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Cubs-Cardinals Preview

Sep 20, 2009 - 2:14 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Chicago (75-71) at St. Louis (86-62), 8:05 p.m. EDT

The Chicago Cubs clinched their second straight NL Central championship last season with a home win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

On the anniversary of that game, the Cardinals will try to move a step closer to their own title with a home sweep of the rival Cubs on Sunday night.

Chicago easily won the NL Central in 2008 and concluded its drive Sept. 20 with a 5-4 win over St. Louis, but the Cardinals (87-62) have all but wrapped up this year's race.

With their second walk-off win in as many days, the Cardinals moved 11 games ahead of the Cubs (75-72) and reduced their magic number to four, the lowest in the majors.

Brendan Ryan singled in the winning run in Saturday's 2-1 victory. He also hit a drive in fifth inning that popped out of Chicago left fielder Bobby Scales' glove and over the fence for a solo home run.

"Holy cow," Ryan said. "He kept going and kept going and kept going and next thing I knew he got a glove on it and I couldn't tell what happened. I kind of sped up for a second and then I saw it in the bullpen and was totally shocked."

Ryan's heroics came a day after Matt Holliday's solo homer gave the Cardinals a 3-2 victory that ended a 1-5 slump.

While attempting to become the majors' first 19-game winner and bolster his Cy Young Award resume, Adam Wainwright (18-8, 2.59 ERA) will also try to help St. Louis record its second consecutive three-game home sweep of Chicago.

The Cardinals are 7-1 at Busch Stadium against the Cubs and will win the season series for the first time since 2004.

Wainwright's six-game winning streak ended in Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to visiting Florida despite allowing two runs over seven innings. The right-hander will try to bounce back with his fifth straight win over the Cubs dating back to Sept. 19, 2008, and is 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA in four starts against them this season.

Attempting to avoid a fifth straight defeat, the Cubs will try to get a strong outing from the inconsistent Carlos Zambrano (8-6, 3.94).

Zambrano cruised through his first 4 2/3 innings Tuesday night against visiting Milwaukee by striking out eight and giving up one hit. He couldn't close out the fifth, however, and gave up five runs with two outs in his final inning before the Cubs rallied for a 13-7 victory.

He also stormed out of his postgame press conference after being asked if he would waive his no-trade clause if the team requested this offseason. Zambrano, who signed a five-year extension worth $91.5 million in August 2007, has one win in his last seven starts and a 6.93 ERA in his last five.

"I don't care," he said. "If the Cubs want to trade me because they don't like me anymore, I have to move on. What else can I do? Just move on."

Zambrano has certainly liked pitching in St. Louis, where he is 5-1 with a 0.95 ERA in nine career starts. The right-hander, who will try for his sixth straight road win over the Cardinals, has only faced them at Wrigley this season, going 1-0 with a 6.92 ERA in two matchups.

He is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his last five road starts.

St. Louis is seeking its 11th title since divisional play began in 1969 and eighth since both leagues split into three divisions in 1994.