Dodgers' Next Win In St. Louis Will Be Rare, Grand

The Dodgers open a series against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Monday night, hoping to reverse a disturbing trend. The Dodgers have not won a regular season series in St. Louis since 2003:

Good thing the 2009 NLDS existed. At least the Dodgers have some positive memories in St. Louis:

Photos: Getty Images Sport

On the mound tonight, Nathan Eovaldi makes one of his final starts of the year, nearing his innings limit, before heading to the bullpen for September, if not before. Eovaldi has impressed in his first three major league starts, allowing four total runs in 17 innings. There might be a bit of concern that he has had more walks than strikeouts in each of the last two outings, but overall Eovaldi has pitched reasonably well. The last Dodger to begin his career with three games of five innings or more while allowing two or fewer runs was Jim Neidlinger in 1990.

Chris Carpenter has made nine career regular season starts against the Dodgers, dating back to 2004, and has allowed two or fewer runs in each of the last seven. Carpenter is 6-0 with a 1.57 ERA, with eight walks and 50 strikeouts in 63 innings. Carpenter has allowed four runs and four walks, total, in his last seven starts against the Dodgers.

Carpenter threw seven shutout innings at Dodger Stadium on April 17, a game more remembered for Ryan Franklin serving up a two-run home run in the ninth inning to Matt Kemp. In three starts against the Dodgers since the beginning of 2010, Carpenter has allowed one run in 22 innings.

Lineups

Don Mattingly changed things up today. This is the first time Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp have started at anywhere other than third or fourth, respectively, in the batting order.

Eugenio Velez, at 0-for-22, has a chance to pass J.D. Drew tonight.

Notes

• The next win against St. Louis will be the 1,000th by the Dodgers, who trail the all-time series with the Cardinals, 1,001-999.
• The Cardinals were tied for first place in the NL Central with the Brewers at the All-Star break, and have gone 18-17 since the break. Unfortunately for St. Louis, Milwaukee has won 27 of their last 36 and now has an eight and a half game lead in the division.
• Albert Pujols homered on Sunday and has a .902 OPS, the first time all season he has had an OPS at or above .900 at the end of the day. Pujols has 13 home runs in 34 games since the All-Star break, during which he is hitting .308/.358/.637.
• Since trading Colby Rasmus on July 27, Cardinals' center fielders (mostly John Jay) have hit .252/.294/.369 with nine doubles, one home run and five RBI in 24 games.

Game Time: 5:15 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

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