Phillies 1 - 3 Cardinals
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Phils attempt to bounce back in St. Louis

May 16, 2011 - 2:54 PM

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(Sports Network) - The Philadelphia Phillies look to bounce back tonight when they begin a short two-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Philadelphia lost the last two installments of a three-game weekend set in Atlanta and is coming off Sunday's 3-2 setback in the series finale. Ace Roy Halladay suffered the loss and gave up a solo home run to Dan Uggla in the eighth inning. Halladay tossed all eight innings for the visitors and allowed all three runs to fall to 5-3 on the season.

"You don't want to walk the leadoff guy," Halladay said of facing Uggla in the eighth. "Obviously he's been struggling, but he's still a good hitter and it's kind of a catch-22. So I went after him and it wasn't a good pitch."

John Mayberry highlighted the Philadelphia offense with a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give his team a 2-1 lead.

The Phillies have lost five of their last nine games and will hand the ball to Cliff Lee tonight in the Gateway City. Lee is 0-2 in his last five starts and did not post a decision in Wednesday's 5-3 win at Florida, as he tossed six innings of three-run ball. Lee is 2-3 with a 3.78 ERA in eight starts this season.

Lee, a left-hander, will face the Cardinals for the third time in his career and has won the first two starts.

St. Louis was just swept in three games at Cincinnati and dropped a 9-7 decision in Sunday's series finale.

Chris Carpenter fell to 1-3 in the start and gave up eight runs - seven earned - and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings. Lance Berkman and Yadier Molina both homered, while Ryan Theriot and Nick Punto had two RBI apiece for the Cardinals.

"He threw me two good split fingers, low on the outside corner and then came back with a hard fastball and I was able to get to it," Berkman said about his homer off Reds winning pitcher Travis Wood.

Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols went 0-for-4 and was hit in the left wrist by Cincinnati's Francisco Cordero in the ninth inning. Pujols stayed in the game and is expected to be in the lineup tonight.

Taking the hill for the Cards tonight will be Jake Westbrook, who will try to save face from his previous outing last Wednesday in an 11-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Westbrook lasted just 2 1/3 innings and yielded five runs on six hits. He is now 2-3 in eight starts this season to go along with a less- desirable 6.92 ERA.

Westbrook will face the Phillies for only the second time in his career. The right-hander did not record a decision in a 7-6 loss in south Philly on June 23, 2010 as a member of the Cleveland Indians and allowed four runs in five innings.

St. Louis and Philadelphia split eight meetings a year ago.






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