With the Rangers putting right-hander Colby Lewis on the mound, Tony La Russa needed to make a huge change in his lineup from Game 1, when he prepared for a left-handed starter. So here's the radically altered, carpe diem special for Game 2 tonight:
World Series Game 2 Lineup Set For St. Louis
The lineup for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 is more of the same, just with a slightly different permutation.
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Rafael Furcal# - SS
Jon Jay* - CF
Albert Pujols - 1B
Lance Berkman# - RF
Matt Holliday - LF
David Freese - 3B
Yadier Molina - C
Nick Punto# - 2B
Jaime Garcia -
He flipped Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman. Thus endeth the changes. Other than that, it's a pretty familiar Cardinals lineup. If Skip Schumaker were healthier, maybe he'd take the start over Punto, but the latter player actually had a nifty .278/.388/.421 line this year. That's the highest batting average Punto has had since he hit .284 over 359 at-bats in 2009.
Wait, that was his slugging percentage. Never mind. But I’m sure guys learn to hit when they’re 33 all the time.
Colby Lewis had substantial platoon splits this year and over his career, but it’s not like the Cardinals were going to stack the lineup with lefties and get those awful right-handed hitters like Pujols, Holliday, and Freese out of there. This is as much as a Colby-mashing lineup as La Russa could muster, and it’s pretty danged good. Good enough to win the pennant, even.
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