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Cardinals-Astros Preview

Sep 21, 2009 - 5:49 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

St. Louis (87-63) at Houston (70-79), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Barring disaster, the St. Louis Cardinals will clinch the NL Central title during their nine-game road trip.

The Cardinals will try to move a step closer to a celebration in Monday night's opener of a three-game set with the Houston Astros.

After consecutive walkoff wins, St. Louis missed a chance to reduce its magic number to three with Sunday night's 6-3 home loss in 11 innings to Chicago. Matt Holliday's wide slide into second in the ninth drew an interference call for the final out and negated the apparent winning run.

"I feel like you've got to break up a double play there, by any means necessary," Holliday said. "He said I wasn't close enough to the base."

If the Cardinals repeat their previous performance in Houston, they may have a longer wait to clinch.

St. Louis (87-63) suffered a three-game sweep July 20-22 but won four of six against the Astros (70-79) at Busch Stadium since. The Cardinals will also face a Houston team trying to avoid a season-high eighth straight defeat.

The Astros have been outscored 32-15 in the past seven games and totaled four runs in the last 31 innings. While they are 11-4 at home since Aug. 19, St. Louis has a 13-3 road mark since Aug. 7.

Houston also hasn't provided much support to arguably its best pitcher this season, Wandy Rodriguez (13-10, 2.77 ERA).

The left-hander has allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of 14 starts since July but is 7-4 in that span. The Astros have given him two runs or fewer of support in eight of those outings.

Rodriguez took the loss in Monday night's 3-1 defeat at Cincinnati. He kept the Reds scoreless for six innings, but Wesley Wright couldn't work out of the jam he inherited from Rodriguez in the seventh and allowed a two-run single.

"Wandy deserved a better fate than what he received," manager Cecil Cooper said. "I take the blame for that. He was close to 100 pitches. You can't let your starter lose the game."

Rodriguez has also received one run or fewer in three of his four starts against the Cardinals this season - going 1-2 despite a 2.25 ERA. He's 2-1 with a 0.34 ERA in his last four home matchups with St. Louis.

The Cardinals' scheduled starter, Kyle Lohse (5-8, 4.83), has three starts to make a case to be on the team's postseason roster. Lohse's first outing since coming off the disabled list due to a strained groin was an uneven one - yielding four runs and seven hits over 3 1-3 innings Sept. 12 against visiting Atlanta - but he did not get a decision in a 7-6 loss.

"I know he's working on stuff," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's got three opportunities, so the timing's right for him."

Lohse, though, may have bigger issues from a strained forearm that landed him on the DL in June.

"It's not a pain so much as I'm used to my body reacting a certain way," Lohse said Sunday. "When I release a ball I'm used to the way it feels coming out, and off and on it's been a normal feel, and sometimes it feels like it's not there."

The right-hander, a 15-game winner in 2008, is 1-4 with a 4.09 ERA in five road starts against the Astros but 4-1 with a 2.14 ERA in the last six overall matchups.

St. Louis is seeking its first division title since winning the 2006 World Series and eighth in La Russa's 14 seasons.