[Brian34Cook]

St. Louis Cardinals (64-53)

@


Chicago Cubs (69-46)

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="bg1" align="left"><td colspan="22">National League Central</td></tr> <tr id="special" class="bg4" align="left"><td align="left" width="19%">Team</td><td align="right" width="5%">W</td><td align="right" width="5%">L</td><td align="right" width="7%">Pct.</td><td align="right" width="7%">GB</td><td align="right" width="9%">Home</td><td align="right" width="9%">Road</td><td align="right" width="9%">East</td><td align="right" width="9%">Cent.</td><td align="right" width="9%">West</td><td align="right" width="6%">L10</td><td align="right" width="6%">Strk</td></tr><tr class="bgH" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Chi. Cubs</td><td>69</td><td>46</td><td>.600</td><td>-.-</td><td>43-16</td><td>26-30</td><td>9-6</td><td>31-21</td><td>23-10</td><td>8-2</td><td>W 2</td></tr><tr class="bgH" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Milwaukee (43)</td><td>64</td><td>51</td><td>.557</td><td>5.0</td><td>32-23</td><td>32-28</td><td>12-12</td><td>30-23</td><td>15-8</td><td>4-6</td><td>W 2</td></tr><tr class="bgF" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">St. Louis (41)</td><td>64</td><td>53</td><td>.547</td><td>6.0</td><td>33-28</td><td>31-25</td><td>15-11</td><td>25-24</td><td>17-10</td><td>6-4</td><td>L 1</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Houston (35)</td><td>54</td><td>59</td><td>.478</td><td>14.0</td><td>29-26</td><td>25-33</td><td>13-9</td><td>22-28</td><td>12-11</td><td>7-3</td><td>L 2</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Pittsburgh (32)</td><td>52</td><td>62</td><td>.456</td><td>16½</td><td>32-26</td><td>20-36</td><td>12-12</td><td>24-27</td><td>10-14</td><td>4-6</td><td>W 1</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Cincinnati (31)</td><td>52</td><td>63</td><td>.452</td><td>17.0</td><td>31-27</td><td>21-36</td><td>18-17</td><td>16-25</td><td>9-15</td><td>2-8</td><td>L </td></tr></tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="bg1" align="left"><td colspan="5">National League</td></tr> <tr id="special" class="bg4" align="left"><td align="left">Team</td><td align="right">W</td><td align="right">L</td><td align="right">PCT</td><td align="right">GB</td></tr><tr class="bgH" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Milwaukee</td><td align="right">64</td><td align="right">51</td><td align="right">.557</td><td align="right">-.-</td></tr><tr class="bgF" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">St. Louis</td><td align="right">64</td><td align="right">53</td><td align="right">.547</td><td align="right">1.0</td></tr><tr class="bgP" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Florida</td><td align="right">61</td><td align="right">54</td><td align="right">.530</td><td align="right">3.0</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">N.Y. Mets</td><td align="right">60</td><td align="right">54</td><td align="right">.526</td><td align="right">3½</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">L.A. Dodgers</td><td align="right">57</td><td align="right">57</td><td align="right">.500</td><td align="right">6½</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Houston</td><td align="right">54</td><td align="right">59</td><td align="right">.478</td><td align="right">9.0</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Atlanta</td><td align="right">52</td><td align="right">62</td><td align="right">.456</td><td align="right">11½</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Pittsburgh</td><td align="right">52</td><td align="right">62</td><td align="right">.456</td><td align="right">11½</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Cincinnati</td><td align="right">52</td><td align="right">63</td><td align="right">.452</td><td align="right">12.0</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Colorado</td><td align="right">52</td><td align="right">63</td><td align="right">.452</td><td align="right">12.0</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">San Francisco</td><td align="right">48</td><td align="right">65</td><td align="right">.425</td><td align="right">15.0</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">San Diego</td><td align="right">44</td><td align="right">71</td><td align="right">.383</td><td align="right">20.0</td></tr><tr class="bg2" align="right" height="17" valign="middle"><td align="left">Washington</td><td align="right">42</td><td align="right">71</td><td align="right">.372</td><td align="right">21.0</td></tr></tbody></table>
MLB Baseball Standings - CBSSports.com Major League Baseball Standings

