Cardinals' pitchers should thrive

This week, there won’t be teams with a schedule advantage so much as teams with a disadvantage.

Twenty of the 30 major league teams are scheduled to play seven games, with the other 10 limited to six games. The difference is more pronounced in the National League, where just four teams – the Diamondbacks, Braves, Marlins and Pirates – would play six. In the American League, eight teams are scheduled to play every day with just the Indians, Tigers, Angels, Twins, Rays and Blue Jays playing six times.

Six teams – the Orioles and Rangers in the AL; the Reds, Mets, Cardinals and Giants in the NL – would play seven games at homes.

In the AL, that should mean a slight overall advantage for hitters over pitchers. Both stadiums in use all week favor hitters significantly. That effect is watered down some because the two teams scheduled to play all six of their games at home play in an extreme pitchers’ park at Minnesota and a park at Tampa Bay that somewhat favors pitchers.

Another of the majors’ best hitters’ parks is at Cincinnati, and San Francisco’s has been somewhat hitter friendly. But both St. Louis and Shea Stadium are considered among the majors’ best pitchers’ parks, and Florida, where the Marlins are scheduled for six games, also favors pitchers.

Pitchers scheduled to start at home twice this week are RHPs Jason Berken, James Shields, Tommy Hunter, Vicente Padilla, Homer Bailey, Bronson Arroyo, Ricky Nolasco, Mike Pelfrey, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Tim Lincecum, and LHPs Rich Hill, Glen Perkins, Oliver Perez and Barry Zito. My highest recommendations are Nolasco, Carpenter, Wainwright and Lincecum, with Shields and Zito as live longshots. The Cardinals’ pitchers also will be helped by an improved lineup following their trade for LF Matt Holliday.