Opening Day 2010

Skip Schumaker, 4

Brendan Ryan, 6

Albert Pujols, 5

Matt Holliday, 7

Colby Rasmus, 8

Ryan Ludwick, 9

Yadier Molina, 2

David Freese, 5

Chris Carpenter, 1

Boy, when you really see it written out like that, that's a darn strong lineup.  You've got Freese hitting eighth when he's got the potential to be a 15-20 HR guy.  You've got the two "pesky" hitters at the top and then the thunder coming.  It's going to be a lot of fun to watch these guys on a daily basis.

The best thing about that lineup is that Yadier Molina is in it.  After having a brief scare a week or so ago where it looked like Matt Pagnozzi and Bryan Anderson would be the starting catcher duo, all is right with the world again.  Yadi's a huge part of this team and I'd hate to see them struggle along without him for an extended period of time.

Carpenter goes up against the Reds, a team he's had little trouble against in the past.  He's posted a 7-3 career record against them with a 2.11 ERA, a 0.843 WHIP, a .200 BAA and he strikes out 8.6 over 9.  The current roster of the squad isn't much different, as you can see from a new feature for us this year, thanks to the good folks at Baseball Reference allowing the sharing of reports.

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP	missG	missYr
Ramon Hernandez	26	25	4	1	0	0	2	1	4	.160	.192	.200	.392	0	0	0	0	1
Brandon Phillips	20	19	4	2	0	0	5	1	3	.211	.250	.316	.566	0	0	0	0	2
Orlando Cabrera	15	15	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200	.200	.200	.400	0	0	0	0	0
Aaron Harang	13	13	1	0	0	0	1	0	5	.077	.077	.077	.154	0	0	0	0	0
Scott Rolen	13	11	3	1	0	0	1	1	3	.273	.385	.364	.748	0	0	1	1	0
Chris Dickerson	10	10	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0	0	0
Jay Bruce	8	8	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	.125	.125	.375	.500	0	0	0	0	0
Joey Votto	8	8	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.375	.375	.375	.750	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Hanigan	6	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.167	.167	.167	.333	0	0	0	0	1
Drew Sutton	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	.000	.167	.000	.167	0	0	0	0	0
Jonny Gomes	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Aaron Miles	4	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0	0	0
Wladimir Balentien	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Drew Stubbs	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Bronson Arroyo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0					1	0	0	0	0
Micah Owings	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	2.000	3.000	0	0	0	0	0
Total	141	135	29	5	1	0	10	4	32	.215	.243	.267	.510	1	0	1	1	4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/5/2010.

The Cardinals face the Reds ace (with a caveat, the fact that he wouldn't be starting if Edinson Volquez was healthy) Aaron Harang.  Harang has been dominant in the past, but has struggled the last few years.  The Cardinals have had more success with him than the Reds with Carp, though.

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
Albert Pujols	59	54	16	5	0	3	10	3	3	.296	.322	.556	.878	0	2	0	0	3
Yadier Molina	30	27	7	2	0	0	1	2	3	.259	.310	.333	.644	1	0	0	0	1
Skip Schumaker	25	24	8