birds swept the Chicago Cubs in the previous series and took 2 out of 3 from the Royals. This turnaround started when Cris Carpenter came off the disabled list - prior to that - the Cardinals were 3-7 in their previous 10 games. The Cardinals and the Brewers played a 3 game series in St. Louis about 10 days ago - and the Brewers swept the Cardinals - so their is a little bit of a revenge factor for the Cards going into this series.

It looks like the Cardinals have the edge in pitching matchups in this series with Carpenter and Adam Wainwright pitching in the 1st 2 games of this series...Probable Starters

Mon, May 25 STL Carpenter (2-0) vs. MLW Gallardo (4-2)

Tue, May 26 STL Wainwright (4-2) vs. Suppan (3-3) - can be seen on ESPN

Wed, May 27 STL Wellemeyer (4-4) vs. Parra (3-5)

Major League Baseball Scoreboard May 24

SCOREBOARD
Rockies (18-25) 3 at Tigers (24-18) 1
W: Hammel (1-3) L: Willis (1-1) S: Street (7)

Phillies (24-18) 4 at Yankees (25-19) 3 - F/11
W: Condrey (4-0) L: Tomko (0-1)

Indians (17-28) 3 at Reds (23-20) 4 - F/11
W: Fisher (1-0) L: Vizcaino (1-2)

Rays (23-23) 4 at Marlins (20-25) 5 - F/11
W: Sanches (1-0) L: Cormier (0-1)

Blue Jays (27-20) 2 at Braves (23-20) 10
W: Bennett (2-1) L: Camp (0-2)

Mets (23-20) 5 at Red Sox (26-18) 12
W: Wakefield (6-2) L: Redding (0-1)

Orioles (18-26) 5 at Nationals (13-30) 8
W: Villone (2-0) L: Ray (0-1) S: Hanrahan (5)

Pirates (20-24) 4 at White Sox (19-24) 3
W: Grabow (3-0) L: Jenks (0-2) S: Capps (9)

Rangers (26-17) 5 at Astros (18-24) 0
W: McCarthy (4-2) L: Hampton (2-4)

Royals (22-22) 3 at Cardinals (26-18) 2
W: Bannister (4-1) L: Pineiro (5-4) S: Cruz (2)

Cubs (21-21) 2 at Padres (22-22) 7
W: Young (4-2) L: Lilly (5-4)

Diamondbacks (19-25) 2 at Athletics (16-25) 6
W: Outman (2-0) L: Garland (4-3)

Giants (20-23) 4 at Mariners (21-24) 5
W: Hernandez (5-3) L: Zito (1-5) S: Aardsma (6)

Angels (23-20) 10 at Dodgers (30-15) 7
W: Bulger (2-1) L: Billingsley (6-2)

Brewers (26-18) 3 at Twins (22-23) 6
W: Baker (2-5) L: Bush (3-1)

HR LIST
Adam Dunn 2 (14)
Brian McCann 2 (5)
Mark Teixeira (13)
Justin Morneau (13)
Ian Kinsler (12)
Adam Jones (10)
Prince Fielder (10)
Joe Mauer (10)
Mike Cameron (9)
Mike Lowell (8)
Joe Crede (8)
Chad Bartlett (7)
Kevin Youkilis (7)
John Baker (6)
Josh Hamilton (6)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (5)
Kelly Johnson (5)
Jason Giambi (5)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (5)
Ken Griffey Jr. (5)
Kevin Kouzmanoff (4)
Ramon Castro (3)
Fred Lewis (3)
Adrian Beltre (3)
Reed Johnson (1)
Eric Hinske (1)
Jack Wilson (1)
Brian Anderson (1)
Landon Powell (1)
Jamie Hoffmann (1)

Major League Baseball Scoreboard May 23

SCOREBOARD
Royals (21-22) 0 at Cardinals (26-17) 5
W: Lohse (4-3) L: Hochevar (0-2)

Phillies (23-18) 4 at Yankees (25-18) 5
W: Veras (3-1) L: Lidge (0-2)

Rangers (25-17) 6 at Astros (18-23) 3
W: Feldman (3-0) L: Moehler (1-3)

Blue Jays (27-19) 3 at Braves (22-20) 4
W: Lowe (6-2) L: Janssen (0-1) S: Soriano (4)

Rockies (17-25) 4 at Tigers (24-17) 3
W: Marquis (6-3) L: Galarraga (3-4) S: Street (6)

Orioles (18-25) 2 at Nationals (12-30) 1
W: Bass (3-1) L: Tavarez (1-4) S: Sherrill (9)

Pirates (19-24) 0 at White Sox (19-23) 4
W: Richard (1-0) L: Ohlendorf (5-4)

Mets (23-19) 3 at Red Sox (25-18) 2
W: Feliciano (1-1) L: Papelbon (0-1) S: Putz (2)

Indians (17-27) 7 at Reds (22-20) 6
W: Vizcaino (1-1) L: Weathers (0-1) S: Wood (7)

Brewers (26-17) 2 at Twins (21-23) 6
W: Swarzak (1-0) L: Looper (4-3)

Rays (23-22) 10 at Marlins (19-25) 3
W: Balfour (2-0) L: Nunez (2-2)

Diamondbacks (19-24) 8 at Athletics (15-25) 7 - F/11
W: Pena (4-1) L: Breslow (1-3) S: Qualls (11)

