A walk-off grand slam is probably the coolest finish in baseball, and it happened yesterday -- twice. First, it happened in Miami. The game was tied at two going into the ninth, and former Marlins closer Heath Bell continued his struggles by allowing two runs to give the Mets the lead. Closer Frank Francisco came in, and immediately allowed three baserunners, with the last one being an RBI single by Greg Dobbs to make it a 4-3 game. He was ejected, and Manny Acosta came in, and he got a pair of outs, but the first one was a sac fly, and the game was tied. Needing just one out to end the inning, Acosta walked Hanley Ramirez and plunked Austin Kearns to bring up Giancarlo Stanton with the bases loaded. He hit a titanic grand slam to left center, just missing hitting the home run sculpture, and that gave the Marlins an 8-4 win.

But I'm not done yet. The Nationals-Reds game was delayed for three and a half hours due to rain, and Washington led 6-3 after batting in the eighth. The Reds made it a 6-5 game courtesy of a two-run double by Jay Bruce, and Davey Johnson brought in his current closer, flamethrower Henry Rodriguez. Dusty Baker initially tried to play smallball, as Wilson Valdez sacrificed Devin Mesoraco (pinch running for Ryan Hanigan, who singled) to second. Miguel Cairo popped out, and it was up to Drew Stubbs to win it. But Rodriguez had different ideas. He walked both Stubbs and Chris Heisey (on four straight balls each, after being ahead in the count on both), and that brought up Joey Votto with the bases loaded. This should have immediately set off signal flares, but of course, it didn't. Votto smashed a 96 mph Rodriguez fastball over the center field wall to complete the comeback, give the Reds a 9-6 win, and knock the Nationals out of first place in the NL East for the first time in a month.

Those two games are (rather obviously) your Games of the Day.

Pitching Line of the Day: Wandy Rodriguez of the Astros had a great performance. He allowed one run over eight innings on three hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. He got a no decision when Brett Myers blew the save, his first of the year. The inimitable Justin Verlander did what he does too: one run on two hits and one walk in seven innings, along with eight strikeouts. Twins prospect (well, kinda) Scott Diamond also was impressive. He shut out the Blue Jays over seven innings, allowing five hits and no walks, striking out four.

Hitting Line of the Day: Today was the Joey Votto show. He went 4/5 with three homers, four runs, six RBI, and for the hell of it, a double. It's almost as if he's taking lessons from Josh Hamilton. The Rays' Ben Zobrist had himself a great game too, going 3/4 with two runs, three RBI, a walk, a double, a homer, and a steal. Now *that's* efficient. Nelson Cruz had a game that could break him out of his season-long funk, as he went 4/5 with three runs, four RBI, a double, a homer, and a steal. 

Spotlight Series: This series stunned the hell out of me, even as a Braves fan. Atlanta beat the Cardinals 7-4 yesterday to complete the three game sweep, and jump into first place in the NL East. Braves starter Tommy Hanson only went five innings, but allowed just five hits, three walks, and one run while striking out nine. Cardinals starter Lance Lynn allowed three runs over six innings on only four hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts. The loss was Lynn's first of the year. The big blow for the Braves came in the sixth inning, when Jason Heyward doubled into the right field corner with the bases loaded to bring in three runs. The Cardinals got one back in the bottom of the inning on a Carlos Beltran solo homer, but the Braves got three more in the seventh on a single by Martin Prado and back to back doubles by Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla. One more would come in the eighth on a Michael Bourn single, and the Cardinals made it look much closer with a three run homer by Allen Craig in the ninth, but it wouldn't be enough. Atlanta now possesses the second best record in the NL, and will head home for a brief four game homestand, with two games each against the Reds and Marlins. The Cardinals host the Cubs for a pair of games at home before heading to the west coast for a five game road trip.

