World Series Schedule 2011: Don't Expect More Magic from Chris Carpenter

Chris Carpenter is human.

No really, the St. Louis Cardinals ace is capable of pitching a bad game.

Monday's Game 5 will be the matchup that finally brings him back down to earth.

The 36-year-old Carpenter has been lights out this postseason, but the amount of innings that are beginning to pile up have to be concerning. He was very close to reaching a career high in innings pitched during the season. His workload increased tremendously in September, then he tacked on 23 more innings onto that total in October.

He has been dealing with a bevy of injuries that make you wonder when his body starts breaking down. Soreness in his shoulder, crankiness in his elbow, and simply the minor aches and tweaks that most pitchers his age feel have been bothering him.

Still, manager Tony La Russa isn't worried judging by his comments made to mlb.com:

"

The last two months of the year, his conditioning or whatever, he was stronger than he was the first four months. But we take every game based on what we see.

"

I think it all finally catches up to him on Monday. With the pressure of the entire season on his shoulders, the vaunted Texas Rangers offense will work the pitch count unlike Game 1, where he needed only 87 pitches to get through six innings.

While making Carpenter throw more pitches is important, getting pressure pitches will be the difference.

The Rangers, a team ranked in the top five of virtually every offensive category, will get ducks on the pond earlier in the game, forcing Carpenter to throw from the stretch.

The laborious tension that follows plays right into the Rangers hands.

I don't think the Rangers are stymied by the same pitcher two times in the span of one week—regardless of who it is. The Rangers bats crush Carpenter, who will exit the game by the fifth inning.

I'll leave you with one final stat: Carpenter, who has won two starts in a row, has won three straight starts just once in the last two seasons.

Prediction: Rangers 7 Cardinals 3