The St. Louis Cardinals have 9 potential free agents going into the off-season and they will have to make some hard decisions on them. The Cardinals would love to bring back Matt Holliday, Mark DeRosa, Jason LaRue, Joel Pineiro and John Smoltz but money could get in the way of them bringing all of them back. The Cardinals will wave goodbye to Troy Glaus, Khalil Greene, Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer. If Matt Holliday decides to leave St. Louis then they will definately spend the cash to get a new LF or RF to bat behind Albert Pujols. Jason Bay, Bobby Abreu, Jermaine Dye and Vladimir Guerrero would likely be the top targets for the Cardinals if Holliday bolts. Garret Anderson, Johnny Damon, Marlon Byrd and Randy Winn would be fallback options for the Cardinals in the corner outfield. The Cardinals will also need a backup catcher if Jason LaRue leaves town. Jose Molina makes the most sense to back up his brother Yadier with the Cardinals. Others to be considered would be Brad Ausmus, Henry Blanco, Ramon Castro, Mike Redmond, Brian Schneider and Gregg Zaun. If Joel Pineiro leaves St. Louis the Cardinals will likely be in the market for two starting pitchers. John Lackey, Jon Garland, Doug Davis and Jarrod Washburn would probably be the top targets of the Cardinals. The Cardinals also like to take chances on starting pitchers that Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan can fix up. Those kind of guys would be Erik Bedard, Rich Harden, Vicente Padilla, Brad Penny, Justin Duchscherer, Miguel Batista and Jose Contreras. The Cardinals also need some help from the right side of the bullpen. The will likely have interest in pitchers like Danys Baez, Rafael Betancourt (if the Rockies don’t pick up his option), Brandon Lyon, Octavio Dotel, LaTroy Hawkins and Bobby Howry. The Cardinals’ front office will be very busy over the winter.

The Cardinals thought some home cooking might get them back in this series but instead it ended with the thud. The Dodgers jumped on the Cardinals quick in this game and the Cardinals never made much of a comeback. Joel Pineiro was the losing pitcher in this game as he worked the first four innings allowing 7 hits and 4 earned runs. Dennys Reyes, John Smoltz, Jason Motte and Ryan Franklin followed Pineiro and they all pitched pretty well working 5 innings allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 8 Dodgers. In the end though the Cardinals couldn’t get anything going against Vicente Padilla as they finished up with only six hits in this game. Albert Pujols was 2 for 4 with 1 RBI and Yadier Molina was 2 for 4 with a double. But that was the extent of the Cardinals’ offense in this game. They got swept in this series 3-0 by the Dodgers.

The Cardinals’ backs are against the wall as it’s now already win or go home until spring training time. We’ll see how well they respond from the choke job they had in game #2. Joel Pineiro will be starting for the Cardinals against Vicente Padilla of the Dodgers. Pineiro started 32 games for the Cardinals this season and he was 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He started 1 game against the Dodgers this season and he was 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. The Dodgers have a trio of hitters who have given Pineiro trouble in his career. The most deadly of his bunch has been Manny Ramirez. He is 14 for 33 (.424 avg) against Pineiro with 4 homers and 7 RBIs. Casey Blake has also been solid against Pineiro as his is 9 for 20 (.450 avg) with a double, triple and a solo homer. Rafael Furcal who is already having a good series is 3 for 8 (.375 avg) with 2 doubles against Pineiro. Vicente Padilla has pitched in 8 games (7 starts) for the Dodgers this season and he was 4-0 with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He has not started a game against the Cardinals this season. The only hitter with a lot of success against Padilla in his career is Albert Pujols who is 4 for 9 (.444 avg) with a double and a RBI. The Cardinals need Pineiro to pitch the best game of his season tonight to keep them alive against the Dodgers

Mark DeRosa, Colby Rasmus and Ryan Ludwick have been ripping the baseball for the Cardinals so far in the playoffs. DeRosa has been outstanding as he is 5 for 9 (.556 avg, 1.223 OPS) with a double, 1 run scored and 1 RBI. Rasmus has not looked intimidated by the experience of the playoffs as he is 3 for 6 (.500 avg, 1.404 OPS) with a double, a run scored and 1 RBI. Ryan Ludwick needs more guys to get on base ahead of him as he is 3 for 8 (.375 avg, .819 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. With DeRosa, Rasmus and Ludwick batting in the 5th to 8th spots in the batting order the Cardinals need production from the top of the lineup if they are going to come back and win this series.

The Cardinals had this game in the bag as a routine fly ball was hit to Matt Holliday with 2 outs in the 9th and he dropped the ball. The Dodgers then rallied to win the game when pinch hitter Mark Loretta drove in Casey Blake with a single. The Cardinals wasted an outstanding effort by Adam Wainwright. He worked the first 8 innings of this game and he only allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run while whiffing 7 batters. Lefty Trever Miller came in and faced one batter getting him out. Closer Ryan Franklin only got one guy out while allowing 2 hits, walking 2 batters and he gave up two unearned runs as he was the losing pitcher. Matt Holliday was 1 for 4 with the bat including a solo homer but he is still the goat of this game for the Cardinals. Julio Lugo (double, steal), Mark DeRosa (run scored) and Colby Rasmus (double, RBI) each went 2 for 4 in this game. The Cardinals are now down 2-0 in this series as it shifts to St. Louis.