Other Games: The Mariners beat the Yankees 6-2 in Andy Pettite's first start since 2010. The Rays nearly blew a 7-1 lead, but hung on to beat the Orioles 9-8. Baltimore remains at the top of the AL East, however. Cole Hamels showed no ill effects with an extra day of rest, and helped the Phililes beat the Padres 3-2. The Red Sox drubbed the Indians 12-1. The Pirates used a late rally to beat the Astros 3-2 in 12 innings. The Royals scored nine in the final three innings to beat the White Sox 9-1. The Cubs used a 13 hit display to beat up on the Brewers 8-2. The Twins withstood a late Blue Jays rally and got a 4-3 win. Verlander's fantastic start gave the Tigers a 3-1 win over the A's. Despite an injury to Matt Kemp, the Dodgers beat the Rockies 11-5. The Rangers smoked Jered Weaver and the Angels 13-6. Despite a terrible-looking lineup, the Giants beat the Diamondbacks 7-3. 

Today's Games: all 30 teams play today! Wahoo!!! Jason Hammel starts for the Orioles as they play the Yankees (again). Jake Westbrook and Ryan Dempster is a great-looking NL Central matchup in St Louis. Brandon Morrow goes for the Blue Jays against the Rays. Tim Stauffer makes his season debut for the Padres against the Nationals. Sneaky good Drew Smyly starts for the Tigers against the White Sox. Dan Haren will go for the Angels against the A's. Ian Kennedy vs Clayton Kershaw? Yes please. Christian Friedrich will look to build on his successful first career start, and he'll try to do it against Ryan Vogelsong and the Giants.

Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.

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Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was diagnosed with a torn ACL on Saturday night, and is expected to miss the rest of the season. He was replaced in the game by Jesus Flores, who will take over as the Nationals every day catcher. Sandy Leon was called up from AA Harrisburg to replace Flores on the roster.

The 24 year-old Ramos had a .752 OPS behind the plate for the Nationals this year, and his injury will just add on to the team's injury woes. Last year, in his first year as Washington's full-time starter, Ramos had a .779 OPS and 15 homers, looking like he had the potential to be one of the best every day backstops in the league.

The team is losing a lot going from Ramos to Flores. The 27 year-old Flores has been largely a backup for the Nationals throughout his career, and has a .689 OPS overall. He's struggled over the past two years, OPSing just .567 last year and only .485 this season, hitting a total of one homer in 130 plate appearances over the two seasons. The 23 year-old Leon, who will serve as Flores's backup at least in the short term, has been described as "just a guy". He's playing well this season in Harrisburg, with a .795 OPS in 98 plate appearances, but had just a .674 OPS last year in high-A Potomac. 

It's unknown what the effect that Ramos's injury will have on Washington's top tier pitching staff, if any. At any rate, not having hiim around and starting for the team is a huge loss.

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Our long national nightmare is over, last week Major League Baseball let it be known that they are moving to make the old "fake to third, throw to first" pick-off move that never, ever works illegal.  Yes, that super lame, super bush league move that most pitchers only attempt in a half-hearted manner that only serves to antagonize the crowd and viewing audience is going to be considered a balk starting next year, or at least that is the plan.  Will this make a big difference in the speed of the game?  Not even a little bit.  Will it make the game more fair?  Nope.

All it is going to do is make the national pasttime just a tiny bit less annoying.  Who isn't in favor of that?  And since MLB is taking this bold step to rid the game of such nuisances, why stop just at just this one stupid pick-off move?  Here, in no particular order, are some of the other gadflies of the game that we would all gladly live without:

