St. Louis @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 4, 2010 ) Houston 4, St. Louis 8
It wasn’t all that long ago that the St. Louis Cardinals looked like the best team in the NL Central. Things sure can change in two weeks.
The Cardinals will be looking to salvage their season when they open a three-game series against the Houston Astros on Monday.
Since sweeping Cincinnati to take a one-game lead in the division from Aug. 9-11, St. Louis has fallen five games behind the Reds after dropping a 4-2 decision to the NL East cellar-dwelling Washington Nationals on Sunday.
The Cardinals have been doing a lot of losing against sub-.500 teams since that series against Cincinnati, going 3-9 versus the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Nationals. Only a series win over the San Francisco Giants during the last two weeks has managed to keep them within a few games of the Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the National League wild card.
Pitching has been a big problem recently as even aces Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter have been knocked around in the last week.
Kyle Lohse, who is still trying to work himself back into pitching shape after missing most of the season with an arm injury, had one of the more embarrassing outings of the stretch. Lohse allowed eight runs and 11 hits in five innings as St. Louis got pounded, 14-5, on Saturday.
Wainwright lost for the third straight time on Sunday, allowing four runs in five innings.
With another series looming against Cincinnati next weekend and four-game sets against division leaders Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres coming up in September, the Cardinals need to solve their problems against the sub-.500 Astros if they plan on those series mattering at all.
Jake Westbrook will try to get the pitching on track on Monday. The veteran right-hander has suffered the loss in each of his last two outings and is 1-2 in five starts since being acquired before the trade deadline. He fell at Pittsburgh last week, allowing four runs and six hits in six innings.
The sinkerballer has been as advertised since joining St. Louis, inducing a high rate of groundballs while exhibiting stellar control with 31 strikeouts and five walks in 31 innings.
Westbrook made his first start in the National League against Houston on Aug. 2, allowing two runs and four hits while striking out seven and walking one in six innings. He was in line for the win in that outing before the bullpen let him down in a 9-4 setback.
The Astros will counter with their big trade deadline acquisition in J.A. Happ. The left-hander has been solid for his new team, allowing three runs or less in five of his six starts, including a 6 1/3-inning effort at Philadelphia last week in which he allowed two earned runs to pick up the win.
Happ’s one terrible outing for Houston came at St. Louis on Aug. 4, when he was knocked around for seven runs and six hits in just one inning.