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Brewers-Cardinals Preview

Aug 16, 2010 - 7:55 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Milwaukee (55-64) at St. Louis (65-51), 8:15 p.m. EDT

Just days ago, the St. Louis Cardinals were brimming with confidence and looked like the favorite to win the NL Central after pulling off a convincing sweep to vault into first place.

Repeating as division champs no longer looks so simple.

Back in second place, the Cardinals try to avoid losing three straight for the first time in more than three weeks when they open a two-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

With last week's emphatic sweep in Cincinnati, St. Louis (65-51) made up three games in the standings to take a one-game lead over the Reds. It seemed to represent a shift of power within the division, but the veteran Cardinals were unable to carry any momentum into a weekend series against lowly Chicago.

By losing two of three to the Cubs coupled with Cincinnati's three-game sweep of Florida, St. Louis has dropped a game off the pace.

"It's not over," manager Tony La Russa said after Sunday's 9-7 defeat. "It's going to be a contest to the end."

The Cardinals, who haven't dropped three in a row since July 22-24, hope to regroup against a Brewers team they're 6-4 against this year. Albert Pujols is hitting only .278 in those 10 games but has six home runs and 14 RBIs.

Pujols has been putting up similarly gaudy numbers lately. The NL's two-time reigning MVP, who became the first player to hit 30 homers in his first 10 seasons with a solo shot Sunday, is batting .455 with seven home runs and 15 RBIs in his last 13 games.

"I don't know how long he has to play to be one of the greatest that's ever played this game," La Russa said. "But he's certainly going to be in the conversation."

Pujols is 5 for 12 with two doubles since 2008 against scheduled starter Dave Bush (5-10, 4.78 ERA), who is coming off a disastrous outing.

In Wednesday's 8-2 loss to Arizona, Bush gave up four consecutive home runs in a 10-pitch span in the fourth inning and allowed seven runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings. The right-hander has a 7.52 ERA in his last five starts after posting a 2.39 ERA in his previous six.

Trying to turn things around at Busch Stadium might not be easy for Bush, who has recorded a 10.57 ERA in losing all three starts there.

In his only start of the season against the Cardinals on April 9 at Miller Park, Bush didn't receive a decision after allowing three runs in 5 2-3 innings of a 5-4 loss.

The Cardinals counter with Jaime Garcia (10-5, 4.78), who gave up four runs, two hits and matched a season worst with five walks in 5 1-3 innings of an 8-4 win over Cincinnati on Tuesday. The left-hander has yielded at least four runs in each of his last two starts after giving up that many in just two of his previous 17.

Garcia is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts against Milwaukee this season.

The Brewers (55-64) arrive in St. Louis after Sunday's 6-5 loss in Colorado, their fifth defeat in seven games.

Second baseman Rickie Weeks went 8 for 13 with four doubles in the series at Coors Field. He's hitting .290 with four home runs in his last eight games against the Cardinals.