• Showing bunt when a pticher throws over to first. Maybe this one just me, but seeing a batter half-heartedly flash a bunt when he realizes the pitcher goes to first really gets my goat.  Sorry, random slugger that never bunts, but nobody is buying that you are going to drop one down on a 1-2 count, or on any count.  That, my friend, is bush league.
• Calling yourself safe as you cross first base. Oh, you're safe?  Thanks for letting us know.  I normally consult the umpire, but I guess we'll just take your word for it.  Or maybe you should worry more about running hard so that the play isn't so close.
• Taking timeout so you can hand your shin/elbow/ankle/wrist pad to the batboy. I'm all for players protecting themselves, but if you are going to wear a suit of armor to the plate, you should have to run the bases with them to.  Instead, we get the game slowed down so you can disrobe.  That's just inappropriate, there are children in the stands!
• No more at-bat music. We get it, you like Drake and/or the Zac Brown Band.
• Sliding headfirst into first base.  For starters, it is a good way to get yourself hurt.  More importantly, it just basic physics that sliding into first base slows you down, which sort of defeats the purpose.  I'm not sure how exactly to make it illegal, aside from public flogging, but putting an end to a play that's only purpose in this world is so a player can show off his "grit and hustle" is always a good thing.
• Any play that prominently involves A.J. Pierzynski.  That one is pretty self-explanatory.
• Pitchers batting.  Most of them are god awful at it, so why subject ourselves to their ineptitude every nine batters?  Besides, I think we could all do without ever seeing anything like this again:

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(h/t SB Nation for the gif)

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Coming into this season, Rays rookie starter Matt Moore was expected to be one of the Rays' best starters. After seven starts, Moore has a 5.31 ERA, 34 strikeouts, 22 walks, and has allowed six homers. These aren't really great signs. His bad ERA is boosted by a 4.98 FIP and 5.01 xFIP. He's only getting ground balls in 33.1% of plate appearances. His BABIP is high at .325, and his strand rate is a little low at 67.7%. While Moore hasn't dominated the competition like he was expected to this year, the Rays playing behind him really aren't helping all that much. It's been a disappointing start for Tampa Bay's phenom, and the fact that the Rays are still a 20 win team says something about them.

Game of the Night: Angels 4, Rangers 2. The Angels bullpen did something on Saturday that was difficult for them to do all year: protect a lead. The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the second on a monster Mark Trumbo homer, but starter CJ Wilson soon gave up that lead. Craig Gentry had an RBI single in the fifth, and Josh Hamilton (who else?) homered in the sixth to tie the game, his 18th of the season. The Angels regained the lead in the seventh on a pair of sac flies, but it could have been more. That would be it for the Rangers on the evening, as the Los Angeles bullpen ended up throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter CJ Wilson, including 1 2/3 scoreless by new Angels Ernesto Frieri. It's a different time in Los Angeles...

Pitching Line of the Night: Brandon McCarthy of the A's threw seven shutout innings against the Tigers, allowing four hits without a walk and striking out ten. Luke Hochevar of the Royals had a good start, throwing seven shutout innings against the White Sox on three hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. Juan Nicasio of the Dodgers allowed just one run over seven innings, on five hits, no walks, and seven strikeouts. He'd get a no decision, as the Rockies lost.

Hitting Line of the Night: David Wright's walk year is continuing at an amazing pace. The Mets third baseman went 4/6 last night with two runs, three RBI, a homer, and a stolen base. He's hitting .402 on the season. Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates had a perfect 4/4 day with a solo homer and a stolen base. And how about Michael Bourn of the Braves, going 3/6 with his first homer of the year, two runs, and two RBI?

Spotlight Series: The Braves are handling the Cardinals with ease so far in this series. Atlanta won 7-2 last night, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and continually tacking on runs for the rest of the game. Brandon Beachy went six innings and allowed just one run on two hits, uncharacteriscally walking four, but striking out six. Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright continued to struggle since his return from Tommy John, allowing five runs on nine hits, walking five and striking out five over 4 1/3 innings. Offensively, the Braves finally cooled off Carlos Beltran, who went 0/3 with a walk. Rafael Furcal went 2/3 with a walk though to continue his great start. The Braves were powered by the sparkplug that is Michael Bourn at the top of their lineup, and the middle of their order. Dan Uggla went 2/3 with two runs, one RBI, two walks, and a double. Brian McCann went 2/4 with a run, two RBI, and a walk. And at the bottom of the order, rookie Tyler Pastornicky went 2/4 with a run, an RBI, and a walk. Atlanta will look for the sweep today in St Louis, as Tommy Hanson takes on Lance Lynn.

