Cardinals vs Astros Spring Gamethread 3/14

Friends, I must be brief today.

Some quick notes:

-Wacha is pitching. Martinez and Lynn both were allowed to get to 60 pitches in their third outings, so look for the same from Wacha.

-Jay is batting second again. I wonder if we might see Jay bat second when he's in the game, and Peralta bat second when Bourjos is in.

-Good article at the mothership about Neshek's fastball use here. The synopsis: he's using it much more than last year with excellent results this spring.

-Top shelf shortstop prospect Carlos Correa, who homered twice yesterday, is not in the lineup for the Astros. However, OF George Springer and 1B Jon Singleton are. Both should be contributors soon, and both have star potential. Springer is especially close.

-Singleton has this fun spring line: .056/.346/.222. He's 1 for 18 with 8 walks. His lone hit was a homer.

-Dexter Fowler leads off for the Astros. The Rockies traded him in the offseason for Jordan Lyles.

-Jarred Cosart had a 1.95 ERA in 10 starts last year while walking more than 5 batters per nine innings and striking out fewer than 5 batters per nine innings. Somehow, I think he's unlikely to repeat a sub 2 ERA. He's not without some long-term potential, however.

-If you missed it, this article on the Astros' proprietary data software is well worth your time: link

Lineups:

Lineup at HOU (3/14): Carpenter, 3b; Jay, cf; Holliday, lf; Adams, dh; Molina, c; Wong, 2b; Scruggs, 1b; Grichuk, rf; Kozma, ss; Wacha, rhp.

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) March 14, 2014

Today vs. STL: Fowler-cf; Altuve-2b; Castro-c; Krauss-lf; Carter-DH; Singleton-1b; Springer-rf; Dominguez-3b; Villar-ss; Cosart-p

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 14, 2014

Once again, the game begins at 12:05 central. mlb.tv has the Astros feed, and it's playing on mlb network as well.