St. Louis @ Philadelphia preview
Citizens Bank Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 17, 2011 ) St. Louis 2, Philadelphia 9
THE STORY: The Philadelphia Phillies enjoyed a bit of champagne after wrapping up their fifth consecutive National League East title on Saturday. The St. Louis Cardinals would like to quench their thirst at the postseason party, but their invitation appears to be slipping away. The Cardinals enter Sunday's primetime matchup against the Phillies trailing the Atlanta Braves by 4 1/2 games in the race for the NL wild card.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, ESPN
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Chris Carpenter (9-9, 3.80 ERA) vs. Phillies LH Cole Hamels (14-8, 2.71 ERA)
Carpenter has enjoyed considerable success against the Phillies, winning six of his eight career decisions. The 2005 NL Cy Young Award recipient won his lone contest versus Philadelphia on June 23, yielding just one run on five hits over seven innings in a 12-2 rout in St. Louis. Carpenter is coming off a shaky outing in which he permitted four runs on 10 hits in a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
Hamels struggled in his last outing, allowing five runs on nine hits in just five innings in a 5-2 loss to the lowly Houston Astros on Tuesday. Prior to that outburst, the 27-year-old lefthander had not allowed more than three runs in his previous eight starts. Hamels has split four career decisions against the Cardinals.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS (82-69): St. Louis mustered very little offense until the eighth inning of Saturday's encounter. Four consecutive singles by Jon Jay, Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and David Freese trimmed a three-run deficit to one and quieted a raucous Citizens Bank crowd. Allen Craig was unable to keep the rally going by grounding out to end the inning, and Philadelphia promptly put six runs on the board in the bottom of the frame to effectively end the contest. Berkman had three hits on Saturday and has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 contests. The veteran is a respectable 6-for-18 against Hamels, but Pujols has just three hits in 20 career at-bats.
ABOUT THE PHILLIES (98-52): Raul Ibanez's grand slam highlighted a six-run eighth inning and Shane Victorino homered and drove in three runs in Saturday's 9-2 victory. Jimmy Rollins had just three hits in his previous 20 at-bats before going 4-for-5 on Saturday. Rollins has struggled against Carpenter, going 4-for-24 in his career with five strikeouts. He's not alone as Hunter Pence (3-for-18, six strikeouts) and Ryan Howard (2-for-9) aren't thrilled to face Carpenter, either. With the division title now under wraps, manager Charlie Manuel will now be charged with the task of resting his studs while tweaking the rotation with an eye toward the postseason. So, while Saturday's contest marked the first time since Aug. 6 that all of the Phillies' "regulars" were in the starting lineup, it will likely be the last until the postseason.
FINAL PITCH: Philadelphia didn't waste any time clinching the division title, doing so in its 150th game of the season. The Phillies' previous best was 156 games, set in 1976.