Other Games: The Brewers beat the Cubs 8-2 behind a solid start from Shaun Marcum. The Yankees beat the Mariners 6-2 again. Wright and the Mets stomped on the Marlins 9-3. Five Rays errors led to a 5-3 Orioles win. The Padres managed to beat Roy Halladay and the Phillies 2-1. Felix Doubront was great for the Red Sox in their 4-1 win over the Indians. McCutchen was a beast as the Pirates beat the Astros 5-2. The Royals shut out the White Sox 5-0 after a great start from Luke Hochevar. The Nationals edged the Reds 2-1, but Jordan Zimmermann was excellent for Washington. The Blue Jays beat the Twins 2-1 as Drew Hutchison confounded the Minnesota bats. McCarthy was dominant in Oakland's 3-1 win over the Tigers. Matt Cain outpitched Trevor Cahill, and the Giants knocked off the Diamondbacks 5-2. The Dodgers miraculous start continues, as they got a late run to beat the Rockies 2-1. 

Today's Games: Andy Pettite makes his season debut for the Yankees against the Mariners. Edwin Jackson will start for the Nationals in Cincinnati. James Shields and Jake Arrieta is a great matchup in Baltimore. The resurgent Carlos Zambrano starts for the Marlins against the Mets. In a battle of former Red Sox relief prospects, Justin Masterson takes on Daniel Bard. Cole Hamels goes for the Phillies against, of all people, Jeff Suppan of the Padres. Phil Humber, who's been as far from perfect as you can get since his perfect game, takes on Danny Duffy of the Royals. Wandy Rodriguez goes for the Astros against the excellent AJ Burnett of the Pirates. Ricky Romero goes for the Blue Jays against Scott Diamond. Jeff Samardzija will start for the Cubs in Milwaukee. Justin Verlander will take on Jarrod Parker of the A's in Oakland. Jered Weaver and Neftali Feliz will do battle in Texas. 

Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.

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Are we witnessing history in the making with the 2012 rookie class?  It certainly seems possible.  There’s no real debate that the 2001 class appears to be the best most folks can remember.  Future Hall of Famers Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia and Albert Pujols all debuted that season.  Perennial all star candidates Alfonso Soriano, Roy Oswalt, Jimmy Rollins and Adam Dunn even debuted that year, though they failed to receive the recognition that Ichiro and Pujols garnered.  So what does 2012 have that can stack up? 

A lot actually.  No one can say for sure if there are any Hall of Famers in the mix (can you say that about any rookie?).  But on the surface there looks to be as much talent as any class since 2001 and possibly ever. The National League class is led by….

1. Padres 1B Yonder Alonso (.300/.366/.427 with 11 doubles in 31 games)
2. Teen sensation Bryce Harper (.233/.333/.372 with 6 doubles in 51 plate appearances). 

The American League offers a somewhat deeper rookie class with

1. LHP Matt Moore (numbers too ugly to post, but most believe he’s an ace in the making)
2. Cuban import Yoenis Cespedes (.245/.319/.434 with 5 doubles, 5 home runs, and 4 stolen bases in 28 games. He's missed the past couple of games with a hand injury, though)
3. Designated hitters Jesus Montero (.267/.281/.440 with 5 doubles and 5 home runs in 30 games)
4. Japanese legend Yu Darvish (44 1/3 IP, 51 K, 2.84 ERA, and a 5-1 record)
5. 5-tool candidate Mike Trout (.317 BA, .968 OPS, 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 2 stolen bases in only 11 games). 

That’s not to mention other notorious rookies that may qualify before the end of the season like Jarrod Parker, Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Drew Pomeranz and Anthony Rizzo.  You have to figure that Alonso may garner some votes as he’s on pace to hit over 50 doubles.  Harper has cooled off significantly and took his frustrations out on his head (10 stitches from a bat that bounced off a wall and smacked him up the noggin) but he’ll get votes because he’s the 2012 MLB version of Lebron James.  In the AL, Matt Moore may pitch his team to the playoffs, Cespedes could possibly hit 30 homeruns and steal 30 bases in his rookie season, Montero should get some votes because of his catcher eligibility, Darvish may contend for the Cy Young and Trout may hit .300, contend for gold glove, hit 20+ homeruns and steal another 20 or 30 bases.  

