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Brewers-Cardinals Preview

Jul 1, 2010 - 12:28 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Milwaukee (35-42) at St. Louis (43-34), 8:15 p.m. EDT

The St. Louis Cardinals have no qualms handing the ball to their top three starters, but injuries have left the bottom two slots in the rotation in flux for the past six weeks.

Blake Hawksworth might be making a convincing audition for one of them.

Hawksworth's recent spot start was an eye-opener for manager Tony La Russa, and he'll look to make another positive impression Thursday night as the Cardinals open a four-game set with the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.

Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse were injured a day apart in late May, and St. Louis (43-35) has tried four different options to fill in for the veteran right-handers.

One of those is Hawksworth (2-4, 5.11 ERA), who gave up six runs over four innings in his first major league start June 7 in Los Angeles. After another stint in the bullpen, the righty delivered Saturday in his second opportunity, yielding two hits and two runs - one earned - over five efficient innings in a 5-3 win at Kansas City.

"Hawksworth was so good. That was exciting to watch," La Russa said. "He started to get the ball up. But five-plus, man, he was really good. ... What more can he do?"

He'll come into his third start with higher expectations, but he'll go in with a brief positive history against the Brewers (35-43). Hawksworth hasn't allowed a run versus Milwaukee in six relief appearances spanning eight innings.

The Cardinals will be trying to bounce back after failing to complete yet another three-game sweep. St. Louis left 14 men on base in a 4-2 loss to Arizona on Wednesday, the eighth time it has won the first two games of a series before dropping the finale.

"Yeah, we had some chances," La Russa said. "We should have had more opportunities than we had, and the ones we had we could have done more."

St. Louis has swept one four-game and one two-game series this season, but hasn't completed a three-game sweep since Sept. 7-9 at Milwaukee.

The Brewers swept three from Minnesota to begin a nine-game homestand, and followed by taking two of three from Seattle. But Ken Macha's club closed with a thud, dropping two of three to Houston after losing Wednesday's finale 5-1.

"We've got to go to St. Louis, and we're going to have to play a little better than this," Macha told the Brewers' official website. "Six and three on the homestand. (You) just look at it and say, before the homestand, you'd have taken that. But after the start we had, it's a little disappointing."

Randy Wolf (5-7, 4.92) takes the ball for Milwaukee hoping to exploit the Cardinals' struggles against left-handers. St. Louis hits .265 versus right-handers but just .246 against lefties, one of the NL's worst averages.

Plate discipline seems to be the key against Wolf. His 50 walks are the second-most in the majors, and his 18 homers are the fourth-most any pitcher has yielded.

Wolf walked four and gave up two homers Saturday against Seattle, allowing five runs over five innings in a 5-4 loss.

The left-hander is 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in two starts versus St. Louis this season, walking seven in 13 2-3 innings and allowing homers to Pujols and Colby Rasmus.

Pujols, who has four homers and 11 RBIs in six games versus Milwaukee, is a .318 lifetime hitter against Wolf.