After two low-scoring contests in games one and two of their current series in Atlanta, the St. Louis Cardinals are in a position to take the road series on Wednesday, improving their road record above .500 (4-4 now) and bolstering their overall tally to 15-7. They move on to Washington for a four-game set this weekend, where I’ll be catching up with the club.
In a match-up of a pair of veteran front-liners, Adam Wainwright takes on Javier Vazquez on Wednesday evening at Turner Field.
Vazquez is in his 12th season as a major league hurler, having debuted with the 1998 Montreal Expos at the tender age of 21. The Puerto Rican native pitched in the American League in four of the last five years, so many of the current Cardinals have not faced him extensively. The right-hander was brought in to Atlanta along with Derek Lowe over the winter to bolster an injury-devastated rotation.
Those Cardinals with a history facing Vazquez have decent results, with two of the four having collected home runs against him, Khalil Greene and Albert Pujols. Injured Troy Glaus also has a long ball off Vazquez, likely from their time together in the American League. In addition, the two were teammates in 2005 as each spent a single season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
| Vazquez | G/Starts | IP | W-L | ERA | WHIP | BAA |
| Career vs. StL | 9/9 | 58 1/3 | 2-6 | 4.01 | 1.22 | 0.237 |
| 2008 vs. StL | none | |||||
| Career at Turner Field | 12/12 | 76 1/3 | 5-5 | 3.54 | 1.09 | 0.225 |
| Start ‘em | ||||||
| Khalil Greene | 3-for-9 (.333) | 1HR, 2K | ||||
| Jason LaRue | 2-for-5 (.400) | 1BB, 3K | ||||
| Albert Pujols | 5-for-13 (.385) | 1HR, 3K | ||||
| Yadier Molina | 1-for-3 (.333) | |||||
| Sit ‘em | ||||||
| none |
A player the Braves wish they had back is Wainwright. The 27-year-old native of Brunswick, Georgia was Atlanta’s first-round pick in the 2000 draft. The right-hander became a Cardinal in the J.D. Drew trade in December, 2003, a deal made by former Cards GM Walt Jocketty with then-GM, now-president of the Braves John Schuerholz.
No matter how you cut the numbers, Wainwright has pitched very well against his former organization. With good-hitting catcher Brian McCann on the disabled list, his replacement David Ross ironically has an identical 2-for-9 history against Wainwright. Ross does have a home run, but also fanned 1/3 of the time. As has been proven many times in the past and reinforced in the first two games of the series, pitching around Chipper Jones seems a worthwhile consideration.
| Wainwright | G/Starts | IP | W-L | ERA | WHIP | BAA |
| Career vs. Atl | 6/3 | 24 | 3-0 | 1.13 | 0.96 | 0.195 |
| 2008 vs. Atl | 1/1 | 6 | 1-0 | 1.50 | 1.00 | 0.238 |
| Career at Turner Field | 2/1 | 9 | 1-0 | 1.00 | 1.11 | 0.182 |
| Start ‘em | ||||||
| Gregor Blanco | 1-for-3 (.333) | |||||
| Matt Diaz | 2-for-3 (.667) | |||||
| Chipper Jones | 3-for-5 (.600) | 1BB, 1K | ||||
| Sit ‘em | ||||||
| Yunel Escobar | 0-for-5 (.000) | 1BB | ||||
| Jeff Francoeur | 1-for-5 (.200) | 2BB | ||||
| David Ross | 2-for-9 (.222) | 1HR, 3K | ||||
| Kelly Johnson | 0-for-8 (.000) | 2K |
We will need at least 4 runs. Wainwright must throw the breaking ball for a strikes. Bobby Cox will be trying to get at the Pen by looking at pitches, so Waino must challenge and as we all know that can be risky. Vegas likes Atlanta. I think they’re betting the Cards are coming back to earth. I’m a witness, not a speculator in this one.
We’re now 4-2 when scoring three or less runs (exactly the same percentage as the rest of our games) and we’d be 5-1 if we had scored three last night, assuming Franklin could shut down the Braves in the ninth.
Does anybody care what Las Vegas thinks about this game? Baseball is a sucker’s bet. You might as well play SuperLotto. Pick six retired Cardinals numbers and you can’t go wrong.
Well here we are…………. Tony flogs for a sixth, gets it unharmed…………. and here comes Miller. I hope this is a short appearance for Trever. Game on the line.
Its Reyes not Miller. Oh look, he eats up Jones and Kotchman……………………..Tony is coaching. WC is managing.
Question is, does he use Miller in a close game?
Beautiful display of control by Franklin………..Nobody worked too hard. They should be able to do that every night. Tony’s fear cost last nights game. Lets hope he learned something.