St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies - Game 21 open thread - April 30, 2015

Happy Tim Cooney Day, one and all! The rookie lefty makes his MLB debut this afternoon at Busch Stadium against his favorite team from childhood, the Philadelphia Phillies. Let's hope the Phillies are more accommodating of Cooney's MLB debut than the Cards were of Severino Gonzalez's on Tuesday night.

Manager Mike Matheny is backing his rookie starter with a lineup build to get its sixth or seventh-best batsmen the most PAs of any Cardinal. It also includes Pete Kozma starting at shortstop. This may come as a surprise to those who had forgotten that Kozma is on the St. Louis roster. Otherwise, the move isn't surprising. Getting a veteran like Jhonny Peralta the day game after a night game off is a time-honored baseball practice.

The Cardinals lineup:

1. Jon Jay, CF
2. Matt Carpenter, 3B
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Matt Adams, 1B
5. Jason Heyward, RF
6. Yadier Molina, C
7. Kolten Wong, 2B
8. Pete Kozma, SS
9. Cooney, P

The Phillies lineup:

1. Odubel Herrera, CF
2. Freddy Galvis, SS
3. Darin Ruf, LF
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Jeff Francoeur, RF
6. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
7. Cody Asche, 3B
8. Cameron Rupp, C
9. David Buchanan, P