World Series 2011: Chris Carpenter Will Fail to Save Series for Cardinals

The Rangers are going to beat Cardinals' ace Chris Carpenter and pave their way to a World Series championship in the process.

Read on for explanation.

The Matchup

Chris Carpenter vs. CJ Wilson

Why Carpenter Will Fail

Carpenter has been solid in his past two starts, but he has clearly not been his unhittable and brilliant self.

Whether it is attributable to elbow problems or not, there is no denying the fact that Carpenter has not been as sharp in his last two performances as he was leading up to them.

His pitches have not had as much life and his location has not been pinpoint accurate.

He went six innings in his last start and five innings the start before that. He averaged 2.5 earned runs and just 3.5 strike outs in those contests.

This will be the Rangers second look at Carpenter in this series, and they will be dialed in against a pitcher trying to succeed with less than his best stuff.

This is going to force Carpenter out of the game early. The Rangers will be able to get to Carpenter for a few runs and then beat up on a Cardinals bullpen that they are now very familiar with.

Games 6 and 7 Probable Starters

Game 6: Jamie Garcia vs. Colby Lewis

Game 7: Kyle Lohse vs. Matt Harrison

Outlook

Neither team has a clear advantage in these matchups, and that is why it is asking too much for either team to win both of them.

Even though the Cardinals will enjoy the home-field advantage for these games, they will not be able to keep the potent Rangers offense from winning one of these two games and claiming the World Series title in the process.