Cardinals take on Josh Johnson in N.L. Showdown

Josh Johnson has quietly become one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. With all the hype around Jared Weaver’s 6-0 start (now 6-1) and the Philadelphia starting rotation, Johnson has gone relatively unnoticed. A 3-0 start with an absurd .88 earned run average in 41 innings of work puts Johnson on pace to have one of the best years’ for a pitcher in recent memory.

None of what Johnson is doing should too big of a surprise as he is coming off of remarkable year in 2010. He finished the year with a 2.30 ERA and an 11-6 record. Johnson tailed off in the second half of the season, and missed a few starts as well. Roy Halladay ended up getting the Cy Young award, but Johnson got the attention of many baseball experts. At 6’7” and 250lbs Johnson is an imposing figure on the mound. He has the ability to mow batters down with a devastating fastball, but chooses to set batters up and pitch his way through line-ups.

The Florida Marlins batting order has been inconsistent at times, but still possesses the potential to give Johnson all the run support he needs as he obviously doesn’t require a whole lot of help. Florida is currently 9th in all of basbell in runs scored, but is doing so with a minuscule .254 batting average. They have plenty of pop in their bats, but will need to learn how to manufacture runs on nights when the ball isn’t flying out. However, Johnson has allowed just 4 earned runs over 6 starts which could make the worst team in the league look good. Johnson isn’t considered a pop fly or ground ball pitcher because he manages to get batters to commit to bad pitches that result in either of the two. Thursday’s match-up with the red-hot St Louis Cardinals will definitely require him to be at his best.

The Cardinals are leading Major League Baseball in the majority of offensive categories. They lead in run scored, batting average, hits, runs batted in and on-base percentage. MLB handicappers had the Cardinals as the team to beat in the N.L. Central prior to the start of the season, but a 2-6 start made it seem as though the Cards weren’t ready to live up to expectations. You’d think that it was Albert Pujols that would jump start this offense, but it’s been the incredible hitting of Matt Holiday and Lance Berkman that turned things around for St Louis.

Holiday and Berkman are the only 2 players in the Majors to still have a batting average over .400, and they don’t seem to be slowing down! They will have their work cut out for them against Johnson, but have proven that they can hit anything and anybody thus far in 2011. Pujols is off to an uncharacteristically slow start, but I can assure you that no one in the Cardinals organization is too worried about it. It’s only a matter of time before Pujols starts lighting up National League pitching.

Thursday’s game will be a classic match-up of good hitting against good hitting. Tune in as the hot-hitting Cardinals take on one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.

 

Related posts:

1. Josh Johnson takes on Rockies Offense Sunday
2. Dodgers host Cardinals in NL Showdown Friday
3. Cardinals look to Garcia to take Series lead
4. Cardinals host Nationals in Pitcher’s Duel
5. Mets host Cardinals in a Pitching Dominated Series

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