Chicago @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 21, 2011 ) St. Louis 6, Chi. Cubs 2
THE STORY: The Chicago Cubs may not be going anywhere this season, but they are still in position to do the next best thing - knock out the rival St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are still alive in the National League wild card race, two games behind the leading Atlanta Braves. St. Louis has been on a roll of late, pushing itself from the fringes of competition to the doorstep with a run of 12 wins in its last 15 games. The Cubs showed they still have some fight left this week when they took two of three at Wrigley Field from the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. Chicago will be looking to take its spoiler routine on the road when it opens up a three-game series at the Cardinals on Friday night.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, CSN (Chicago), FSMW (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs RH Ryan Dempster (10-13, 4.63 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Chris Carpenter (10-9, 3.66 ERA).
Dempster has not won since Aug. 11 - a span of seven starts. The veteran righthander has put up quality starts in six of his last seven turns, but has averaged only 2.7 runs of support over that span. Dempster won at St. Louis on July 31 with six strong innings and is 8-8 with a 4.64 ERA in 46 career appearances - 20 starts against the division rivals.
Carpenter, who is fresh off signing a two-year, $21 million extension, went out in his last turn and shut down the Philadelphia Phillies over eight innings. The New Hampshire native has two scoreless appearances in his last three turns but has also been knocked around a lot, surrendering four earned runs or more in three of his last five. Carpenter went nine innings in a no-decision against Chicago on June 5 and is 11-6 with a 3.12 ERA in his career against the Cubs.
ABOUT THE CUBS (69-87): Chicago has a personal milestone on its radar right now, as Starlin Castro is poised to become the youngest player in team history to reach the 200-hit plateau. Castro, 21, had two hits on Wednesday afternoon to bump his season total to 199. He has also reached base in 34 straight games, the franchise’s longest such streak since 1989. But the Cubs were able to take two of three from the Brewers primarily because of their pitching than the offense. Casey Coleman turned in his best effort of the season in a 5-2 win in the opener and Matt Garza struck out 10 in a complete-game on Wednesday. Chicago has not had much success against St. Louis this season, dropping eight of the first 12 meetings.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS (86-70): St. Louis looked poised to move within a game of the idle Braves on Wednesday afternoon, carrying a 6-2 lead over the New York Mets into the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. But disaster struck in the last frame as Rafael Furcal misplayed a possible double-play grounder and Jason Motte walked three of the five batters he faced. Marc Rzepczynski and Fernando Salas each allowed RBI hits in a six-run frame. The Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the inning for an 8-6 loss. It was the first time the Mets had rallied from four or more runs down in the ninth inning to win in over four years. St. Louis still has a favorable schedule, with three at major league-worst Houston to follow the series against the Cubs.
FINAL PITCH: The Cardinals figure to focus most of their time this winter on free agent Albert Pujols, so they have been locking up other veterans this month. After locking up Carpenter on Sept. 11, the Cardinals announced that they had agreed on a one-year, $12 million extension with outfielder Lance Berkman on Thursday.