(19-15) at St. Louis
(21-12)May 10, 2013
8:15 PM ET, 7:15 PM CT, 6:15 PM MT, 5:15 PM PT
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
TV: ROOT, FSMW
RADIO: KMOX 1120
Flashchat Link: http://www.gatewayredbirds.com/forum/chat/flashchat.php
J. Garland (3-2, 4.75) S. Miller (4-2, 1.96)
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/rockies-ca ... --mlb.html
The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the best pitching staffs in the majors, but they've also gotten plenty of help from their hitters during a red-hot stretch.
The Cardinals will try to keep rolling in their return from a six-game road trip Friday night by adding to their recent success against the Colorado Rockies.
St. Louis' 3.07 ERA is the best in the majors and its starters have a 2.29 ERA. The staff has played a large role in helping the Cardinals outscore opponents 41-22 while winning seven of eight.
St. Louis, though, has also batted .300 over that stretch and hit .307 during a 5-1 trip. After falling 2-1 in the first of two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, the Cardinals (21-12) bounced back for a 5-4 victory the next day with Jon Jay and Carlos Beltran driving in two runs apiece.
Jay is batting .500 with eight RBIs in his last six games, and Yadier Molina is hitting .457 over his last nine. They will be trying to help the Cardinals earn their 14th win in 18 tries against Colorado and 10th in 12 home matchups.
"I'm just trying to keep it simple up there," Jay said. "Trying to hit the ball hard, and I've been able to get some pitches over the plate that I've been able to drive."
Jay is batting .361 in 20 career games against Colorado, and Molina is hitting .375 in his last eight. Shelby Miller, though, might not need too much help if he can continue his stellar start to the season.
The 22-year-old Miller (4-2, 1.96 ERA) has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six starts. The right-hander gave up one run and seven hits over six innings in a 6-1 victory in Milwaukee last Friday.
Miller has one of the NL's best ERAs and his 38 strikeouts are second among major league rookies. The Los Angeles Dodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu has 48.
"I'm in one of the best rotations in the league," Miller told the team's official website. "I get to be around guys who have been around for a while. (Adam Wainwright), (Jake) Westbrook, guys who've had more time. It's fun to be around guys like that."
In his first start against the Rockies, Miller will pitch opposite Jon Garland (3-2, 4.75). The right-hander is 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA in three career games in St. Louis and 1-5 with a 5.79 ERA in six overall matchups, allowing nine runs over 11 innings in the last two.
Garland avoided a third straight loss Saturday as he gave up three runs over five innings in a 9-3 victory against Tampa Bay. He had yielded 10 runs and 18 hits in 12 innings in his previous two starts.
"He did his job, giving us a chance to win and I'm glad he ended up getting the 'W.' He fought hard for it," manager Walt Weiss told the team's official website.
Molina is 7 for 9 against Garland, his best showing versus any pitcher he's faced at least nine times. Beltran is 12 for 39 (.308) with two homers and three doubles while Jay is 0 for 3.
Colorado (19-15) lost two of three at home to the New York Yankees this week, falling 3-1 on Thursday. The Rockies were outscored 6-5 in the series and held to four hits in each of the last two matchups.
"Our pitching was outstanding. Offense was definitely subpar," Weiss said. "Not acceptable."
The Rockies have lost 11 of 17 following an eight-game win streak.
The Series:
Season series tied 0-0
May 10, 2013-COL (Garland) @ STL (Miller)-7:15 PM CDT
May 11, 2013-COL (Chacin) @ STL (Wainwright)-1:15 PM CDT
May 12, 2013-COL (De La Rosa) @ STL (Garcia) -1:15 PM CDT
Baseball Reference 2013 Cardinals Statistics
2013 Current MLB Standings
2013 Current MLB Wild Card Standings
2013 Current MLB vs. Division Standings
2013 Current MLB vs. Expanded Standings
Last Game:
St. Louis 5, Chicago 4
WP: S. Maness (2-0) S: E. Mujica (9)
LP: M. Bowden (1-2)
Jay's go-ahead single
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cardinals- ... --mlb.html
Cardinals rally for 5-4 win over Cubs
By JAY COHEN (AP Sports Writer) | The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) -- Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay drove in two runs apiece, and the St. Louis Cardinals capped an impressive trip with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
Beltran also had three hits as St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games and improved to a major league-best 14-7 on the road. The Cardinals went 5-1 on a six-game swing to Milwaukee and Chicago, with the lone loss coming Tuesday in their first game of the season against the last-place Cubs.
