On the Hill...
Washington lefty John "Cool Hand" Lannan's faced St. Louis once in his career, back on April 6th of this season in St. Louis' Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals beat Lannan and the Nationals 3-0. In 10 starts this season, Lannan's (4-5) with a 3.52 ERA and 43 K's in 64 innings. In that first start of the year for Lannan against the Cardinals, St. Louis' outfielder Rick Ankiel doubled in a run in the first, and homered to left in the third for all the scoring the Cards would need that night, but those were the only runs Lannan gave up over 6.2 innings pitched that evening, his first start of the season, in which the lefty threw 100 pitches, 63 for strikes, allowed 7 hits and walked 3 with 4 K's before exiting in the seventh.
Since his '08 debut in St. Louis, Lannan's (4-4) in 9 starts, and he's coming off a month of May that saw him go (2-3) in 6 starts with 19 K's in 33.1 innings on the mound, over which he allowed 39 hits, 16 ER's, 3 HR's and 8 walks.
Todd Wellemeyer, (6-1, 3.16 ERA), St. Louis' starter tonight, just came off a May that earned him NL Pitcher of the Month honors, according to St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Rick Hummel, who writes in his article on the award entitled, "NL Honor for Wellemeyer", that the 29-year old right-hander:
"...was named National League Pitcher of the month of May on the basis of his 4-0 record and 2.19 earned run average.
'That's really an achievement for anybody,' said manager Tony La Russa. 'But for him...'
By that La Russa meant that just more than a year ago, Wellemeyer was waived by Kansas City before the Cardinals picked him up for their bullpen. They didn't really envision him as a starter when they acquired him."
Wellemeyer hasn't lost a start since April 28th at home against Cincy. Curiously though, Wellemeyer has only one win on the road this season, going (1-0) in 6 starts with 5 no-decisions and a 3.89 ERA away from Busch Stadium, (where Wellemeyer's (5-1) in 6 starts with a 2.43 ERA).
In Wellemeyer's 6-year MLB career, the 6'3'' righty is (0-1) in 7 appearances and 10.0 innings pitched against DC, and he's been hit 10 times for 6 Nationals' runs with 6 walks and 8 K's issued. As a starter in his career, Wellemeyer's now (9-2) with a 3.36 ERA in 123.1 innings...
"Zimmerman Watch" - Federal Baseball's 24-Hour, 22 Hou...12 Hour... Intermittent Coverage of the BREAKING NEWS! And ACTION!!......
According to MLB.com's Bill Ladson's article entitled, "Zimmerman avoids surgery...for now", the official diagnosis returned from the two doctors who examined Zimmerman's injured left shoulder:
"...matched the Washington medical staff's diagnosis, with both recommending that Zimmerman rest for a week and take anti-inflammatories and be reexamined after that time."
Mr. Ladson's article then quotes a sober Ryan Zimmerman, who provides this assessment of his current predicament:
"'I like to believe that I have a pretty good threshold for playing with pain, but this is just a little different,' Zimmerman said. 'You guys know I want to be here to play for a long time, and there's no reason to go out and maybe do something to make things worse.'"
Hard to disagree with the Zimmerman...Any new posts on Zimmerman's blog?...Nope.
Check the NatCast if you're heading to Nationals Park...
Game 1 of today's doubleheader gets underway at 1:05 pm EST. The Nationals welcome the Cardinals. If you want to check out the St. Louis' persective on the series with the Cards, I recommend you check out Viva El Birdos, the SBN's great Cardinals' blog, where lboros and a couple hundred Cards' fans make their opinions known.