2011 MLB Playoff Schedule: Cardinals Pitching Must Not Be Underestimated

On Wednesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals owed the Philadelphia Phillies a huge debt of gratitude for knocking off the Atlanta Braves.

Come Saturday, though, all good intentions will have to be put on hold, as the Cardinals and Phillies will be set to do battle in the National League Division Series.

That the Cardinals are even going to be playing in the NLDS is pretty amazing. But now that they're at this point, the obvious question is how on earth they're going to be able to advance any further. After all, they face quite the roadblock.

That roadblock is the Phillies starting rotation, which we all know is the best rotation in Major League Baseball.

Roy Halladay will start Game 1, Cliff Lee will start Game 2 and Cole Hamels will presumably go on Tuesday in Game 3 at St. Louis. All three of them finished with more than 200 innings pitched and sub-3.00 ERAs. It's not a stretch to assert that Halladay, Lee and Hamels form the best starting trio of any team in recent postseason memory.

The Cardinals would probably love nothing more than to counter Halladay with Chris Carpenter in Game 1. Unfortunately for them, that's just not possible, as Carpenter was last seen pitching the Cardinals into the playoffs with a complete game shutout against the Houston Astros.

Instead, per the team's official website, the Cardinals are going to counter Halladay with Kyle Lohse, and will counter Lee with Edwin Jackson.

These would appear to be obvious mismatches.

The truth is that sending Lohse against Halladay is not that bad of a mismatch. Very quietly, Lohse was pretty good this season, going 14-8 with a 3.39 ERA. He was particularly good in September, posting a 1.37 ERA in four starts.

Moreover, Loshe's one and only start against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park this year was a huge success, as he allowed no earned runs in seven and a third innings.

Things are a little less rosy when you look at the matchup for Game 2. Jackson pitched well for the Cardinals after coming over in a trade, but the one thing you have to worry about with him is his tendency to put a lot of guys on base. He finished with a 1.44 WHIP, which does not match up very well against a Phillies team that finished sixth in the National League in on-base percentage.

Presumably, Carpenter will be able to go in Game 3, and he could very well be tasked with saving the Cardinals from elimination for a second straight start.

And it could once again be no big deal for Carpenter. He posted a beastly 2.15 ERA in September, and he dominated the Phillies in two starts against them this year.

Is the Phillies starting trio of Halladay, Lee and Hamels still better on paper? The answer to that question is yes, but there's not as big of a divide between them and the Cardinals starting trio as you might think.

Make no mistake, this is a series the Cardinals can definitely win. I personally don't think they will, but nobody should be surprised if they do. If the starting pitching is evenly matched, the series is evenly matched.

It all starts Saturday at 5:07 p.m. ET.

Update: It has since been announced, per ESPN's Jim Bowden, that Tony LaRussa is going with a three-man rotation of Lohse, Carpenter and Jaime Garcia against the Phillies. Carpenter will start on three days of rest, something he has never done in his career.