SJSharks - Sunday Bases

Tonight's Sunday Night Baseball game will feature the red hot St. Louis Cardinals winners in 11 of there last 15 games facing the Milwaukee Brewers who have just 4 wins there last 15 outings. The Brewers struggles have compounded on the road where they are just 1-9 in there last 10 games. The Brewers will be sending right hander Marco Estrada to the hill to attempt to slow down the red hot Cardinals bats. After getting off to a good start in the 2012 campaign, Estrada has fallen off a bit. In his last 3 outings Estrada is 0-2 with a 5.00 era. His struggles have in large part are due to a rising WHIP. In the last 3 starts his whip has been a 1.39 compared to his 1.19 on the season overall. His WHIP is also higher on the road with a 1.49. He has allowed 4 long balls in his last 3 outings as well. The last thing he wants to do is give free passes and base runners a Cardinals team who ranks #2 in the MLB vs right handed pitching. In his career against the Cardinals Estrada has really struggled. In 6 career appearances vs the Cardinals, he has allowed 9 runs in just 13 innings off work (mostly as a reliever). He had 1 start this season vs the Cardinals, where he surrendered 5 runs, on 7 hits, including 2 long balls in just 6 innings of work. The Cardinals have experience vs him, and there slugging catcher Yavier Molina might be licking his chops for tonight's game. Molina is batting .714 with 5 hits in 7 plate appearances including a long ball vs Estrada.  Both Holiday and Jay have a slightly smaller sample size but they are both 2-5 batting .400, meanwhile Beltran rounds it out 1-5 with a home run. Albeit a relatively small sample size, I don't think Estrada will be bringing anything to the table tonight that the Cardinals have not seen. The Cardinals will turn to Kyle Loshe tonight in an effort to try and complete what would be a huge momentum gaining sweep. The Cardinals are in the mix in a very tight NL Central, and are also in the mix for a wild card spot. This team has a core group of guys that knows they are never out of it. Just look at last years World Series, when they made an historical comeback to sneak into the Playoffs and eventually win it all. There seems to be no quit in this group, and I like backing a team who will give there all most nights. Anyhow, back to Loshe, on the year he is 11-2 with an solid 2.92 era. In home starts he is is 5-1 with a 2.61 era. Kyle has also enjoyed pitching under the bright lights in night caps with a 8-2 record to go with a 2.77 era. He enters this contest feeling confident, as he has won in 5 straight starts. His WHIP of 1.10 in home starts is a nice advantage compared to Estrada's. He has also only surrendered 2 home runs total in his last 7 home starts. Loshe has also had success against the Brewers biggest offensive threats. Ryan Braun is batting .281 (9-33), 1 home run, those aren't bad #s, but keeping Braun below .300 is impressive imo. Corey Hart is batting .150 (3-20), Weeks is batting .286 (8-28), Gomez is batting .250 (2-8). Aramis Ramirez will pose the biggest threat on paper vs Lohse, he is batting .450 in 20 career at bats (9-20), however he is 2 for his last 12 at bats vs the improving Lohse. The Cardinals enter this game 31-21 at home, meanwhile the Brewers are 18-32 on the road.