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4-1, 4.56 |
2-3, 3.33 |
GAME TIME 7:10 CDT
i noted yesterday morning the chris duncan has gone 2 for 22 with 12 strikeouts since his knee injury. will carroll has more on duncan's status today at UTK:It shouldn't surprise anyone that Chris Duncan is having trouble hitting. While his knee infection didn't turn out to be as bad as it could have been, it's still an infection in his knee, and he needs both of them. It's safe to assume that he should get over the infection more quickly than Alex Rios did, although it's still comparable to Rios' situation from last season. As with Rios, I expect that Duncan will slowly get better, but that it's a steady slope rather than a quick improvement. The problem is that it's going to be power--Duncan's biggest skill--that will come last, and his range afield--already perhaps his smallest--that will show the effects most.
rios, who had this problem last season, went down with the injury in late june and missed nearly all of july. the numbers are striking: .330 / .383 / .585 before the injury, with 15 homers (one per 20 plate appearances); .261 / .297 / .411 after the injury, with 2 homers (one per 98 plate appearances). for the record, duncan was at .277 / .353 / .510 before the knee sidelined him, with 9 hr (1 per 19 plate appearances).
the cardinals have a golden opportunity to inch closer to the division lead this week. while they're playing the royals, who have the 2d-to-worst record in mlb, the brewers will be visiting detroit for 3 games with the tigers. the royals, though, have been playing pretty well of late; their record over the last month (13-14) is half a game better than the cardinals' (12-14). the royals' Challenge Rating is only 825, which is pretty low; against teams with CRs of 850 or lower, the cardinals are (by my unofficial count) 11-6.
p.s.: drop by Royals Review, a great blog about a terrible team, and say hi to my pal will.
| STL | KC |
|---|---|
| eckstein ss | dejesus cf |
| spiezio dh | grudzielanek 2b |
| pujols 1b | teahen rf |
| edmonds cf | sweeney dh |
| rolen 3b | gordon 1b |
| encarnacion rf | german 3b |
| duncan lf | larue c |
| bennett c | pena ss |
| kennedy 2b | gathright lf |