Cubs (21-20) 1 at Padres (21-22) 3
W: Geer (1-1) L: Wells (0-1) S: Mujica (1)

Angels (22-20) 4 at Dodgers (30-14) 5 - F/10
W: Broxton (5-0) L: Arredondo (1-1)

Giants (20-22) 5 at Mariners (20-24) 1
W: Cain (5-1) L: Lowe (0-2)

HR LIST
Nelson Cruz 2 (11)
Joey Votto 2 (7)
Raul Ibanez (17)
Hank Blalock (11)
Jermaine Dye (11)
Torii Hunter (10)
Miguel Cabrera (9)
Joe Mauer (9)
Chris Iannetta (8)
Dan Uggla (8)
Alex Rodriguez (7)
Derek Jeter (7)
Mark DeRosa (7)
Joe Crede (7)
Jack Cust (7)
Todd Helton (6)
Derrek Lee (5)
Miguel Tejada (5)
Kelly Johnson (4)
Jason Giambi (4)
Juan Rivera (4)
Skip Schumaker (3)
Alexei Ramirez (3)
Cristian Guzman (2)
Omir Santos (2)
Ramon Hernandez (2)
Nomar Garciaparra (2)
Adam Kennedy (2)
Fred Lewis (2)
John Mayberry Jr. (1)
Geoff Blum (1)

Major League Baseball Scoreboard May 22

SCOREBOARD
Orioles (17-25) 4 at Nationals (12-29) 2 - F/12
W: Reimold (2) L: Sherrill (8)

Rockies (16-25) 3 at Tigers (24-16) 4
W: Porcello (5-3) L: Jimenez (3-5) S: Zumaya (1)

Phillies (23-17) 7 at Yankees (24-18) 3
W: Myers (4-2) L: Burnett (2-2)

Indians (16-27) 1 at Reds (22-19) 3
W: Arroyo (6-3) L: Laffey (3-1) S: Cordero (11)

Rays (22-22) 15 at Marlins (19-24) 2
W: Sonnanstine (3-4) L: Nolasco (2-5) S: Thayer (1)

Mets (22-19) 5 at Red Sox (25-17) 3
W: Santana (6-2) L: Matsuzaka (0-2) S: Rodriguez (12)

Blue Jays (27-18) 0 at Braves (21-20) 1
W: Kawakami (3-5) L: Carlson (1-3) S: Gonzalez (7)

Rangers (24-17) 6 at Astros (18-22) 5 - F/10
W: O'Day (2-0) L: Hawkins (1-2) S: Francisco (10)

Brewers (26-16) 3 at Twins (20-23) 11
W: Slowey (6-1) L: Parra (3-5)

Pirates (19-23) 0 at White Sox (18-23) 2
W: Floyd (3-4) L: Duke (5-4) S: Jenks (10)

Royals (21-21) 0 at Cardinals (25-17) 5
W: Wellemeyer (4-4) L: Davies (2-3)

Diamondbacks (18-24) 2 at Athletics (15-24) 1
W: Buckner (1-0) L: Cahill (2-4) S: Rauch (2)

Cubs (21-19) 0 at Padres (20-22) 4
W: Peavy (4-5) L: Zambrano (3-2) S: Bell (12)

Angels (22-19) 3 at Dodgers (29-14) 1
W: Oliver (1-0) L: Wade (0-3) S: Fuentes (12)

Giants (19-22) 1 at Mariners (20-23) 2 - F/12
W: White (1-0) L: Miller (1-1)

HR LIST
Adrian Gonzalez (16)
Raul Ibanez (16)
Carlos Pena (15)
Brandon Inge (12)
Mark Teixeira (12)
Ryan Zimmerman (11)
Nelson Cruz (9)
Lance Berkman (9)
Jayson Werth (8)
Jason Varitek (8)
Grady Sizemore (8)
Hanley Ramirez (8)
Michael Cuddyer (7)
Alex Rodriguez (6)
Derek Jeter (6)
Matt Holliday (6)
Aaron Rowand (5)
Seth Smith (4)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (4)
Jimmy Rollins (3)
Gary Sheffield (3)
Denard Span (3)
Chris Young (3)
Elvis Andrus (3)
Nolan Reimold (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Gabe Gross (2)
Alexei Ramirez (2)
Dioner Navarro (2)
Carlos Ruiz (1)

The Battle of Florida Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays and the Florida Marlins will battle it out to see who reigns supreme in the state of Florida. The games will be played at Land Shark Stadium in Miami. The Rays have won 6 of their last 9 games coming into the weekend, and are starting to resemble the team they were in 2008, AL Champions. The Rays started the season 11-1, but have went 8-22 since that torrid start. The Rays will send Andy Sonnanstine (2-4, 7.36) to the mound in the series opener tonight against Ricky Nolasco (2-4, 7.78). Jeff Niemann (4-3, 4.97) will start Saturday's game against TBA. TBA has always been a tough pitcher to face for every team in the league...okay - bad joke...the Marlins pitcher at this point is to be announced. Sunday's finale might be the best pitching matchup in all of baseball that day. James Shields (3-4, 3.43) will toe the rubber for the Rays against Marlins ace Josh Johnson (3-1, 2.54).
This should be a great series, with the Marlins expecting a total crowd of 8 people for the weekend series...sorry - couldn't resist a little more bad humor before the 3 day weekend begins.