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Cardinals-Cubs Preview

Jul 10, 2009 - 1:30 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (47-40) at Chicago (41-41), 2:20 p.m. EDT

Behind a strong start to a season-high 10-game road trip, the St. Louis Cardinals have taken over first place in the NL Central.

Albert Pujols and the Cardinals look to carry this momentum into the All-Star break when they conclude the trip with a four-game, three-day series against the Chicago Cubs beginning Friday at Wrigley Field.

St. Louis (47-40) was percentage points behind Milwaukee in the Central when this trip started in Cincinnati last Friday, and after taking two of three from both the Reds and Brewers, the Cardinals have opened up a two-game lead.

In Wednesday's 5-1 comeback win over Milwaukee, Pujols doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Ryan Ludwick followed with a three-run homer.

"For us, we knew it was a big road trip and to be able to get off to a start of 4-2 and winning both series at each stop, it's extremely important for us," Ludwick said.

Continuing that success in Chicago could be tough, though. The Cardinals dropped two of three at Wrigley in April and are just 8-18 on Chicago's North Side since 2006.

Pujols, the most-feared hitter in baseball, leads the majors in home runs (31), RBIs (83) and slugging percentage (.723), but Chicago's pitchers have done a decent job of limiting his production.

The eight-time All-Star is batting .286 (8 for 28) with two home runs, six RBIs and a .475 on-base percentage in nine games against the Cubs this season, and he is hitting .200 (6 for 30) with one homer, one double and five RBIs in nine games at Wrigley since 2008.

Despite Pujols' pedestrian numbers against Chicago, the Cardinals have won six of nine over their archrivals this season.

Chicago's sputtering offense was to blame for being swept in a three-game series at Busch Stadium from May 19-21, managing just two runs.

The Cubs were hoping the return of Aramis Ramirez would jump-start the team's bats, but after three games with the two-time All-Star in the lineup, it's been more of the same. Chicago, which ranks 15th in the NL in scoring after leading the league last season, has scored just one run in losing each of its last two.

"What else can I say?" Cubs manager Lou Piniella said after Wednesday's 4-1 loss to Atlanta. "There's nothing else to say, there really isn't. You've just got to swing the bats better if we're going to do anything the rest of the year, and that's really the bottom line."

Chicago's offense looks to get things turned around in the series opener versus Chris Carpenter (6-3, 2.32 ERA), who will look to continue his excellent pitching on the road.

Carpenter has yielded three runs or fewer in all eight of his starts away from home this season, going 3-2 with a 2.26 ERA in those outings. On Sunday at Cincinnati, the right-hander limited the Reds to one run and five hits in seven innings of a 10-1 win.

Carpenter was also excellent at home against the Cubs on May 20, allowing three hits and two walks in five scoreless innings to lead St. Louis to a 2-1 victory. He improved his career mark versus Chicago to 8-3 with a 2.93 ERA in 15 starts.

The Cubs counter with Rich Harden (5-5, 5.35), who is trying to bounce back from one of the worst starts of his career.

Harden was tagged for seven runs and eight hits in a career-low two innings of Saturday's 11-2 loss to Milwaukee. Through 13 starts, the right-hander's ERA is more than three times higher than it was in 12 outings for the Cubs last season (1.77).

Harden has really struggled at Wrigley, where he has been pounded for 14 runs over seven innings in his last two.

He did a decent job of shutting down the Cardinals at Busch on April 26, allowing two runs on solo homers by Rick Ankiel and All-Star Yadier Molina with nine strikeouts in six innings of a 10-3 win.