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Reeling Cubs hope Dempster can stymie Cardinals

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:23 PM Chi Cubs (86-57) at St. Louis (77-66), 8:15 pm EDT

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Chicago Cubs' lead in the National League Central has become extremely fragile - almost as brittle as their starting rotation.

With Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden both experiencing arm trouble, Ryan Dempster hopes to get his reeling team back on track as the Cubs take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game set on Tuesday.

Chicago has dropped seven of its last eight, but the lead in the division over the Milwaukee Brewers (82-62), who have lost six of 10, has stayed at 4 1/2 games.

Dempster (15-6, 2.99 ERA) has had a career season, which was lost in the limelight of Zambrano and Harden's brilliance thus far. Now, he has to step up if the Cubs plan on entering the playoffs with the league's best record.

Dempster is coming off a tough-luck loss against the Houston Astros on Wednesday in which he surrendered three runs in seven stellar innings, but fell 4-0.

Prior to that, the 31-year-old won five of six decisions and has held opponents to two runs or less in eight of his last 10 outings.

The righthander won his lone start against the Cardinals this year, allowing two runs over 6 2/3 innings in a 6-2 victory on August 10.

Kyle Lohse (13-6, 3.76) will counter for St. Louis with hopes of notching his first win since August 1. The 29-year-old righthander has yielded three runs or less in seven of his last 10 outings and is coming off a clean effort against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, tossing six scoreless frames with seven strikeouts in a no-decision.

Lohse is 0-1 with a 6.92 ERA in two starts against the Cubs this season.

He will be supported by slugger Albert Pujols, who is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with four homers in his last eight games, and is hitting .375 with three homers in nine contests against the Cubs this season.