St. Louis Cardinals Look To Continue Dominance Over the Houston Astros

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St. Louis Cardinals Look To Continue Dominance Over the Houston Astros

The St. Louis Cardinals should dominate against the Houston Astros, but they may struggle with the pitching matchup.

Although the St. Louis Cardinals are tied atop the NL Central and the major league-worst Houston Astros have lost eight straight on the road, Tuesday night’s matchup between these division rivals could be intriguing.

That’s because Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook continues to pitch poorly at home and has had trouble with several Astros’ hitters, as these teams continue a four-game set.

The Cardinals (54-48) are 3-0 at home against the Astros (33-69) and 7-2 in the season series, but Westbrook (8-4, 5.04 ERA) has had his share of problems in St. Louis.

The right-hander is 2-2 with a 6.94 ERA in nine home starts, failing to last past the fifth inning in the last two.

Houston has three hitters with outstanding numbers against him. Brett Wallace is 5 for 7, Hunter Pence 5 for 8 and Carlos Lee 15 for 36 with two homers.

Westbrook improved to 1-2 with a 4.37 ERA in four career outings against the Astros by yielding two runs over 5 1-3 innings in a 7-4 road win June 7.

He enters with some confidence after limiting the Mets to two runs over a season-high eight innings Thursday to notch a 6-2 victory.

“My stuff was the same. My command was better,” Westbrook said. “I was able to harness it.”

St. Louis won for the fourth time in five games with a 10-5 victory Monday. Yadier Molina fell a triple shy of the cycle for the second time in three contests, and Colby Rasmus also homered and drove in three runs.

Cardinals slugger Lance Berkman sat out against his former team with a sore right shoulder, although manager Tony La Russa expects the outfielder will be back Tuesday.

Berkman is batting .462 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in 26 at-bats against the Astros this year. He spent his entire career with Houston before getting traded to the Yankees last July.

“I don’t anticipate it being more than a day or two,” Berkman told the Cardinals’ official website. “I’d like to just give it a day to calm down.”

Berkman may want to wait one more day before returning since he is 4 for 21 lifetime against Brett Myers (3-10, 4.74), although the slugger homered in the June 7 win. Myers gave up five runs over six innings as he opposed Westbrook in that contest.

The veteran right-hander is 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA in five starts against St. Louis since joining Houston last year. He has had problems against Matt Holliday (.350), Skip Schumaker (.346) and Albert Pujols (.341).

Myers is 0-4 with a 4.71 ERA in his last six outings, yielding two runs over seven innings Wednesday in a 3-2, 11-inning win over Washington.

Lee hit his 16th career grand slam Monday, homering for the second straight game after going 18 without one.

“I’m feeling good at the plate, hitting the ball hard,” Lee said. “I hope I’m coming around and can keep driving the ball.”

The Astros last dropped nine in a row on the road during an 11-game slide April 16-May 8, 2005.

Pujols went 1 for 5 on Monday to move within six hits of 2,000. The Astros are worth a look as a live underdog in this game.

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