Break It Down! April 8th Edition

The Pitchers:
- Cardinals: Todd Wellemeyer was garbage in the Spring. How bad was he? 17 runs in his last 20 IP of the Spring. That bad. Still, and you know this, Wellemeyer is a gamer. Also, Wellemeyer was 3 - 0 against Pittsburgh in 5 starts last year with a 3.45 ERA. Nothing to write home about, but not Zach Duke-ian either (see below). Long story short, the Pirates have never really knocked Wellemeyer around, and I don't expect them to do so tonight.
- Pirates: Remember back in 2005 when Zach Duke wasn't entirely crappy? He was 8 - 2 as a midseason call-up and he was anointed the Pirates ace heading into 2006. That was a long time ago. Since 2005 his career has followed roughly the same arc as Britney Spears' career. Last year Duke was 5 - 14 with an abysmal 4.82 ERA. Two of those losses were handed to him by the Cardinals, who battered Duke for 8 runs in 12 IP. If you have any reason to believe Duke will perform well against the Cardinals tonight, please post it in the comments.

NOTE: Zach Duke is so awful that when I did a Google Video Search for "Zach Duke" this was the 4th result (for those of you who can't view it, it's a video of a kid named Zach and his dog, Duke; 61 views):



The Lineups:
- Cardinals: Duke (Zach, not the dog), awful though he is, throws the baseball with his left hand. I therefore assume the lineup will look pretty similar to Monday's (Ryan at 2B, Barden at 3B). Pujols (surprise!), Molina, Ankiel, and Ludwick have all had some success against Duke. I thirst for runs, and I expect them.
- Pirates: Ryan Doumit is the only Pirate with notable success against Wellemeyer (5-for-11 with a tater and 2-bagger). Still, until this Nyjer Morgan leaves town I am going to keep a close eye on him, just as the Cardinals should.

Finally, if you haven't read Keith Olberman's homage to his recently departed mother, then you must. For those of us who are sports fans, who have a parent who taught us the game, obsessed with us, celebrated and lamented with us, what Olberman wrote (and expounded upon during his show Monday night) should strike a chord.

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