Brewers-Cards Preview

Tough to make a coherent conclusion out of the last week of play for the Brewers. The Reds series was beyond atrocious as the Crew lost twice in extras and finished off by blowing a 4-run lead in the finale. The weekend series against the Pirates went a lot better as the Brewers swept them (and even managed to get a good start out of Jeff Suppan).....but as August rolls into September it's time to look ahead to the next series of games

Brewers (64-66) vs. Cardinals (77-55)

Tuesday

Looper (11-6 4.88 era 87 ERA+) vs. Pineiro (13-9 3.11 era 135 ERA+)

Looper gave up his 32nd homer of the season in his last start to tie him for 190th all time in a single season. With a surging Cardinals team....it should be interesting to see how much higher he gets on the list in Tuesday's start. The Cards counter with Joel Pineiro who hasn't had a season this solid since 2003. Don't expect the Crew to draw many walks or hit many homers in this game as Pineiro leads the NL in both categories (.3 HR/9 innings) (.9 Walks/9 innings)........this game doesn't look too good on paper but the Brewers somehow hit better when Looper pitches ....point being anything can happen

Wednesday

Bush (3-5 5.88 era 72 ERA+) vs. Carpenter (14-3 2.20 era 192 ERA+)

David Bush is making his second start since coming back from the DL. He didn't exactly impress against the Reds on Thursday. Considering that he's pitching against a much better Cardinals team.....is not a very encouraging sign. The Cardinals counter with Chris Carpenter who has bounced back from two injury riddled seasons by picking up where he left off. He's at worst the 4th best NL pitcher this year (Wainwright, Lincecum and Cain being the others)....and he just keeps on winning and dominating games. Capenter comes into this game leading in winning percentage, era and ERA+)

Thursday

Parra (9-10 6.66 era 64 ERA+) vs. Smoltz (3-5 6.71 era 69 ERA+)

Despite being lit up by the Pirates on Friday, the Brewers gave him enough run support to allow him to get a victory. Manny Parra has seemed to be one of the luckier pitchers in the last month. He's been lit up pretty bad three times (vs. San Diego, Pittsburgh and Washington) but still managed to win twice in those games. The Cardinals are countering with John Smoltz....i'm glad that he's getting another chance to play...I just wish it wasn't for St. Louis.....so far he's pitched well in both of his starts since coming back to the National League.....obviously this game will hinge on whether he is able to come up with another strong start.