Mlb nlds wednesday

Earl · #1 10-05-2011, 03:07 PM

Jumping off the Philly train yesterday caused me to go 0-2. I guess you should never second guess your self no matter how good the numbers look for a team.

GAME 1
The last time Roy Oswalt faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the postseason, he pitched his previous team into the World Series. Now coming off of 8 long days of rest he will get the opportunity to advance the Phillies to the next round of the play-offs. Oswalt closed the season with a less than desirable 9-10 record and a 3.69 ERA, so in other words the 34 year old has been either red hot or ice cold. In Oswalt's last four outings, St. Louis was burned when it faced the 34-year-old, who scattered five hits over seven innings on Sept. 17. in a 9-2 win over the Cardinals. The Cardinals got the better of Oswalt on June 23 in his shortest outing of the season, unfourtunatly he was plaqued by injury. Oswalt is 5-0 with a 3.25 ERA in 10 career postseason starts, including 2-0 with a 3.15 ERA in three against the Cardinals. He enters the postseason after posting a 2.61 ERA while winning two of his final three regular season starts.
The St. Louis Cardinals had their backs against the wall throughout much of the regular season before a spirited surge secured them a wild-card berth. Righthander Edwin Jackson will counter Oswalt for St Louis. Jackson has been rock-solid over his last eight trips, seven starts to the mound. In fact, the 28year old has not lost since Aug. 20. Jackson was shelled in his lone outing against the Phillies, although that was on July 27, 2010 when he was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jackson has never started in postseason play but allowed one run, two hits and a walk in two innings of relief against the Phillies while with Tampa Bay in Game 4 of the 2008 World Series. Pujols has seen Oswalt his fair share of times, going 26-for-86 (.302) in his career. Like Pujols, Ryan Theriot also collected four hits to improve to 6-for-9 in the series, and has enjoyed success versus Oswalt (10-for-32). While Pujols and Theriot had four hits apiece, the rest of the Cardinals were a combined 4-for-28 against the Phillies in Game 3. St Louis had their shot yesterday to tie thie series up. The Phillies don't want to go home with a tied series. It ends here tonight at Busch Stadium.

REGULAR PLAY
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES -118

GAME 2
It was a night of rookie action at Chase Field as the pitcher Josh Collmenter limited the Brewer's to just one run and Rookie Paul Goldshmidt delivered a Grand Slam that sealed the deal for the Arizona Diamondbacks in an 8-1 rout over the Brewers. now it will be veteran Randy Wolf who will determine if the team will head back to Milwaukee for a chance at advancing to the National League Championship Series. Wolf stumbled a bit at the finish, allowing 10 runs and 19 hits in 11 2/3 innings over his final two starts of the regular season. Wolf lost to Arizona twice in 2011, yielding a total of 10 runs nine earned in 13 1/3 innings and has not been at his best on the road this year posting a 6-7 record but has a better ERA of 3.81 than his record shows. But Milwaukee has won 2 of his last 3 starts and Wolf has been dominant at Chase Field post a 7-2 record there.
Arizona had 2 amazing rookies that pulled thur for their victory over the Milwaukee Brewers last night. One pitching and one hitting. The Diamondbacks are bidding to become the first NL team to come back from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series in the wild card era. Joe Saunders will counter for the Diamondbacks. Saunders got roughed up a bit in the regular season finale, breaking up a string of six straight starts allowing three earned runs or less. He worked once against Milwaukee in 2011, allowing two runs over seven innings on July 20, but did not factor in the decision. Saunders had more trouble at Chase Field than on the road, posting a 3-6 record with a 4.42 ERA at home this year. Arizona is going to look for some some bat action against Wolf as Upton and and Young have had great sucess against the Verteran Wolf. Upton is 20-5 with 2 hrs and 5 RBIs and Young is 27-8 with a homer and 8 hits 3 Doubles and a Bavrg of .396. With all that said I don't think Wolf would be pitching tonight if the Brewers staff thought Arizona would have alot of success against him not to mention, The Brewers lost back-to-back games away from Miller Park only once after July 24. I'm backing the Brewers to close this series out.

REGUALR PLAY
MILWAUKEE BREWERS -105