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Cardinals-Astros Preview

Jul 20, 2009 - 4:12 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

St. Louis (50-43) at Houston (46-45), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Despite the presence of two-time NL MVP Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup has hardly been dominant recently.

Their starting pitching, however, has more than made up for it.

St. Louis' starters have been fantastic over the past four games, and Kyle Lohse looks to continue that trend Monday night at Minute Maid Park as he seeks a repeat of his early-season complete game against the Houston Astros.

The Cardinals (51-43) are hitting .239 with 17 homers in their past 22 games despite the usual brilliance of Pujols, who's batting .351 with eight home runs and 20 RBIs in that stretch.

They've averaged 3.5 runs in their past four games, but their pitchers have made sure that's been good enough to pick up three victories. St. Louis' starters have lasted at least seven innings without allowing more than two runs during that stretch, capped when Joel Pineiro gave up one run in seven innings Sunday in a 2-1 win over Arizona.

"It starts with pitching, and this team has great pitching," infielder Mark DeRosa told the Cardinals' official Web site on Saturday. "When you have great pitching, the bats kind of come and go and it doesn't seem to be (that crucial)."

DeRosa, who had a sprained left wrist, came off the disabled list Saturday, and St. Louis can hope to see its offense pick up as he gets going. DeRosa was hitting .270 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs when acquired from Cleveland in late June, but he's hitless in 15 at-bats with the Cardinals.

St. Louis has to feel good about its chances heading into Houston for the first time this season regardless of its recent offensive production. The Cardinals' starters went 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA in sweeping the Astros (46-46) from April 10-12, which concluded with Lohse (4-5, 4.26 ERA) tossing a three-hitter for his seventh career complete game in a 3-0 victory.

Lohse is 1-2 with a 4.15 ERA in four career starts in Houston, but 0-2 with a 6.14 ERA in four road outings this season.

One of those losses came July 12, when he gave up four runs and eight hits over five innings in a 7-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs - his first start after missing nearly six weeks with a right forearm strain.

"It's not exactly the results I wanted, but there were some positives coming out of it," Lohse told the Cardinals' official Web site. "I'm ready to get back in the groove. For my first 10 starts, it seemed like something would happen every other one, just health-wise. I'm just looking forward to being freak injury-free."

Houston's starting staff has been outstanding over the past five games, going 3-1 with a 1.91 ERA

Brian Moehler (6-5, 5.08), who gets the nod in the opener, began that stretch on July 12. He allowed seven hits over 6 1-3 innings against Washington in a 5-0 win to improve to 4-1 with a 2.78 ERA since June 14.

Moehler, however, will need to be especially careful when facing Pujols, who's 9 for 15 with three homers against the right-hander.

"He's the best player in the game," Moehler told the Astros' official Web site. "You just have to be smart about how you pitch him."

Sitting four games behind the first-place Cardinals in the NL Central after falling 6-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, Lance Berkman knows what a visit from St. Louis means - even though there's a long way to go.

"It's a big series," said Berkman, who's hitting .200 (5 for 25) against Lohse. "... But if they sweep us or we sweep them, it's not going to decide the race."