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Cardinals-Phillies Preview

May 6, 2010 - 3:20 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (18-9) at Philadelphia (15-11), 1:05 p.m. EDT

The only time Roy Halladay faced the St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujols managed to hit the ball out of the infield once in four at-bats.

Pujols looks for his first hit against Halladay in a marquee matchup when the Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies complete their four-game series Thursday afternoon.

Halladay (5-1, 1.47 ERA) pitched against St. Louis (18-10) while with Toronto, throwing a five-hitter in a 4-1 victory June 13, 2005. Pujols went 0 for 4 with three groundouts.

Nearly five years later, Pujols, Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker are the only Cardinals that remain from the lineup Halladay faced. Adjusting to the NL has not been a problem for Halladay, however.

The right-hander leads the majors with three complete games, pitching a three-hitter and striking out six in a 10-0 win over the New York Mets on Saturday.

Halladay has recorded 39 strikeouts and issued four walks in 49 innings.

"As a pitcher, your focus every time should be to do as well as possible," he said. "Your focus should be to be consistent."

Pujols is batting .421 with eight RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak. He's 10 for 54 against the Phillies since 2008, going 3 for 13 with no RBIs in this series.

Philadelphia (16-11) has received outstanding starting pitching to win the last two games after losing the opener. Cole Hamels struck out eight in eight-plus innings in a 2-1, 10-inning victory Tuesday before Kyle Kendrick earned his first win by scattering six hits over seven innings in a 4-0 victory Wednesday.

Shane Victorino hit a solo homer and had two hits Wednesday for the Phillies, who have won five of seven. Victorino is 8 for 22 with three homers and eight RBIs in his last five games.

It's been a dismal series for St. Louis right fielder Ryan Ludwick, who is 0 for 12 with five strikeouts. Matt Holliday had two doubles in the opener but has a single and four strikeouts in nine at-bats since.

Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse is still in search of his first win despite a strong outing his last time out. Lohse (0-1, 5.28) gave up one run over seven innings in a 6-3 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday.

The right-hander had eight strikeouts after totaling seven in his first four starts.

"Just setting the guys up," Lohse said. "They were obviously looking for something else and couldn't pull the trigger."

Lohse did not pitch past the fifth inning in two outings against Philadelphia last season, going 0-1 with a 9.72 ERA.

Phillies slugger Raul Ibanez is 8 for 28 with three homers against Lohse, while Chase Utley is 2 for 14 and Victorino 3 for 14.