The Cardinals open the season on the road — something they haven’t done since 2006 — against the Reds, whom at least two writers picked to finish second and one projection system third in the Central. The birds face Aaron Harang, who posted impressive 3.29 K/BB and 9.88 K/9 rates this spring, so you can ignore that ugly 9.88 ERA. Lineups according to Derrick Goold:

Molina is a surprise addition for the Cardinals, since he’s just coming off an injury, as is the Reds’ Laynce Nix, who as a non-roster invitee to camp bumped former Cardinal utilityman Aaron Miles off the team. Though fans won’t see Miles, they may glimpse another erstwhile Cardinal, Miguel Cairo, who survived the Reds’ cut Sunday.

How the Cardinals stack up

Leadoff man Skip Schumaker hits Harang very well, and Ryan Ludwick does better than usual against him. Other than that, though, the Harangutan has kept the Cardinals’ two big guns, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, in check. To put it in perspective, Cardinal pitcher Chris Carpenter, despite having one fewer plate appearance, has more hits against the big Reds’ righty than Holliday, who has struck out five times in 16 tries. Unfortunately, unless TLR pulls a last-minute lineup change, the hitter who has had the most success against Harang — Felipe Lopez — will start on the bench.

How the Reds stack up

Only former Cardinal Scott Rolen has had much success against Chris Carpenter, and Great American is, oddly enough, one of Carp’s friendliest ballparks. Leadoff man Chris Dickerson has five singles in 10 plate appearances against Carp. Nix has a home run in seven PAs.

Looking later in the game, Rolen (.594 GPA) and Votto (.488) feast on Ryan Franklin, so hopefully the Cardinals will have a big-enough lead to avoid the implications of those matchups.

This entry was posted by Pip on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 9:50 am and is filed under preview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.