Break It Down! April 13th Edition

The Pitchers:
- Cardinals: Todd Wellemeyer was crap in his first start of the year. Thankfully, I didn't have to see it. Wellemeyer was also crap all Spring. I didn't see that either. What I have seen is a very competitive baseball team in every game not started by Todd Wellemeyer, so the dude is on a my s***-list if he is crap again Monday. Giving us some reason to be hopeful, the Cardinals' website (hardly an impartial source) says "[Wellemeyer has] identified a mechanical key that he believes will solve the issue, so the hope is that he'll be sorted out in time for Monday's game." If that makes you hopeful then I have some swampland I'll sell you. In one start against the Diamondbacks last year, Wellemeyer took a loss, with 3 ERs in 6 IP. I would take that.
- Diamondbacks: The Diamondbacks are 4-2 thus far this season and one of those losses was credited to Monday's starter, Doug Davis (4 ER in 5 IP). The Cardinals have a fair amount of history with Davis, who used to pitch for the Brewers, and the Cards should be happy to see his familiar face Monday night. Doug Davis has not beaten the Cardinals since 2006. Since then, he has allowed 16 runs in 4 starts. I expect the Cardinals to get to Davis, but nothing crazy. 4 or 5 ERs in 5 or 6 IP seems entirely possible.

The Lineups:
- Cardinals: Albert "The Machine" Pujols (surprise!) has enjoyed quite a bit of success against Davis (1.227 OPS). No one else has been particularly spectacular. Molina has been particularly bad (.077 BA), and LaRua has been pretty good against Davis (.304 BA), so Molina may sit, but who knows.
- Diamondbacks: The Diamondbacks only managed 3 hits yesterday against Randy Wolf and the Dodger bullpen. Not impressive. They have only scored 5 runs combined in their 4 losses. Not impressive. They have, however, scored 9 runs in each of their two wins. Not bad at all. These characters don't have much experience against Todd Wellemeyer. A few Diamondbacks have some success against Wellemeyer, but all in small sample sizes.

Well that's it in the way of analysis(?). Wish I were in Phoenix. GO CARDS!!