The St. Louis Cardinals, winners of 5 of last 7, will travel to Houston for a quick three game road trip against the Astros. The Cardinals come into the game on Tuesday at 63-64 overall, and 29-35 on the road, but in third place, only 2 games out of first place. The Astros are tied in last place with the Pirates, sitting at 58-73, but 34-32 at home. This series will not be easy for the Cardinals. The Cardinals need to take 2 of 3 at worst!

On Tuesday, the Cardinals will pitch Braden Looper against former Cardinal, Woody Williams. Looper comes in 10-10 with

a 4.90, while Woody is 8-12 with a 4.84 era.

Albert is 1-2 with a double and 2 rbi’s this season against Woody. In his career, Albert is 4-7 for a .581 career average, with 2 doubles, a homerun and 3 rbi’s. Let’s hope that continues on Tuesday.

Wednesday’s the Astros will throw their ace, Roy Oswalt 13-6, 3.33 against Kip Wells, 6-14, 5.41. Oswalt is 8-5 in his career against the Cardinals with a 3.07 era.

Pujols is 1-7 with a double this season against Oswalt, and for his career Albert is 18-62 for a .290 batting average, including 4 doubles, 3 homeruns, and 6 rbi’s against Oswalt.

Thursday’s pitching matchups have yet to be determined. Good luck to Albert and the Cardinals!

August 28-30 @ Houston

August 31-Sept 2 w/ Cincinnati

Sept 3-6 w/ Pittsburgh

Sept 7-9 @ Arizona

Sept 10 @ Chicago

Sept 11-13 @ Cincinnati

Sept 14-16 w/ Chicago(4 games)

Sept 17-19 w/ Philadephia

Sept 20-23 w/ Houston

Sept 24-26 @ Milwaukee

Sept 27 @ New York

Sept 28-30 @ Pittsburgh

With five weeks to go, and the entire National League in a jumbled mess, Albert Pujols is slowly looking like he could be competing for another MVP title. Let’s take a look at his numbers.

Batting Average: .319(8th in the National League), .017 behind leader.

Homeruns: 30(T-4th in National League), 9 behind leader.

RBI’s: 84(T-10th in National League), 18 behind leader.

Runs: 82(10th in National League), 26 behind leader.

OBP: .420(T-2nd in National League), .075 behind leader.

Other Contenders:

Matt Holiday, Colorado, .335, 23, 100

Hanley Ramirez, Florida, .333, 23, 65

Chipper Jones, Atlanta, .332, 21, 57

Miguel Cabrera, Florida, .321, 30, 91

David Wright, New York, .316, 23, 84

Aramis Ramirez, Chicago, .314, 18, 78

Prince Fielder, Milwaukee, .283, 39, 97

Ryan Howard, Philadelphia, .259, 33, 102

Adam Dunn, Cincinnati,  .262, 36, 90

Carlos Lee, Houston, .308, 26, 102

Carlos Beltran, New York, .274, 25, 84

Ryan Braun, Milwaukee, .332, 24, 63

I wouldn’t want to judge that!

The St. Louis Cardinals continued their climb towards the .500 mark, and more importantly the NL Central title. With two comeback wins over the Florida Marlins Tuesday and Wednesday, the Cardinals were off to a good start. At one game under .500, the Cardinals were then blown out at home by the Fish on Thursday. Friday was no better as John Smoltz beat Anthony Reyes, to put the Cardinals at 3 under .500 and 4 games back. But then with some help from the Arizona Diamondbacks(beating the Cubs 2 of 3), and the Cardinals winning both Saturday, and Sunday- Saturday getting 5 runs off the hottest pitcher in the NL, Tim Hudson, and Sunday getting great pitching from Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals are now 1 game under .500, and only two games back of first place.

Batting Average: .318(8th)

Homeruns: 25(t-6th)

Rbi’s: 76(t-10th)

Runs: 75(11th)

SB: 2

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On Friday, the Cardinals will send 10 game winner, Braden Looper to the mound to face the Cubs lefthanded youngster, Rich Hill 6-7, 3.85. Looper has won two straight starts, and 3 of his last 4. His last start, he went 6 innings, allowing just 4 hits and 1 run in a 6-1 win over the LA Dodgers. His outing before that was sharp also, going 6.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, and 4 runs, while striking out 6 in a 10-5 win over the Padres. In Braden’s last start against the Cubs, he went 7 strong innings, allowing just 5 hits and 1 run, in a win for the Cardinals. Braden is 3-2 in his career against the Cubs.

Rich Hill has not won since July 16th, but only has recorded 1 loss in that time, and that was his last outing, against the Rockies. In that game, he went 5.2 innings, gave up 9 hits, 7 runs, all earned, walking 2 and striking out 4. His outing before that he went 7 strong against Houston, but was a 2-1 loser in that game. Rich is 0-0 in his career against St. Louis, with a 5.11 ERA. He has not faced the Cardinals in 07. In his career, Albert is 0-5 against Hill.

Saturday’s game features Anthony Reyes(2-11, 5.48) against Sean Marshall(5-6, 4.25). Reyes was very impressive his last start, going 6 innings in a 12-2 win over the Dodgers. His start before that, was impressive also but was defeated by Jake Peavy and the Padres. Reyes is 0-1 on the year against the Cubs, going 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 4 runs in the loss to the Cubs. Reyes is 0-4 lifetime against the Cubs.

Sean Marshall has dropped two of his last three decisions going just 2.2, 5.1 and 5 innings, giving up 22 hits and 15 runs in those three starts. His last win was July 28th in a 6-1 win over the Reds. Marshall is 0-0 in his career against the Cardinals. He has yet to face the Cardinals in 07. