The St. Louis Cardinals will get a look at one of their top division rivals Friday when the Milwaukee Brewers, on a skid that has them 13-18, visit Busch Stadium for a three-game set that includes day games on Saturday and Sunday. Friday night begins with a left-handed duel scheduled between Randy Wolf, Jaime Garcia, and Inigo Montoya, who is not left-handed; on Saturday afternoon Kyle Lohse will take on beleaguered Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo; and Sunday at 1:15 Kyle McClellan will take on one-time Cardinals farmhand Chris Narveson, who was traded for Larry Walker back in 2004 and has only recently carved out a big league niche.
Garcia, Lohse, and McClellan have each had rough starts lately after sterling Aprils, but of the six pitchers who will appear in this series, only Randy Wolf has been on anything resembling a hot streak; Gallardo has an ERA of 6.10 and Narveson has allowed 17 earned runs in his last two starts.
For the Cardinals all eyes will be on Albert Pujols, who seems at the edge of breaking out of his second slump of the 2011 season. He went 3-3 with a walk against Josh Johnson and the Florida Marlins on Thursday.