Cardinals have Gallardo's number

ST. LOUIS -- Nobody on either side can quite figure out why Milwaukee Brewers All-Star starter Yovani Gallardo looks like a completely different pitcher against the St. Louis Cardinals. "I can't explain it," Gallardo said. But the Brewers ace, holder of a lifetime 53-34 record and a 3.52 ERA, seemingly transforms from a top of the rotation starter to someone Milwaukee pulled out of the stands whenever he takes the mound to face the Cardinals. Gallardo is 52-27 with a 3.43 ERA in his career against everybody but the Cardinals. But in 11 career starts against St. Louis, he's just 1-7 with an eye-popping 5.66 ERA. "That's just one of those things," Gallardo said. "That's how this game is. Obviously we all know, I'm 1-7 against these guys, but I try to forget about those things, even if it goes the other way and I'm 7-1. "You can't think about it too much. It's definitely a different kind of game here in the postseason and you know, I'm just looking forward to hopefully giving my team a chance to win." Three of Gallardo's four starts against the Cardinals in 2011 came at Busch Stadium, where he will oppose Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series Wednesday night. Gallardo hasn't given the Brewers a chance to win much against the Cardinals, going 1-3 with a 5.70 ERA in four starts against them this season. His only win came May 7, when he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and finished with eight shutout innings in a 3-2 Milwaukee win. The right-hander, who went 16-7 against the rest of baseball this year, faced the Cardinals three times during a six-start stretch from August 11 to September 6. He allowed four earned runs in five innings on August 11, eight earned runs in 4 23 innings on September 1 and three earned runs in six innings on September 6. "There's no good reason why," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "You know, they have a good offense. Sometimes an offense matches up better against a certain type of pitcher. If it's a power pitcher and you have an offense that really handles the fastball well, that could be a reason. "And same on the other end if offenses match up really well against guys that have the off-speed, slower stuff. I don't know what the case is with this, but I know we expect him to pitch a good game." The poor career numbers against the Cardinals look even weirder for Gallardo when his individual numbers against their hitters are factored in. Only three of the eight projected position players in the Cardinals lineup Wednesday have a .300 average or higher against him. Albert Pujols has done the most damage against Gallardo, posting a .444 average (12-for-27) with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Newcomer Rafael Furcal is 5-for-12 (.417 average) against the right-hander while Ryan Theriot is 5-for-15 (.333 average) and Lance Berkman is 8-for-27 (.296 average). But Matt Holliday (4-for-18, seven strikeouts), Yadier Molina (5-for-21), David Freese (0-for-7) and Jon Jay (3-for-13) have all struggled against the talented right-hander. "Obviously we're aware of some of those numbers," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "I know every time he's pitched against us, and there's been games where he's shut us down. This guy is top shelf, a top of the rotation starter. "He has excellent command of several pitches. We like our chances because we like Carp and we are going to compete. But it's an even game as far as I'm concerned knowing the quality of their pitcher and their team." As unlikely or hard to figure out as his career numbers are, the Cardinals hope Gallardo's struggles against them continue Wednesday night.