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Padres meet Cardinals, await Peavy's return

May 19, 2008 - 1:40 PM St Louis (26-20) at San Diego (16-29) 10:05 pm EDT

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) - As if things weren't already bad enough for the San Diego Padres, they stand to move on without their ace Jake Peavy for at least one start, if not longer.

While Peavy sits out Monday with right elbow soreness, the Padres limp into a three-game series with St. Louis Cardinals.

San Diego, saddled with baseball's worst record, lost its 10th series in 11 tries with Sunday's 3-2 loss against Seattle.

Now they may need to proceed without Peavy, who won the NL pitching triple crown last season by leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA after the ace admitted he has been dealing with soreness in his elbow.

Peavy will undergo an MRI on Monday.

His loss further stresses a San Diego offense that has scored a major league-low 150 runs and is second-to-last in all of baseball with a .236 team batting average.

In Peavy's absence, the Padres will turn to Wilfredo Ledezma (0-0, 2.63 ERA), who will make his second spot start of the season. The lefthander fared well in that start on May 8 - allowing one run over four innings - but surrendered three runs and five hits in his last relief appearance in Wednesday's 8-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

The Cardinals will answer with Todd Wellemeyer (4-1, 3.27), who is coming off arguably his best start of the season. The righthander, who has yielded just three runs over his last three turns, allowed one run and two singles over seven-plus innings in a 5-1 win against Pittsburgh on Wednesday.