Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter will start Game 2 of the NL championship series against the Mets on Friday instead of the third game, with St. Louis manager Tony La Russa making the switch a day after the opener was rained out. Carpenter, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, was 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA in the Cardinals' first-round win over San Diego and is 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA in five postseason starts. He started Sunday night when St. Louis finished off the Padres in four games.