Good news for the NL Central: The St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, 1982 World Series opponents, will meet in the NLCS Sunday with the 2011 National League championship on the line. Zack Greinke's comments about Chris Carpenter got him in the news, but he'll face second-year southpaw Jaime Garcia in Game 1 Sunday afternoon. Garcia, who was 13-7 with a 3.56 ERA and an impressive 3.12 K:BB ratio in 2011, took a hard-luck loss against the Philadelphia Phillies in his first career playoff start, pitching seven innings and allowing a pinch-hit home run that accounted for all three of his earned runs.
Greinke, the 2009 Cy Young winner following one of the best seasons of the last 10 years, allowed four runs in five innings despite striking out seven in his only start against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Brewers' NLDS.
The Cardinals will bring Edwin Jackson out for Game 2 before returning to Busch Stadium for Game 3, when conquering hero Carpenter is expected to face Yovani Gallardo Wednesday night. No word on how phony he's expected to be for the start.