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| Brewers And Cards Face Off In National League Central Battle |
Both Cincinnati and St. Louis have taken advantage of the relative mediocrity of the other teams in the division to open up a sizable lead, but to date the Reds have been a more consistent team. The Cardinals have been very good at home, but have posted a losing record away from the Gateway city. The Cards’ pitchers have been very impressive this year, and they’ve ranked at or near the top of the NL and MLB team pitching stats for most of the season. They’re only 7th in the National League in team batting average, however, while their foes from Cincinnati have dominated a number of league offensive categories and currently hold the top spot in team batting average and runs scored. Milwaukee has also been the beneficiary of the fact that the National League’s two worst teams—Houston and Pittsburgh—are in the NL Central division. The Brewers haven’t been particularly impressive in any situation or phase of the game, however, which is why they’re almost ten games out of first place. Milwaukee has a losing record at home and on the road, and their pitching has been abysmal. The Brewers are currently 14th in the National League with a 4.90 team ERA, and their bullpen has been even worse with an ERA of 5.53. The offense has been a bright spot—Milwaukee is second in the NL in runs scored behind Cincinnati and is tied for St. Louis with a .260 team batting average. Lefthander Randy Wolf is scheduled to start for Milwaukee, and he’s been a profound disappointment this year. Acquired in the offseason as a free agent following one of the better years of his career with Los Angeles in 2009, he’s slumped to a 5-7 record with a 4.92 ERA. He’s also on pace for the lowest strikeout to walk ratio of his career. Wolf has never been an overpowering pitcher but rather one that teams have been able to count on for ‘quality innings’. That hasn’t been the case this season, however, and with the horrible performance of the Brewers’ bullpen makes for a very bad situation. St. Louis will counter with Blake Hawksworth, who is nominally a middle reliever but looked sharp in a spot start against Kansas City on Saturday as he allowed 2 hits and 1 earned run on just 66 pitches over five innings. The Cards have been using a four man rotation, but that could be expanded if Hawksworth continues to impress in the starting role. Hawksworth’s 5.11 ERA doesn’t look like much, but he’s only allowed more than 2 earned runs in three of his 23 appearances this season. Look for the Cardinals to be a substantial favorite in this game and with good reason. All Hawksworth has to do is put in a few good innings and turn the ball over to a St. Louis bullpen that has been one of the best in the National League this year with an ERA right around 3.00. St. Louis hits lefthanded pitching well, meaning that it’ll be difficult for Wolf to shut them down. Once Wolf leaves the game, the Cards could easily continue their onslaught against a struggling Milwaukee bullpen. With Cincinnati showing no sign of fading, St. Louis needs to take advantage of games against the weaker teams in the division to keep pace. 
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The St. Louis Cardinals were expected to run away with the National League Central this season, but they’ve met with some surprising competition from the Cincinnati Reds. The Cards and Reds have been in a virtual dead heat atop the division for much of the year, and for that reason St. Louis will approach the July 1 matchup at home against the Milwaukee Brewers with a much greater sense of urgency. The Brewers have been locked in their own divisional battle with the Chicago Cubs for third and fourth place, but both teams are well off the pace set by the frontrunners.
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