The St. Louis Cardinals go into June with a hotly awaited matchup against their strongest National League Central rivals, as predicted, but it's not the Cincinnati Reds, who took the crown in 2010—it's the Milwaukee Brewers, whose revamped rotation has had the benefit of huge seasons from Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, and Rickie Weeks. The Brewers go into the weekend series at Miller Park just 2.5 games out of first place, and the complexion of the division race could take a major turn if either team manages the sweep. The first game, Friday night at 7:10, will pit a resurgent Kyle Lohse against former Cardinals prospect Chris Narveson, who's struck out 59 batters in his first 65 innings of the season.
Saturday pits two down-on-their-luck aces against each other when Zack Greinke, who's 5-1 despite an inexplicably high ERA, against Chris Carpenter, who's 1-5 with an inexplicably high ERA. In the series finale on Sunday Jake Westbrook, who's got five wins despite some intermittent control problems, takes on Shaun Marcum, the second leg of the Brewers' rotation renovations, who has a 2.58 ERA and a 6-2 record to show for his transition to the National League.