[Brian34Cook]

Philadelphia Phillies (59-49)

@

St. Louis Cardinals (61-50)

2008 NL Cent Standings


<table class="tablehead teamTop" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr class="colhead" align="right"> <td align="left">TEAM</td><td width="11%">W</td><td width="11%">L</td><td width="14%">GB</td><td width="14%">RS</td><td width="14%">RA</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow" align="right"> <td align="left"><nobr>Chicago Cubs</nobr></td><td>65</td><td>44</td><td>-.-</td><td>580</td><td>450</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow" align="right"> <td align="left"><nobr>Milwaukee</nobr></td><td>60</td><td>49</td><td>5.0</td><td>505</td><td>495</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow" align="right"> <td align="left"><nobr>St. Louis</nobr></td><td>61</td><td>50</td><td>5.0</td><td>531</td><td>503</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow" align="right"> <td align="left"><nobr>Cincinnati</nobr></td><td>51</td><td>58</td><td>14.0</td><td>476</td><td>542</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow" align="right"> <td align="left"><nobr>Houston</nobr></td><td>50</td><td>57</td><td>14.0</td><td>466</td><td>522</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow" align="right"> <td align="left"><nobr>Pittsburgh</nobr></td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>14.5</td><td>533</td><td>602</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="6" class="completeLink">Complete Standings</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table class="tablehead" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr class="stathead"><td colspan="15">2008 National League - Wild Card Standings</td></tr><tr class="colhead" align="right"><td align="left">NATIONAL</td><td width="6%">W</td><td width="6%">L</td><td>Pct</td><td>GB</td><td>HOME</td><td>ROAD</td><td width="5%">RS</td><td width="5%">RA</td><td>DIFF</td><td>STRK</td><td>L10</td><td>
</td><td>
</td><td>
</td></tr><!--seasonType=2--> <!--startDate=20080731--> <tr class="oddrow" align="right"><td align="left">Milwaukee</td><td>60</td><td>49</td><td>.550</td><td width="5%">-.-</td><td>32-23</td><td>28-26</td><td width="5%">505</td><td width="5%">495</td><td class="greenfont" width="5%">+10</td><td>L 5</td><td>4-6</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td></tr><tr class="evenrow" align="right"><td align="left">St. Louis</td><td>61</td><td>50</td><td>.550</td><td width="5%">-.-</td><td>30-25</td><td>31-25</td><td width="5%">531</td><td width="5%">503</td><td class="greenfont" width="5%">+28</td><td>L 1</td><td>4-6</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td></tr><tr class="oddrow" align="right"><td align="left">NY Mets</td><td>58</td><td>50</td><td>.537</td><td width="5%">1.5</td><td>32-20</td><td>26-30</td><td width="5%">532</td><td width="5%">486</td><td class="greenfont" width="5%">+46</td><td>L 1</td><td>6-4</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td></tr><tr class="evenrow" align="right"><td align="left">Florida</td><td>57</td><td>51</td><td>.528</td><td width="5%">2.5</td><td>31-24</td><td>26-27</td><td width="5%">514</td><td width="5%">545</td><td class="redfont" width="5%">-31</td><td>W 1</td><td>5-5</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td><td width="5%">
</td></tr><tr class="oddrow" align="right"><td align="left">LA Dodgers</td><td>54</td><td>53</td><td>.505</td><td width="5%">5.0</td><td>30-25</td><td>24-28</td><td width="5%">449</td><td width="5%">429</td><td class="greenfont" width="5%">+20</td><td>W 2</td><td>7-3</td></tr></tbody></table>

Date        Time:    TV:    Radio
08/01/08    7:15    FSMW    KTRS
08/02/08    6:15    FSMW    KTRS
08/03/08    7:05    ESPN    KTRS

Cardinals Links:

Official Sites:
Official Site of St. Louis Cardinals|Press Pass - Cardinals
Sports Illustrated|Sporting News|CBSSportsline|ESPN|Yahoo
St. Louis Post Dispatch Cardinals

Blogs:
Matthew Leach|Goold - Bird Land|Bernies Pressbox|Future Redbirds|Blog: Viva El Birdos

Player Sites:
Albert Pujols Family Foundation|Rick Ankiel Official Site

TV/Radio:
KSDK|Big 550 KTRS

Disabled List/Minor Leagues:

- Disabled List -
SP Adam Wainwright - 15 Day
SP Mark Mulder - 15 Day
RP Tyler Johnson - 60 Day
RP Josh Kinney - 60 Day
OF Juan Encarnacion - 60 Day
OF Brian Barton - 15 Day
MR Matt Clement

