The Dodgers go for a sweep of the Cardinals as Vicente Padilla takes on Joel Pineiro. Padilla proved to be a good pick up for Los Angeles, as he went 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA in eight appearance down the stretch for the Dodgers. The difference between his Dodgers stats and Rangers stats is striking. With Texas he struck out a barely useful 4.9 per nine innings, while walking 3.5 per nine IP. When he moved to the Dodgers, his strikeouts soared to 8.7 per 9 IP and his walks dropped to 2.7 per 9 IP. Padilla is particularly effective against right-handed batters, and there are very few lefties the Cardinals can send against him.

Pineiro posted the lowest BB per 9 IP in the NL, 1.14. He’s more than capable of taking away one important offensive weapon of the Dodgers. He also gives up some hits, but with a .268 BA allowed and the low walks, opponents only get on base at a .297 clip against him. He gets helped with power by his home park, as opponents only slugged .377 against him in St. Louis. If he can limit the Dodgers to singles this evening, he has a good chance of winning.

Pineiro also does a great job of stopping the running game. There were only five attempts against him this season and only one was successful.

The Phillies/Rockies came was snowed out.

Enjoy!