by Jerry Feitelberg

pinterest.com file photo: St Louis Cardinal manager Mike Matheny prepares his Red Birds for the Oakland A’s who come to Busch Stadium on Friday night

ST LOUIS–The Oakland A’s resume interleague play Friday evening as they meet the ever dangerous St.Louis Cardinals. The Cards, managed by Mike Matheny, are currently in second place in the NL Central Division. They trail the Chicago Cubs by thirteen and one-half games and with a record of 67-58. they find themselves just 1/2 game behind the San Francisco Giants in the race for the first Wild Card spot. They lead the Miami Marlin by one and one-half games for the second Wild Card.

The Cardinals, who always seem to be contenders for a playoff berth, have been hit hard by the injury bug. They have placed twelve players on the DL since July 1st. The list includes relievers, Trevor Rosenthal and Jordan Walden. Starting pitcher Michael Wacha is also on the list.  Aledmys Diaz, Matt Adams, and Matt Holliday are position players out with injury and not available. However, the Cards still have players that can make life miserable for the A’s this weekend. Matt Carpenter has been a solid performer for St. Louis for several years. He is hitting .284 and has an OBP of .400. His OPS is a  cool .933 . Other regulars are former Stanford product, outfielder Stephen Piscotty, Randal Grichuk, former Athletic, Brandon Moss, Yadier Molina, Jhonny Peralta and Gregg Garcia.

The pitching matchups this weekend will feature A’s lefty Ross Detwiler (1-2) vs. Luke Weaver (0-1). On Saturday, Zach Neal (2-3) will pitch for Oakland and the A’s will face Mike Leake(9-9). On Sunday, Andrew Triggs (0-1) will pitch and lefty Jaime Garcia (10-9) will pitch for St. Louis. Triggs, by the way, pitched very well last week against the Cleveland Indians and lost a heartbreaker 1-0.

It should be an interesting series this weekend. The Cardinals do not have a good home record. they are 29-34 and it appears that Busch Stadium hasn’t been to their advantage this year. The A’s would love to play spoilers. The A’s manager Bob Melvin will be using his young players. Ryon Healy, Jake Smolinski, Chad Pinder will all see significant playing time this weekend. The Cardinals, on the other hand, are playing for a playoff berth and can not afford to take the A’s lightly. The A’s took two out of three from the Indians and would love to do the same in St.Louis. Let the fun begin.