The Cardinals trailed 4-3 before Beltran singled in Matt Carpenter in the seventh, and Jay drove in Yadier Molina with a tiebreaking single against Michael Bowden (1-2) in the eighth. Each rally featured a costly mistake by the Cubs, with Carpenter moving to third on an error by right fielder Nate Schierholtz and Molina advancing to second on a wild pitch.
Anthony Rizzo had three hits and Schierholtz hit a two-run double for Chicago, trying for its second three-game winning streak this season. Instead, the Cubs finished a 4-6 homestand.
Chicago had 11 hits but grounded into four double plays, one in every inning from the fifth to the eighth. The last one was particularly heartbreaking, with the potential tying run on third.
Four Cardinals relievers combined for 3 2-3 innings of two-hit ball after Jake Westbrook had his worst start this season. Seth Maness (2-0) got five outs to get the win and Edward Mujica worked the ninth for his ninth save in nine opportunities.
The afternoon game on a picturesque spring day in Chicago attracted 26,354 to Wrigley Field, and fans were treated to a little bit of everything. There were a couple of adventures on the basepaths, a rarely seen 4-2-3 groundout and a bunch of singles - just three of 22 hits were for extra bases. Julio Borbon of the Cubs was called out for interference for running inside the baseline in the seventh.
Jay's sacrifice fly gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning, but the Cubs responded with three in the bottom half on two hits, a walk, an unusual carom and a perfectly placed grounder.
With no outs and runners on first and second, Schierholtz pulled a 3-2 pitch from Westbrook down the first-base line. The ball bounced off the wall in foul territory and out into right field, allowing Rizzo and Luis Valbuena to scamper home. Schierholtz moved up on a groundout and scored on Dioner Navarro's slow roller to make it 4-2.
The Cardinals had their infield in with Navarro at the plate, but Schierholtz scored easily. With Molina standing in front of the plate and pointing to first, Carpenter still came home with the throw from second, and the Gold Glove catcher made a strong throw to first to retire the lumbering Navarro.
Molina also cut down Rizzo when the big first baseman tried to steal third following his two-out RBI double in the first. But the Cardinals had their own baserunning blunder in the fifth, when Carpenter was thrown out after he made a wide turn at second on Beltran's run-scoring single.
Carpenter's gaffe became even worse when Matt Holliday followed with another single to put runners on first and second. Schierholtz then bailed out Villanueva with a nice sliding catch in right to retire Craig and end the inning.
Westbrook allowed four runs - three earned - and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings, increasing his ERA from 1.07 to 1.62. He had allowed just four earned runs all year.
Carlos Villanueva pitched 6 2-3 innings for Chicago and was charged with three runs and seven hits.
NOTES: Schierholtz made another diving catch in the ninth. ... Cubs RHP Kevin Gregg has converted each of his five save opportunities since he was promoted from Triple-A Iowa on April 16, seizing the vacant closer role that's already been held this season by Carlos Marmol and injured RHP Kyuji Fujikawa. ''Gregg's our closer. That's pretty much the way it is right now,'' manager Dale Sveum said. ''He's obviously earned it. There's a bigger sample out there now to know that.'' ... Cubs 2B Darwin Barney and LF Alfonso Soriano got the day off. ... The Cardinals are off Thursday, then host the Rockies on Friday. RHP Shelby Miller (4-2, 1.96 ERA) faces Colorado RHP Jon Garland (2-2, 4.65) in the opener of the weekend series. ... Chicago begins a three-game series at Washington on Friday. RHP Jeff Samardzija (1-4, 3.09) is scheduled to face Washington LHP Ross Detwiler (1-3, 2.50).
Now that's funny! 