There’s a lot of baseball left to be played, but this 2012 group looks like it may have at least half a dozen superstars in the making and may rival 2001 as the greatest rookie class of this generation.  Keep watchin' folks, this kids make the game exciting.

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Milwaukee Brewers' closer John Axford left this note for the media after last night's Brewers-Cubs game. Axford blew the save in the ninth for Milwaukee (his first in 50 chances), despite striking out the side (and only getting two outs), and despite just one run he allowed in the ninth being earned.

This season, Axford has struck out 20 batters in 10 1/3 innings, but has walked seven and allowed 14 hits. He has a 6.10 ERA and 2.03 WHIP this year, but still has six saves on the season. Last night's effort came just two days after Axford was the losing pitcher in a 2-1 Brewers loss to the Reds, when he allowed two runs in the ninth inning after Zack Greinke threw eight scorless innings.

I'd assume Axford would be unavailable over the course of the weekend due to his wife's impeding labor. Hopefully for the Brewers, he'll get back into his 2011 form once the baby is born.

[h/t: Mike Vassallo]

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Josh Hamilton is playing out of his mind. The crazy thing is, what he's doing has nothing to do with luck; he's just that good. His talent level is so far above most major leaguers that it's borderline absurd. This is what I imagine the game of baseball looks like through Josh Hamilton's eyes right about now...

Joe touched on it this morning, but Hamilton has more homers this week than all but nine players in the league have all season. If that's not playing on another level, I don't know what is. He's just a complete freak right now.

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Josh Hamilton is a house of fire right now. He homered two more times last night against the Angels in a three hit game, and now has 17 homers on the season. He has nine homers this week. Again: nine homers this week, a five day period. Let me put it this way: in the last week, Hamilton has more homers than every player in baseball aside from the top nine. It's May 12th, and he's already at 3.1 fWAR. Yeah....this is going to be a special season for Josh if he stays healthy.

Game of the Night: Brewers 8, Cubs 7 (13 innings). The Brewers took an early 1-0 lead on a run-scoring double play (ew), and the lead held until the seventh, when David DeJesus hit a grand slam to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead. That lead wouldn't last long, as in the bottom half of the inning, the Brewers got four of their own. Aramis Ramirez drove in one on a double, and Jonathan Lucroy doubled with the bases loaded to clear the bases, and that made it a 5-4 game. In the ninth, with Brewers closer John Axford attempting to close things out, they didn't go as planned. The inning consisted of an error, two wild pitches, three strikeouts, and only two outs. After all was said and done, Axford allowed three runs on just two hits in the inning, and the Brewers trailed 7-5. New Cubs closer Rafael Dolis came in to close the game out...and he allowed a game-tying two run homer to Corey Hart. The game would remain that way until the 13th, when Hart struck again, singling with the bases loaded to give the Brewers a wild 8-7 win. 

Pitching Line of the Night: It was a hard-luck game for James McDonald of the Pirates. He went eight innings, and allowed one run (on a double play) on four hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He got the loss, because the Pirates offense couldn't solve Bud Norris and the Astros bullpen. Norris threw six shutout innings, allowing three hits without a walk and eight strikeouts. Gavin Floyd also had a good outing for the White Sox against the woeful Royals, throwing 7 2/3 scoreless on five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts.

Hitting Line of the Night: Josh Reddick has been everything that the A's expected, plus more. Last night, he went 4/4 with four runs, five RBI, two homers, and a stolen base. He's got an .897 OPS for the A's this season as their every day right fielder. In a losing effort for the Cardinals, Carlos Beltran finished just a single shy of the cycle, but ended up finishing 4/5 with two runs, four RBI, a walk, and two homers. He's been a worthy replacement for Albert Pujols this season in St Louis. Oh, and the full line on Josh Hamilton: 3/4, three runs, two RBI, two homers, and a walk. That's efficient.

