Game 1: Cardinals vs Rangers

Chris Carpenter vs C. J. Wilson

• Wilson pitched well all season finishing with 16 wins and a 2.94 ERA....in the playoffs tho the Rangers are 1-2 when he pitches and the only game they one they pulled him in the 5th.  Batters have a .387 OBP versus Wilson so far in the playoffs and he has an 8.04 ERA in the playoffs including 6 HRs in 15.2 IP, so basically what seemed to be a very strong finish to the regular season for Wilson has not transitioned into the playoffs.
• Carpenter has pitched very well for the Cardinals down the stretch when they needed him...as the Cardinals have won 7 of the last 8 that he has started.  Carpenter on the other hand has batters having a .314 OBP and a 3.71 ERA in the playoffs while only allowing 1 HR...these numbers aren't that great considering his complete game shutout against the Phillies...but the fact that he threw a complete game shutout against the Phillies is exactly the reason why I would much rather have Carpenter on the mound compared to Wilson.  
• Both teams have a high powered offense with a slight advantage in stats to the Rangers...but considering their ballpark, I'd say that it really isn't that much of an advantage if any, as the Rangers Ballpark has the more runs in it than any other stadium (tho if the Rangers have a high powered offense that should be expected), while Busch is near the bottom placing 25th outta 30th (with the Cardinals offense shouldn't make as much sense).
• The big thing that it comes down to seems to be whose bullpen is going to pitch better and with both bullpen's pitching well right now that's pretty much a toss up, but it would be nice to see Carpenter go deeper into this first game to relieve the bullpen a little bit.
• The winner in all of this is going to be Arthur Rhodes, who pitched for the Rangers til the very end of July...so with both of his teams in the world series is most likely getting a ring no matter what, but I'm sure he would much rather see the team his on now win it, rather than the team that got rid of him.
• My prediction for the first game is that the Cardinals are going to win as I am not expecting too much from Wilson (more in terms of innings than quality) and am expecting Carpenter to pitch well, hopefully having the Cardinals jump out to a lead that they are able to hold on to down the stretch.