The Los Angeles Dodgers (19-26) and St. Louis Cardinals (30-16), are two historic Major League Baseball franchises headed in opposite directions this season. Tonight at 10:10 p.m., they will play the first game of a three-game set at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, that can be live streamed for free or via subscription at MLB.com. Dodgers fans can hear the game on 570 Fox Sports LA and Cardinals backers can do the same at KMOX 1120.
The Dodgers are chock full of high priced talent, but are mired in last place in the National League West thanks to a cadre of injuries and ineffective play from their remaining stars. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have amassed MLB's best record without a great deal of star power. Like the Dodgers, the Cardinals have suffered some injuries to shortstop Rafael Furcal and third baseman David Freese as well as starting pitchers Jaime Garcia and last year's ace Chris Carpenter.
"We're proud of how the guys are going about their business despite instances that could be described as adversity," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "They play hard every day and they put a lot of faith in each other and the next man up."
Indeed, four of St. Louis' eight regular starters, Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran, Allen Craig and Matt Carpenter have posted batting averages above .300, while their entire starting rotation has ERAs under 3.59. Jake Westbrook and rookie Shelby Miller have both posted sub-2.00 ERAs this year.
The Dodgers, on the other hand, have been overly reliant on the dominance of starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, and have hit losing skids whenever Zack Greinke and rookie Hyun-jin Ryu have any kind of misstep.
Still, the Dodgers hold out hope that their fortunes will soon change. Struggling outfielder Andre Ethier said, "A good run the next month or two could put us right back where we want to be by the All-Star break. We have confidence in everyone in this room and everyone on this staff. Other than the pressure put on this team to perform right away and do what's it's done is the reason why these issues are coming up."
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