• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Cardinals-Phillies Preview

May 5, 2010 - 4:53 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

St. Louis (18-8) at Philadelphia (14-11), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The Philadelphia Phillies announced earlier this week that Kyle Kendrick will stay in the rotation despite struggling mightily in four of his five starts.

Facing the St. Louis Cardinals might give him a good chance to make that decision look like a wise one.

Kendrick looks to shake off his early issues and improve to 4-0 against the Cardinals on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park as the two NL division leaders continue their four-games series.

Kendrick (0-1, 7.61 ERA) has one outstanding start to his credit, pitching eight shutout innings at Atlanta on April 20, but his other four have been rather forgettable. The right-hander has an 11.49 ERA in those games, yielding six homers in 15 2-3 innings.

He gave up four runs on three homers over five innings Friday in a 9-1 loss to the New York Mets, but on Sunday, manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee said they don't plan to remove Kendrick from the rotation.

"You've got somebody down in (Triple-A) Lehigh who's pitching better right now?" Dubee told the Phillies' official website. "Right now, we think Kyle will get straightened out. And I don't know we have a whole lot of other candidates. We need Kyle to step up. We need him to be more efficient."

Keeping him in to face the Cardinals (18-9) might prove to be a good move. Kendrick is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three career starts versus St. Louis - none since June 2008 - and he's 9-2 lifetime against the NL Central leaders.

Matt Holliday, Ryan Ludwick and Albert Pujols are a combined 3 for 22 against Kendrick, though Holliday and Ludwick have taken him deep.

It was an extra-inning homer that ended Tuesday's pitcher's duel and allowed Philadelphia (15-11) to even the series at one. After a fan ran on the Citizens Bank Park field for a second straight game and St. Louis tied the score at 1-all in the ninth, Carlos Ruiz's leadoff blast in the bottom of the 10th gave the Phillies a 2-1 win.

"It's one of those games that's tough to lose," manager Tony La Russa told the Cardinals' official website, "but I have no complaints about our effort and a lot of our execution, too, we were really good."

Philadelphia was held to four hits over eight innings against Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright, who delivered the rotation's 13th consecutive quality start and extended the starting staff's streak without allowing a homer to 21 games spanning 143 2-3 innings.

St. Louis hasn't had 14 straight quality starts since May 20-June 6, 1973, when the staff was led by Bob Gibson.

Brad Penny (3-1, 1.56) may not be joining Gibson in the Hall of Fame, but the right-hander has certainly done his part to make the Cardinals' rotation the best in baseball.

After allowing three earned runs in his first four starts, though, Penny struggled with his control Friday against Cincinnati. He walked five and allowed eight hits and three runs over six innings in a 3-2 loss to the Reds.

"I've got to make better pitches," said Penny, who's 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA in his last five starts against the Phillies. "I wasn't keeping the ball down."

Pujols has hit safely in nine straight games after doubling Tuesday, but he's not the only St. Louis hitter with a streak going. Rookie third baseman David Freese, the NL player of the week, is 16 for 32 with three homers and 14 RBIs during his eight-game streak.