Date        Time:    TV:    Radio
08/08/08    1:20    FSMW    KTRS
08/09/08    2:55     FOX    KTRS
08/10/08    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

Pitching Matchups:
#1: RHP Looper (10-9, 4.29) @ LHP Lilly (11-6, 4.35)
#2: RHP Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.01) @ RHP Zambrano (12-4, 2.76)
#3: RHP Carpenter (0-0, 1.00) @ RHP Dempster (12-5, 2.93)

Rotation:
<pre>
Starter W L ERA IP ER H HR BB K
Carpenter 0 0 1.00 9.0 1 8 0 2 4
Wainwright* 6 3 3.14 91.2 32 80 10 19 62
Lohse 13 4 3.80 151.2 64 157 14 36 83
Wellemeyer 8 4 4.01 128.0 57 124 15 41 87
Looper 10 9 4.29 134.1 64 151 19 32 65
Piñeiro 4 5 5.04 110.2 63 138 14 25 53
</pre>

Bullpen:
<pre>
Reliever W L ERA HLD SV IP ER H HR BB K
SU Springer 2 0 2.25 8 0/2 36.0 9 30 3 13 30
SU McClellan 2 5 2.77 26 1/5 61.2 19 59 6 18 49
SU Franklin 4 4 3.56 12 14/21 55.2 22 62 8 23 38
LH Garcia 1 1 3.60 1 0/0 10.0 4 7 2 4 6
MR Perez 2 1 3.91 5 1/3 25.1 11 21 3 14 24
MR Thompson 4 2 4.19 1 0/1 43.0 20 45 3 16 25
LH Villone 1 2 5.26 10 1/2 39.1 23 38 4 29 41
CL Isringhausen 1 5 5.98 2 12/19 40.2 27 45 5 21 33
</pre>

Probable Lineup:
<pre>
Player AVG H AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Schumaker .301 117 389 64 18 4 6 34 37 46 8/10
Ankiel .281 99 352 57 21 2 22 60 34 83 2/3
Pujols .350 127 363 68 27 0 23 73 76 38 6/7
Ludwick .307 115 374 78 24 3 29 82 45 96 4/6
Glaus .270 111 411 53 28 1 19 74 64 78 0/1
Molina .307 107 348 29 15 0 4 42 26 24 0/2
Kennedy .273 71 260 29 12 1 1 24 17 35 6/7
- Pitcher -
Looper .286 12 42 5 3 0 0 3 4 14 0/0
*Wainwright .225 9 40 2 1 0 1 3 1 13 0/0
Wellemeyer .158 6 38 2 0 0 0 3 1 18 0/0
Pineiro .108 4 37 2 2 0 0 3 3 24 0/0
Lohse .063 3 48 0 0 0 0 4 0 18 0/1
Carpenter .000 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0/0
- End -
Izturis .243 68 280 33 8 2 1 17 23 18 12/15
</pre>

Bench:
<pre>
Player AVG H AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Miles .317 89 281 34 11 1 3 25 18 25 1/3
Mather .242 23 95 14 4 0 5 12 8 21 1/1
LaRue .223 25 112 11 4 1 3 11 11 14 0/0
Lopez .167 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1/1

Barton* .246 30 122 18 7 1 2 11 15 33 3/4
</pre>

NL Central Upcoming Games:

Chicago Cubs:
Yes, the Cubs play the Cards.. Duh!

