Cardinals are in relentless pursuit of the NL East title after a 15 inning loss on Thursday they come back with a 7-6 win on Friday and I look for them to continue that here on Saturday against a Brewers team that is not good enough to keep up with the Cardinals. The match up clearly favors the Cardinals with Yovani Gallardo on the mount as every Cardinals hitter has a .300 average except Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina who actually combine for 5 HR in around 60 AB while posting a 1.022 and .991 OPS. The Cardinals have dominated RHP all year long at home or on the road with over 5 runs per 9 while the Brewers have struggled scoring just 3.75. Cardinals have 170 combined at bats with a .306 average and a .951 OPS with 12 HR against Gallardo who is on extra rest. The fact that Gallardo is on 5 days rest is giving us value because he has a very good record when he's on 5 ore more days rest, but he's faced the Cardinals twice this year both on 5 days rest and gave up 9 ER in just 11.1 IP. He's got a 9.50 ERA and has lost 8 of his last 9 vs. the Cardinals and posts a 5.20 ERA at home on 5 or more days rest.
Lance LYnn comes into this start and he's 23-9 in his last 32 vs. NL Central opponents. That tells me that the Cardinals are just one step ahead of their division and have a great game plan and scouting report. I would expect nothing less from Mike Matheny who called a good game when he was a catcher all those years. Gallardo posts a 2.93 ERA in his 5 starts vs. the Brewers who did put up 6 runs last night but 5 of the 6 came from Aramis Ramirez who is 2-16 against Lynn. The bullpens on the season are a wash but the Cardinals have an advantage of late posting a 3.10 ERA in their last 3 combined for available pitchers while the Brewers post a 4.24 ERA. You can't convince all these Brewers players that this game means anything. It's not like they can knock the Cardinals out of the playoffs they are already going.