- Minor Leaguers (that have been with team) -
SP/MR Mitch Boggs
OF Nick Stavinoha
SP Jaime Garcia
RP Chris Perez
RP Mark Worrell

Crap:
IF Rico Washington
SP/RP Mike Parisi

Pitching Matchups:
#1: LHP Hamels (9-6, 3.27) @ RHP Lohse (12-3, 3.68)
#2: RHP Blanton (0-0, 7.88) @ RHP Looper (10-8, 4.38)
#3: RHP Myers S(4-9, 5.46) @ RHP Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.13)

Rotation:
<pre>
Starter W L ERA IP ER H HR BB K
Carpenter 0 0 2.25 4.0 1 5 0 2 2
Wainwright* 6 3 3.14 91.2 32 80 10 19 62
Lohse 12 3 3.68 139.1 57 145 12 32 72
Wellemeyer 8 4 4.13 122.0 56 120 14 40 84
Looper 10 8 4.38 127.1 62 148 17 30 61
Piñeiro 3 5 5.04 103.2 59 130 13 25 51
</pre>

Bullpen:
<pre>
Reliever W L ERA HLD SV IP ER H HR BB K
SU Springer 2 0 1.85 7 0/1 34.0 7 28 2 12 29
SU McClellan 2 5 2.76 24 1/5 58.2 18 57 6 17 48
SU Franklin 4 4 3.81 12 14/20 52.0 22 59 8 21 35
MR Thompson 4 2 3.89 0 0/1 41.1 18 42 3 16 25
LH Flores 1 0 4.56 2 1/3 23.2 12 30 1 17 15
LH Villone 1 2 5.08 10 1/2 39.0 22 37 3 28 41
RH Jimenez 0 0 5.63 1 0/0 16.0 10 18 4 11 7
CL Isringhausen 1 5 5.84 1 11/18 37.0 24 40 5 18 28
</pre>

Probable Lineup:
<pre>
Player AVG H AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Schumaker .302 111 368 63 18 4 6 33 37 43 8/9
Ludwick .295 103 349 69 23 3 23 74 43 90 4/6
Pujols .354 121 342 65 26 0 21 67 70 35 5/6
Ankiel .282 98 348 57 21 2 22 59 34 80 2/3
Glaus .272 106 387 51 27 1 18 72 60 73 0/1
Molina .308 101 328 29 15 0 4 40 26 21 0/2
Kennedy .267 65 242 25 12 1 1 23 17 33 6/7
- Pitcher -
Looper .293 12 41 5 3 0 0 3 4 13 0/0
*Wainwright .225 9 40 2 1 0 1 3 1 13 0/0
Wellemeyer .167 5 34 2 0 0 0 3 1 16 0/0
Pineiro .086 3 35 1 2 0 0 3 3 23 0/0
Lohse .068 3 44 0 0 0 0 4 0 17 0/1
Carpenter .000 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0
- End -
Izturis .236 62 262 30 8 2 1 16 21 17 11/14
</pre>

Bench:
<pre>
Player AVG H AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Miles .315 84 265 33 11 1 3 25 17 22 1/3
Mather .257 19 74 12 4 0 4 9 7 16 0/0
Ryan .239 43 180 25 8 0 0 9 14 29 6/8
Stavinoha .238 5 21 3 0 0 3 0 1 5 0/0
LaRue .229 25 109 11 4 1 3 11 11 1 0/0

Duncan* .248 55 222 26 8 0 6 27 34 52 2/3
Barton* .246 30 122 18 7 1 2 11 15 33 3/4
</pre>

NL Central Upcoming Games:

Chicago Cubs:
Fri, 1:20 CT: PIT (Karstens 0-0, -.--) @ CHC (Marquis 6-6, 4.69)
Sat, 12:05 CT: PIT (Maholm 7-6, 3.79) @ CHC (Lilly 10-6, 4.49)
Sun, 1:20 CT: PIT (Snell 4-8, 6.04) @ CHC (Zambrano 12-4 2.80)

Milwaukee Brewers:
Fri, 6:30 CT: MIL (Suppan 5-7, 5.04) @ ATL (James 2-3 8.22)
Sat, 2:55 CT: MIL (Sabathia 10-8, 3.33) @ ATL (Morton 2-4 7.26)
Sun, 12:30 CT: MIL (Sheets 10-4, 3.14) @ ATL (Campillo 5-4, 2.76)

