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Cardinals-Royals Preview

Jun 26, 2010 - 11:44 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

St. Louis (40-33) at Kansas City (31-43), 2:10 p.m. EDT

The St. Louis Cardinals took two of three games in each of their first four series against the AL. They'll have a good chance to do the same at Kauffman Stadium in their interleague finale.

Unheralded Jaime Garcia has the majors' second-best ERA, and the left-hander can earn his rookie-leading eighth victory in Sunday afternoon's series decider against the Kansas City Royals.

The Cardinals (41-33) haven't dominated the AL, but heading into this weekend they'd done something only the Chicago White Sox had also pulled off - win each of their interleague series.

Garcia (7-3, 1.79 ERA) has gotten his first taste of the AL in his past two starts, and he's continued to fare well after missing most of last year due to Tommy John surgery. He gave up two runs over seven innings in a 2-1 loss to Seattle on June 16, then allowed three runs over six in a 9-4 win at Toronto on Tuesday.

Garcia's one area of concern has been walks - he issued 34 in his first 12 starts - but he seems to be resolving his control issues. He didn't issue a free pass to the Blue Jays, the first time he's done so.

"It's something that I've been working on this whole time," Garcia, who trails only Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez (1.60) for the majors' best ERA, told the Cardinals' official website. "It's basically less walks, try to go deeper and keep the ball down."

Issuing walks isn't usually a concern against the Royals (31-44). Kansas City has the fewest (204) in the AL, though its average (.280) is among the best in the majors.

The Royals have been particularly impatient against the NL. They've walked 16 times in their last 10 interleague games, including once in Saturday's 5-3 loss.

One of Kansas City's freest swingers is Jose Guillen, though lately that strategy has paid off. Guillen extended his hitting streak to a career-best 20 games Saturday, tying Texas' Josh Hamilton for the majors' longest this season. He's hitting .367 during the streak, with three walks in 83 plate appearances.

Only one of his 29 hits, however, has left the park, and that lack of power hasn't been limited to Guillen. Kansas City hasn't homered in a week's worth of games, its longest drought since going eight straight without one from July 30-Aug. 7, 2000.

"One thing we do have in our favor is we do put together good at-bats and we find ways to score runs, just amassing hits," manager Ned Yost said. "But it's a lot easier to score three runs with a home run with one hit and an error than put five or six hits together to score three runs."

Homering against Garcia won't be easy. He's allowed three in 85 1-3 innings, making him one of six pitchers with at least 10 starts to give up three or fewer.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, seem to have no problem going deep at Kauffman Stadium. Homers by Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus on Saturday accounted for all of St. Louis' runs and gave the Cardinals 10 homers in their last five games at Kansas City.

Bruce Chen (3-2, 3.96) will try to keep the Cardinals in the park Sunday. The left-hander gave up three hits over six innings Monday at Washington, but two left Nationals Park in a 2-1 loss.

Chen is 0-3 with a 5.71 ERA in eight games - two starts - against St. Louis, none since 2003.