Clipped Cardinals: Weekend Series Preview

Lance Lynn

Joe Kelly

Jaime Garcia

Adam Wainwright

Those are the four names who are salivating at the prospect of facing the Dodger lineup. The league has been pounding Lance Lynn for a month, while the Padres just finished reaming two of the three. It will be curious what the Dodger offense can do against a pitching staff that was just beat up by the Padres 20 - 9 in Petco.

Here is a quick snapshot of the bedraggled Cardinals as they move in for a key four game series.

• Four wins, Seven losses in Sept.
• Were just swept by the Padres in Petco for the first time in the history of Petco
• Lance Berkman is done
• Rafy Furcal is done
• Carlos Beltran is playing like he's done. The one time possible NL MVP at the all -star game has taken putrid to a new level. At the end of June, Carlos Beltran had a .972 OPS and was easily the best free agent signing of 2012. Two months, and two hundred thirty nine plate appearances later, that Carlos Beltran has disappeared. His triple stat line since July 1st is an astounding .199 / .251 / .380 as the occasional home run is the only thing propping up a pathetic performance. He's hurt, the Cardinals know it, they are sitting him down about every three games now hoping the rest will help but so far, no dice. Just keeps putting up of-er after of-er. Lest you think I exaggerate we be talking one XBH in the month of Sept. One.
  
• Lance Lynn will get his first start since Aug 24th. Until that time he had not missed a start all year but his performance in August was spiraling downhill so the Cardinals took him from the rotation so he could recharge. Until that August performance Lance Lynn had been a pleasant surprise for the Cardinals as he stepped into Carpenters role and basically pitched just like Carpenter. Lynn did not have much success out of the bullpen but must have shown enough in his last outing that he was given this start over bally hoed prospect Shelby Miller.
• With Lance Berkman firmly out of the picture, Allen Craig is now the permanent 1st baseman. His production has slowed from prodigious levels but he's still getting the job done. Craig is having a tough Sept but overall his numbers against LHP sit at .357 / .385 / .661. Yup, .661 slugging percentage. Just a heads up for Cap/Clayton
• Even with their current struggles the Cardinals will put out a starting lineup where seven of the eight regulars have an OPS+ north of 100.
• Top pitching prospect Shelby Miller is up but working out of the bullpen