Milwaukee Brewers:
Fri, 7:05 CT: WAS (Balester 2-3, 4.55) @ MIL (Sabathia 11-8, 3.28)
Sat, 6:05 CT: WAS (Redding 8-6, 4.44) @ MIL (Sheets 10-5, 3.14)
Sun, 1:05 CT: WAS (Lannan 6-11, 3.55) @ MIL (Parra 9-5, 4.18)

Cardinals Game Links:

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

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

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

[Brian34Cook]

Cardinals Notes
Home Record: 33-28
Away Record: 31-25
Night Record: 43-36
Day Record: 21-17
1 Run Games: 22-20

Record vs NL West: 17-10
Record vs NL East: 15-11
Record vs. NL Central: 25-24

Record vs. Houston: 8-4
Record vs. Cincinnati: 4-2
Record vs. Chicago: 3-3
Record vs. Pittsburgh: 6-6
Record vs. Milwaukee: 4-9

Records When:
Scoring First: 44-22
Opponent Does: 20-30

Score more than 3 runs: 58-17
Score 3 Runs: 4-14
Score Fewer than 3 Runs: 2-26

Score in 3 or few innings: 33-48
Score in 4 or more innings: 31-5

First Game of Series: 20-17
Last Game of Series: 13-24

Come-from-behind Wins: 28
In Errorless Games: 40-32

Extra Innings: 6-9

The Cardinals are 1-0 in Boggs Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 1-0 in Thompson Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 12-2 in Lohse Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 7-1 in Wainwright Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 6-4 in Wellemeyer Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 4-4 in Piñeiro Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 4-6 in Looper Quality Starts
The Cardinals are 35-17 (.673 Win %) when they get a QS

Day Records:
Monday: 5-5
Tuesday: 10-8
Wednesday: 11-6
Thursday: 5-13
Friday: 10-8
Saturday: 13-5
Sunday: 10-8

Month Record:
April: 18-11
May: 15-13
June: 15-12
July: 13-14
August: 3-3
September: N/A

Runs inning/Oppo Runs inning:
<pre>
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Cards 82 52 74 66 56 53 57 63 43 5 4 0 0 2
Oppos 47 40 68 77 52 53 52 66 51 15 0 1 2 0
</pre>

Cardinals Runs: 549
Opponents Runs: 521

Runs Per Win/Loss Overall:
Runs in Wins: 64 GM, 410 Runs, 6.41 AVG
Runs in Losses: 53 GM, 148 Runs, 2.79 AVG

Minor League Scoreboards:
Venezuelan Summer League - A (Venezuelan Cards)
Dominican Summer League - A (Dominican Cards)
Gulf Coast League - A (Gulf Coast Cards)
New York Penn League - A (short season) (Batavia Muckdogs)
Appalachian League - A (short season) (Johnson City Cardinals)
Midwest League - Class A (Quad Cities River Bandits)
Florida State League - Class A (Advanced) (Palm Beach Cardinals)
Texas League - Double A (Springfield Cardinals)
Pacific Coast League - Triple A (Memphis Redbirds)

[Brian34Cook]

So I'm pretty excited for this!

[Brian34Cook]

Sure could use him back..


ANKIEL A MAYBE FOR WRIGLEY

Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel had an aggressive workout Thursday at Busch Stadium, La Russa said, and Ankiel could return to the lineup as early as this weekend after missing time with an abdominal strain.

Ankiel said the difficulty has been running and when he's "able to do that at full-speed, then I'll play." Ankiel has been limited to pinch-hit duty. He struck out in that role during Thursday's ninth inning.

"More looking like he can play this weekend," La Russa said. "But not a guarantee."

STLtoday - Raising Perez

[Brian34Cook]

Trip to Wrigley full of meaning for Redbirds

By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

08/08/2008


For all the profanity-inducing, stomach-twisting, head-scratching consternation they've helped provoke over these last few wild and nervous weeks, maybe it's time we give the Cardinals a little credit for something besides our own rising acid reflux levels.

It's the second weekend in August, and this team is heading to Chicago with a chance on its bats. With nearly a third of the season remaining, there is meaningful baseball being played by these cardiac Cards, and I can say confidently that four months ago I didn't see this coming — and neither did most of the baseball world.

