{"id":18815,"date":"2011-10-21T20:28:06","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T01:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=18815"},"modified":"2011-10-21T20:28:06","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T01:28:06","slug":"world-series-2011-st-louis-cardinals-vs-texas-rangers-game-3-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/world-series-2011-st-louis-cardinals-vs-texas-rangers-game-3-preview-18815\/","title":{"rendered":"World Series 2011: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers Game 3 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers are set for Game 3 of the 2011 World Series Saturday night inside Rangers Ballpark in Arlington<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals at Texas Rangers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Texas Rangers could close out the World Series with three consecutive wins at Rangers Ballpark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St. Louis was unable to hold a 1-0 ninth-inning lead Thursday night and now travel off to Texas for three games.\u00a0 Both teams will be looking to get their offenses going in the warmer weather of the Lone Star State, as the Cardinals are hitting .203, while the Rangers are batting only .186.\u00a0 All eyes will be focused on how first baseman Albert Pujols reacts to criticism following Game 2, as many feel that a defensive play that he was unable to make cost the team a potential win.\u00a0 St. Louis is 21-22 versus left-handed starters this year and the \u2018over\u2019 is 23-19 in those contests.<\/p>\n

Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse has lost both of his postseason starts thus far, allowing nine runs (eight earned) and 13 hits over 9 2\/3 innings.\u00a0 The right-hander tallied a solid 14-8 mark and 3.39 ERA in 30 regular-season starts, issuing just 42 walks and registering 111 strikeouts in 188 1\/3 frames.\u00a0 Lohse was very effective away from home, posting an 8-3 record and 3.13 ERA, allowing just five home runs in 97 2\/3 innings.\u00a0 In 12 career games (nine starts) versus the Rangers, he is 3-3 with a 6.66 ERA.<\/p>\n

Texas is ready to play in front of its home crowd and play just the fourth World Series home game in franchise history.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s going to be crazy, just crazy,\u201d commented Rangers infielder Michael Young.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve played in the postseason in Yankee Stadium and I\u2019ve played in Detroit and now St. Louis.\u00a0 This is the loudest I\u2019ve ever played in front of.\u201d\u00a0 The Rangers and Cardinals, who both ranked among the majors\u2019 top 5 in runs scored, have combined for a total of eight runs in the first two games.\u00a0 Texas is 77-46 versus right-handed starters and 57-29 when playing at home.<\/p>\n

Rangers starting pitcher Matt Harrison is 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA in three postseason appearances, failing to allow a home run in 10 2\/3 innings.\u00a0 The left-hander finished the regular season with an 8-5 record and 3.80 ERA in 16 home games (15 appearances), as opponents hit .278 against him.\u00a0 Harrison was one of the hottest pitchers in baseball during September, tallying a perfect 4-0 mark and 2.64 ERA, issuing just eight walks and registering 23 strikeouts in 30 2\/3 innings.\u00a0 He has gone 2-2 with a 3.80 ERA in 10 career interleague appearances, including a 2-2 mark and 4.21 ERA in six starts.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Rangers due to their 5-0 ATS mark in playoff games as a favorite, while the Cardinals are 2-9 in Lohse\u2019s last 11 starts versus winning teams.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget to check out the most up-to-date betting odds at Bookmaker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers are set for Game 3 of the 2011 World Series Saturday night inside Rangers Ballpark in Arlington St. Louis Cardinals at Texas Rangers St. Louis was unable to hold a 1-0 ninth-inning lead Thursday night and now travel off to Texas for three games.\u00a0 Both teams will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[1556,4861,841,771,523],"class_list":["post-18815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-kyle-lohse","tag-matt-harrison","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-texas-rangers","tag-world-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18816,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18815\/revisions\/18816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}