MLB Playoffs on Sportsnet Today:
NLCS Game 2: St. Louis Cardinals @ San Francisco Giants
When: 8:07 p.m. p.m. ET | Where: Sportsnet (E, O, W, P)
Game 3 Starters: (Cardinals lead series 1-0)
STL: Chris Carpenter (3.71 ERA, 1.118 WHIP, 6.4 K9, 1.6 BB/9)
Giants batters vs. Carpenter: .247/.309/.371/.680, 2 HR, 97 PA
SF: Ryan Vogelsong (3.37 ERA, 1.228 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 2.9 BB/9)
Cardinals batters vs. Vogelsong: .275/.351/.412/.763, 1 HR, 57 PA
Game 2 Scouting Report:
The San Francisco Giants have a tall task ahead of them tonight as they hope to avoid going down 2-0 in their NLCS with the St. Louis Cardinals.
On the hill for St. Louis will be Chris Carpenter, owner of 2.88 ERA in 16 career post-season starts and one of the finest big-game pitchers of his generation.
But don’t take my word for it.
“He’s a competitor, like I’ve never seen,” Cardinals Mike Matheny told reporters. “The guy just finds a different gear when it becomes his turn to do something special.”
At the plate, the Giants must continue to contend with Carlos Beltran, who homered again in last night’s 6-4 Cardinals win to give him 14 home runs in 29 career post-season games. How destructive has Beltran been in the playoffs over his career?
The 35-year-old now owns a post-season slash line of .370/.481/.824/1.305 and according to Foxsports.com’s Ken Rosenenthal, “his home run rate of one every 7.71 at-bats is the best in postseason history — ahead of Babe Ruth, who hit one every 8.60 ABs.”
Beltran has also fared well against Giants Game 2 starter Ryan Vogelsong, batting .364/.462/.818/1.280, with one home run in 13 career plate appearances.
David Freese hasn’t been too shabby in his playoff career either:
#STLCards @dfreese23 homered to reach 25 postseason RBI; only Lou Gehrig had more RBI in his first 25 postssn gms atmlb.com/Q1eI7u
— CAA Baseball (@CAA_Baseball) October 15, 2012
As for the Giants, they continue to struggle to at the plate at home this post-season, batting just .165 at AT&T Park.
Hunter Pence (1 for 12), Marco Scutaro (2 for 13), Angel Pagan (2 for 14) and Pablo Sandoval (2 for 12) have been particulary unproductive.
GAME 2 PICK: Cardinals. It’s hard to see San Francisco shutting down the Cards potent offence and getting to Carpeneter. No pressure, Vogelsong.