Despite a bullpen that produces more diabolical thrillers than Stephen King, the Cardinals are hitting the road for 10 games, and they have a two-dimensional playoff vision in their heads. On one side, there is the NL Central title, and the Cubbies in full control of that dimension with a five-game lead over Milwaukee with fewer than 50 games to play.

So by any math or voodoo you choose, the Cards, six games back, are full of possibilities to reel in Chicago. They have nine games remaining against the Cubs (three at home, six on the road), and the Cubs have six more September dates with the second-place Brewers. That gives the Cardinals ample opportunity to find a way to close this gap, and that's without even relying on any of those reliable Cubs curses, jinxes or other things that go bump in the night.

On the other dimension is a wild-card race that finds them one game behind the Brewers (two games remaining against the Cards in St. Louis), and two games ahead of the Florida Marlins in a tightly bunched race for that bonus ticket into the postseason. So on this trip alone, there are three shots at the Cubs and four shots at the Marlins. These are those rare opportunities that make August worthwhile — a chance to gain ground on the team you're desperately pursuing and widen the gap on the team that is eagerly chasing you.

"It's fun," admitted outfielder Ryan Ludwick after Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. "It's what baseball should be all about: playoffs on the line. I've never been here before (in a pennant chase), but a lot of these guys in here have. For me, I'm enjoying it. It's exciting. Every day is important."

STLtoday - Trip to Wrigley full of meaning for Redbirds

[Brian34Cook]

Cards Sweep - 3 GB
Cards take 2/3 - 5 GB
Cubs take 2/3 - 7 GB
Cubs Sweep - 9 GB

I think we just need to take the series? Yeah that wouldnt be bad..

[Brian34Cook]

<table class="shsTable"><tbody><tr><td><table><tbody><tr> <td id="shsAwayMastheadLogo"></td><td class="shsMastheadScore">
</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td><table id="shsMastheadLinescore" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr class="shsTableTtlRow"> <td style="text-align: left;">:20 PM CT </td> <td style="text-align: right;">FoxM/CSN </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">St. Louis (64-53, 31-25 Road) </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Chi Cubs (69-46, 43-16 Home) </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td><td><table><tbody><tr><td class="shsMastheadScore">
</td><td id="shsHomeMastheadLogo"></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> StL: B. Looper (10-9, 4.29 ERA)
ChC: T. Lilly (11-6, 4.35 ERA)

Preview | Head to Head

Head to Head Analysis

<table width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="border: 1px solid black; width: 50%;"><table class="shsTable"><tbody><tr class="shsTableSubttlRow"><td class="shsTotD" width="15%">Cardinals</td><td class="shsTotD">HITTING STATS</td><td class="shsTotD" width="15%">Cubs</td></tr><tr class="shsRow0Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">.276</td><td class="shsTotD">Average</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">.281</td></tr><tr class="shsRow1Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">558</td><td class="shsTotD">Runs</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">615</td></tr><tr class="shsRow0Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">1127</td><td class="shsTotD">Hits</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">1122</td></tr><tr class="shsRow1Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">204</td><td class="shsTotD">Doubles</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">241</td></tr><tr class="shsRow0Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">16</td><td class="shsTotD">Triples</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">16</td></tr><tr class="shsRow1Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">126</td><td class="shsTotD">Home Runs</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">131</td></tr><tr class="shsRow0Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">531</td><td class="shsTotD">RBIs</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">582</td></tr><tr class="shsRow1Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">439</td><td class="shsTotD">Walks</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">455</td></tr><tr class="shsRow0Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">710</td><td class="shsTotD">Strikeouts</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">838</td></tr><tr class="shsRow1Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">31</td><td class="shsTotD">HBP</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">42</td></tr><tr class="shsRow0Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">103</td><td class="shsTotD">GIDP</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">94</td></tr><tr class="shsRow1Row"><td class="shsNumD" width="15%">52/20</td><td class="shsTotD">SB / CS</td><td class="shsNamD" width="15%">67/27</td>&l