Spotlight Series: The Braves and Cardinals battled to the death in St Louis, with Atlanta ultimately prevailing. The Braves scored a pair in the first inning on wild pitches by Jaime Garcia, and the Cardinals would get one back in the second on a Matt Carpenter homer. The Braves would score three in the third on doubles by Brian McCann and Tyler Pastornicky, with a single from Chipper Jones in the mix as well. St Louis would quickly strike back and take the lead over the middle innings, courtesy of back to back solo homers by Beltran and Allen Craig in the fourth, an RBI double by Matt Holliday in the fifth, and a two-run triple by Beltran following Holliday's double. Dan Uggla would tie things up in the seventh with a bomb of a homer off of Mark Rzepczynski, and the Braves took the lead on an infield single by Freddie Freeman. Beltran struck again in the bottom of the eighth, on a rare homer off of Braves reliever Jonny Venters. The Cardinals threatened off of Livan Hernandez in the tenth and the eleventh, but left empty-handed. Then in the 12th, Jason Heyward hit a two run homer to give the Braves a lead that Craig Kimbrel protected to end the game.

Other Games: Nick Johnson led the Orioles to a shocking 4-3 win over the Rays. The offense showed up in Philly, and the Phillies knocked off the Padres 7-3. The Yankees beat up on Felix Hernandez, and beat the Mariners 6-2. The Astros shut out the Pirates 1-0. Clay Buchholz and Ubaldo Jimenez were both lousy, but the Red Sox beat the Indians 7-5. The Nationals struck early on the Reds, and prevailed 7-3. The Rangers beat the hell out of the Angels 10-3. Frank Francisco blew a save for the Mets, as the Marlins walked off with a 6-5 win. The White Sox shut out the Royals 5-0 behind Adam Dunn, and Floyd's great start. The Twins crept to within one win of double digits after a 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays. The A's beat the hell out of the Tigers 10-4. Pat Corbin outdueled Madison Bumgarner in a 5-1 Diamondbacks victory over the Giants. Three homers and Chris Capuano led the Dodgers to a 7-3 win over the Rockies.

Today's Games: After getting rained on last night, CJ Wilson gives it another go for the Angels in Texas. Disappointing young starters will go at it in Baltimore, with Matt Moore taking on Brian Matusz. Roy Halladay will go for the Phillies, against Edinson Volquez of the Padres. The Chris Sale bungee cord continues to bounce, and he'll be starting today against the Royals. Jordan Zimmermann and Mat Latos is a great looking matchup in Cincinnati. Brandon Beachy will take on the struggling Adam Wainwright in St Louis. Doug Fister and Brandon McCarthy will go at it in Oakland. Matt Cain and Trevor Cahill is another good-looking duel in Arizona.

Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.

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Washington Nationals rookie outfielder Bryce Harper has a very divisive personality, but his outburst on Friday is something that all fans will agree was completely stupid of him to do.

In the midst of an 0/5, three strikeout game tonight against the Cincinnati Reds, Harper took out his rage on the Nationals dugout, smashing the side of it with his bat. In not so predictable fashion, the bat would rebound off of the dugout wall and hit Harper in the face, causing a gash to open up over top of Harper's left eye that would require ten stitches.

Despite the injury, Harper says he's not going to miss any games. I'll give him this: the man may not have much common sense, and he might be a little emotional, but he's an absolute gamer. Thank god this wasn't worse, because if the bat hit Harper just an inch or two lower, he could be blind.

[h/t: Eye on Baseball]

Photo courtesy of Daylife.com

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The defending World Champion St Louis Cardinals are the class of the National League, and all of baseball, on May 11th. Their 20-11 record is just half a game behind the Rangers for the best mark in all of baseball. More importantly, the Cardinals have a +75 run differential, which is seven better than the Rangers and 51 better than the Braves in the National League. Coincidentally, the Cardinals opponent at Busch Stadium this weekend....is said Atlanta Braves.

