St. Louis @ Los Angeles preview
Dodger Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jun 8, 2010 ) St. Louis 0, LA Dodgers 1
Adam Wainwright doesn’t nab the national attention of some of his high-profile peers.
The St. Louis Cardinals’ right-hander doesn’t have the star power of, say, San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum, Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay or even teammate Chris Carpenter.
When the Cardinals are on the road, it’s debatable whether many fans going to the game just to see Wainwright pitch. But Wainwright is just as deserving of commanding that type of visibility.
He might not hit 100 mph on the radar gun like the latest phenom – Washington’s Stephen Strasburg – or sport a Cy Young Award or two like the aforementioned pitchers, but Wainwright is becoming something special.
The 28-year-old takes the mound for the Cardinals today against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium in an attempt to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
Wainwright made his initial splash in the majors as a reliever, inheriting the closer’s job late in the 2006 season because of an injury to Jason Isringhausen. He was perfect in the postseason in helping St. Louis to the World Series title.
The Cardinals were criticized a bit in moving Wainwright to the rotation the following season. Chances are no one will admit to questioning that idea today.
Wainwright is 8-3 this season in the continued development of a major league career that has seen him go 54-27 (52-26 as a starter) with a 3.04 ERA. He went 19-8 last season and continues to get better.
Coming off a two-hit shutout of Milwaukee in his last outing, Wainwright will look to keep it rolling against the Dodgers, who are on a bit of roll themselves.
Los Angeles has its lineup back together again now that Andre Ethier has returned from the disabled list and took over first place in the National League West with Tuesday’s 1-0 win.
Taking the mound for the Dodgers is Clayton Kershaw (5-3, 3.06 ERA), who is working on pitching deeper into games.
The 22-year-old is having difficulty putting away batters early in the at-bat, meaning his pitch count climbs too fast to allow him to go deep into games. In his 12 starts this season, he has completed seven innings just four times.
He will be tested to make it any further against the Cardinals with Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick, one of the best 3-4-5 combos in the game, in the middle of St. Louis’ lineup.