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Astros hope to sweep Cardinals in Clemens' final home start

Sep 24, 2006 - 3:38 PM St Louis (80-73) at Houston (76-78) 8:05 pm EDT

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Cardinals could have clinched the National League Central Division this week. But the only thing they've assured themselves is a stressful closing stretch to the regular season.

The Cardinals try to avoid a disappointing four-game sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros when the teams meet Sunday night at Minute Maid Park.

St. Louis still leads Houston by 4 1/2 games in the division and has a magic number of five to wrap up its third straight NL Central title. However, the Cardinals hardly have looked like a playoff team in this series, losing all three games in heartbreaking fashion.

In Thursday's series opener, Lance Berkman smacked his second homer of the game in the eighth inning to lift Houston to a 6-5 triumph. The following day, Craig Biggio's RBI base hit capped a two-run ninth for the Astros, who faced a 5-2 deficit in the eighth before rallying for another 6-5 victory.

On Saturday, the goat-turned-hero was Luke Scott, whose misplay in left field in the top of the ninth led to the tying run scoring. But the rookie more than made up for it in the bottom half, belting a game-ending three-run homer off Tyler Johnson to keep the Astros' slim playoff hopes alive with a 7-4 win.

Houston, which also trails Philadelphia by five games in the wild card standings, will give the ball to future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens (7-5, 2.37 ERA), who could be making the final home start of his legendary career.

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner will be pitching on three days' rest after holding Cincinnati to three hits in six scoreless innings of Wednesday's 7-2 win.

Clemens, a career 348-game winner, is 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA in 10 lifetime meetings with the Cardinals. The 44-year-old righthander has faced them once this year, allowing four runs - two earned - in six innings on July 8.

St. Louis will try to snap its four-game slide by turning to Jeff Weaver (4-4, 5.27), who has allowed two runs or fewer in three of his last four starts. His only poor outing in that stretch came against Houston on September 12, when he was responsible for five runs in five innings.

However, the lanky righthander rebounded to allow two runs in six innings Tuesday en route to a 12-2 triumph vs. Milwaukee.