The Braves have had a mediocre May thusfar. They swept the Rockies at Coors Field, but lost a series at home to division rival Philadelphia, while also managing to only score five runs in a series loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Braves still have a 4-2 record this road trip, and just one win in this series against the Cardinals will ensure a winning trip. But that won't be an easy task at all. The Cardinals have the best offense in the NL, with an .824 OPS that is 60 points higher than the second-best Rockies. Their pitching staff has a 3.07 ERA, second best in the NL behind the Nationals. Their pitching charge is led by the rotation, which has a 2.82 ERA (again, second best in the NL).

Atlanta has had an interesting season when it comes to their component stats. The team is winning games based on offense, not pitching. The team's .745 OPS is third in the NL, while on the mound, their 4.25 ERA is just 13th in the league. The Braves rotation, thought to be one of the best in the league this year, has struggled with a 4.44 ERA. Their bullpen, dominant just a year ago, has slipped to a 3.88 ERA, but a majority of that comes from the awful Chad Durbin.

The Braves do get a slight break in this series, as they'll be facing the worst Cardinals starter, Adam Wainwright, on Saturday. However, Wainwright is bookended by Jaime Garcia (3.76 ERA, 3.08 FIP) on Friday, and the breakout pitcher of the year, Lance Lynn, on Sunday. Atlanta will send the horrifically unlucky Mike Minor to the mound tonight (who has a FIP two runs lower than his ERA), Brandon Beachy (a rotation leading 1.62 ERA) on Saturday, and the always solid Tommy Hanson on Sunday.

When it comes to offense, the Braves are led by their outfield. Michael Bourn, Jason Heyward, and Martin Prado have each been worth at least one win this season, and add fantastic defense to their hot bats. When healthy, third baseman Chipper Jones has powered the offense, homering five times in just 21 games. It's been a career renaissance for Jones, who will retire after this season. The right side of the infield, Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman, have both also hitting well for the Braves, combining for ten homers and 45 RBI this year. The only below average regulars on offense for the Braves have been rookie shortstop Tyler Pastornicky (not surprising) and catcher Brian McCann (very surprising), who is actually being outhit this year by his backup, David Ross.

The Cardinals offense has been led by a pair of men that weren't Cardinals at the beginning of last year: shortstop Rafael Furcal (who has a .931 OPS in the leadoff hole), and free agent signing Carlos Beltran, who already has ten homers and five stolen bases, and is looking like the guy the Mets gave a nine figure contract to years ago. Playoff hero David Freese has continued his hitting prowess into the regular season with a .925 OPS this year, and catcher Yadier Molina is playing with a renewed fire after getting a contract extension. And Allen Craig, who missed the first month of the year, has a .778 slugging percentage in just seven games this season.

It'll be a difficult series for both teams, but it's worth noting that the Cardinals have had a very easy schedule so far, playing just seven games against teams above .500 (and those teams are each just one and two games over .500). St Louis has feasted on the weak NL Central so far, playing six games each against the Brewers, Pirates, and Cubs. In fact, they've played just four games out of the division: three against the Diamondbacks (who they swept) and one against the Marlins to kick off the year. They're beating the hell out of everyone so far, but these really aren't great teams they're playing. Atlanta will be the first significant challenge for the Cardinals this year. However, it IS worth noting that the Cardinals are 4-0 in the non-central games they've played this year, and 5-2 in the games against teams above .500.

The Braves have had a very divergent schedule, with 12 games against teams above .500 (5-7 record), and just nine games within in the NL East (3-6 record). The only team they've played more than once is the Mets, whom they played six of their first twelve games against. There hasn't been much of an overlap in Atlanta's schedule, which is a huge contrast when compared to St Louis's schedule.

Despite all that, the Cardinals are still a much better, much more complete team. The last time the teams played was last September, and the Cardinals swept ther series en route to an 18-8 finish that propelled them over the Braves to a playoff berth and eventually, a World Championship. For a pick, I'm going to say that the Cardinals take two out of three, only losing the middle game of the series.

Photos courtesy of Daylife.com

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