NL Wild Card Contender Games:

New York Mets
Fri, 7:05 CT: NYM (Martinez 3-2, 6.25) @ HOU (Backe 6-10, 4.73)
Fri, 6:05 CT: NYM (Santana 9-7, 2.93) @ HOU (Oswalt 8-8, 4.67)
Fri, 1:05 CT: NYM (Maine 9-7, 4.13) @ HOU (Wolf 6-10, 4.79)

Florida Marlins:
Fri, 6:10 CT: COL (Jimenez 7-9, 3.80) @ FLA (Volstad 2-1, 2.38)
Sat, 6:10 CT: COL (De Los Santos 0-0, 4.50) @ FLA (Nolasco 10-6, 3.94)
Sun, 12:10 CT: COL (Rusch 4-3, 5.70) @ FLA (Olsen 6-6, 4.04)

* The Philadelphia Phillies/New York Mets/Florida Marlins all have their division battle!

Cardinals Game Links:

Game One:
[Boxscore]|[GameDay]|[CBS GameCenter]

Game Two:
[Boxscore]|[GameDay]|[CBS GameCenter]

Game Three:
[Boxscore]|[GameDay]|[CBS GameCenter]

- This is a pretty big series and we need at least 2/3.. it would help us pretty good!

[DPETE56]

It would bring more hype to the Cards/Cubs series that is coming up if the Cards could gain some ground in the division, but I'm not gonna lie... I don't want to see that happen.

[Kitty]

Hook me up with a couple of wins Brian! Go Cards!

[Brian34Cook]

Originally Posted by Kitty

Hook me up with a couple of wins Brian! Go Cards!

I hope.. a few would be better.. for both of us

Oh and please intentional walk Cardinal Killer Ryan Howard every time he's up.. no?

[Pujolsfan91]

2 out of 3 is my prediction.

[Brian34Cook]

08/01/2008 12:37 AM ET
Every game crucial as Cards face Phils
St. Louis (61-50) vs. Philadelphia (59-49), Friday, 7:15 p.m. CT
By Ryan Lavner / MLB.com

<!--sphereit start-->ATLANTA -- Manager Tony La Russa had reason to believe a prosperous week like this was coming. All he had to do was reflect on the lost opportunities last week, when the Cardinals dropped six of seven, including four straight to the Brewers in similarly heartbreaking fashion.

"I feel good about the way we competed," La Russa said. "It was just a bad result."

And when a team is in the thick of a division and Wild Card race -- as the Cardinals currently are -- results are what matter. So consider these past four days a success.

"It's a bummer," Joe Mather said of not finishing the four-game sweep against the injury-riddled Braves. "But taking three of four isn't bad, and we did what we wanted to in the series."

Pitching matchup

STL: RHP Kyle Lohse (12-3, 3.68 ERA)
As his manager is fond of saying, "even Sinatra cleared his throat once in a while." Lohse, who had been consistently excellent for the better part of three months, endured a clunker his last time out. He's still been the Cardinals' most dependable starter this year, and he's got a big assignment with the opener of a three-game series against the potent Phillies.

PHI: LHP Cole Hamels (9-6, 3.27 ERA)
Hamels endured his harshest outing of 2008 Saturday against the Braves, giving up nine runs -- four of them earned -- in one inning. He left after 3 2/3 innings on the hill, his shortest appearance this season. The Phils' bats, however, exploded for seven runs in the fifth to give Hamels the no-decision. He lost his only outing against St. Louis this season, giving up two runs in seven innings.

Tidbits
First baseman Albert Pujols went 5-for-13 during the four-game series against the Braves. He batted .400 on the Cardinals' seven-game road trip. ... Izturis went 3-for-5 on Thursday, his third three-hit game of the season. He currently has a six-game hitting streak. ... Joel Pineiro's fourth-inning RBI double was his third hit and third RBI of the season. ... The Braves and Cardinals resume their season series on Aug. 22-24 at Busch Stadium.

Every game crucial as Cards face Phils | StLCardinals.com: News

[DPETE56]

Pretty nice pitching matchup there.

[Brian34Cook]

Yep Lohse had a bad outing his last game against the Mets.. need a good one tonight though storms are in the forecast so who knows..

All I want is 2 outta 3 and I think we can do that at least.. just glad Pineiro isnt pitching this series.. though I wouldnt mind moving Carpenter to Sunday Night and Wellemeyer to his next start but that might be pushing it with Carp