Cardinal Fan and Gaslampball reader Bert gives us his takes:
I think that game one is huge. Peavy is by far the Pads best pitcher. As is Carp for us. If you can take game one at Busch I would get concerned. I hope Carpenter's little slump here at the end of the season was just a lack of motivation and not him wearing down after pitching so many innings.
La Russa has some hetero crush on Morris. I don't know why he would go with him in game three like he is talking about. He gave up 3 homers in 5 pitches yesterday. He scares me. If the Pads take one. Three should be very winable. Then it is a real fight in a short series. Not that I don't respect what Morris has done for the Cardinals, but I don't think he gives us the best chance to win right now. It seems like Woody is getting back into form. If it is Woody vs Morris I would have trouble betting on Morris.
Mulder is good, not great for game two. He is a ground ball guy. You will get some runs, but probably not a lot.
It sounds like Peavy is capable of shutting you down on any given day.
That type of game [low scoring game] definetly favors the Pads.
In a shootout, I would give it to the Cards. The power game has picked up here at the end of the season. Reggie Sanders is back and so is Walker. Edmonds seems to be getting hot too. He is really streaky. If he gets on a tear he can carry the team by himself.
[Padres lack of power] Well, Morris is throwing gopher balls, so that should be an opportunity to crush some.
BREAKING NEWS: Some bad news for the Cardinals. Al Reyes, the Cardinals' best reliever this year, is out for the year. Tommy John surgery. He went out of Fridays game with a "pop" in his elbow.