• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Brewers try go up 2-0 on Cards in NLCS

Oct 10, 2011 - 2:34 PM (Sports Network) - The Milwaukee Brewers were the best home team in baseball during the regular season and it is showing here in the postseason.

Tonight, the Brewers try to win their fifth straight home playoff game tonight when they play Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park.

The Brewers, who were 57-24 in their home ballpark this season, drew first blood in this series on Sunday, as Prince Fielder and Yuniesky Betancourt both homered during a six-run fifth inning to help Milwaukee to a 9-6 win.

Ryan Braun added a two-run homer and four RBI on Sunday for Milwaukee, which beat Arizona three times at home in the NLDS and is in a League Championship Series for the first time since 1982 when it beat the Angels in the ALCS before falling to St. Louis in the World Series.

"Whenever he's hitting, and hitting the ball all over the place, I think he wears the pitcher down," Fielder said of Braun. "So the pitcher is a little worn down and hopefully he'll make a mistake to me, too."

The NL Central-champion Brewers handed the ball to Zack Greinke (1-0), who gave up six runs on eight hits over six-plus innings. Greinke was a perfect 11-0 in 15 home starts during the regular season.

David Freese hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals, who shocked the baseball world by taking out the 102-win Phillies in the NLDS with a heart-pounding 1-0 win in Game 5 on Friday.

The Cardinals, who are back in this round for the 10th time in team history and the first time since 2006 when they won the World Series, got an RBI apiece from Lance Berkman and Matt Holliday.

Jaime Garcia (0-2) allowed six runs on six hits over four-plus innings to take the loss.

Heading to the hill for the Brewers tonight will be righty Shaun Marcum, who will be trying to bounce back from a poor NLDS showing in Arizona. One of the better pitchers away from home this season, that certainly wasn't the case for Marcum last Tuesday in Arizona, as the Diamondbacks roughed him up for seven runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. That showing followed up a poor September that saw Marcum pitch to a 5.17 ERA.

"I don't think the last whatever games were as bad as what people think they are," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Sunday. "It's been a bad pitch that's been a three-run homer or grand slam, but I don't think it's been as bad as if you look at all the hits that he's given up, there are more cheap hits given up from him than anybody else. He may give up a jam shot for a base hit, a ground ball for a base hit, and all of a sudden, he'll make a mistake and somebody will hit a home run."

Marcum, who was 13-7 overall on the year, faced the Cardinals four times this season and was 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA.

Oddly enough Marcum was 8-3 with a 2.21 ERA on the road this season, but was just 5-4 with a 4.81 ERA at home.

Getting the call for the Cardinals tonight will be righty Edwin Jackson, who gave up two runs in six innings to beat the Phillies in his Game 4 start in the NLDS. He was 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) for the Cards after being acquired from Chicago.

Jackson is 2-2 lifetime versus the Brewers with a 4.22 ERA in five starts. However, he did allow eight earned runs in seven innings to them back on August 3.

"I'm a competitor," said Jackson. "I mean, I can take my beatings and I can handle that. It's not my first one, and it probably won't be my last. I feel good and I feel strong. And I continue to challenge hitters, regardless of what the score is."

Of course the Cardinals are quite familiar with their NL Central inhabitant Brewers, who won the division by six games. Despite that the two teams split the 18 games played this season, but the Cardinals won six of the final seven matchups and swept the Brewers at Miller Park in late August.

As good as Milwaukee has been at home it might not matter, as the Cardinals won the second most road games in the NL with 45 and emerged victorious in five of nine regular season matchups in Milwaukee.

Only twice since the addition of the wild card have two teams from the National League Central met in the NLCS. It last happened in 2005, when the Astros knocked the Cardinals out of the playoffs.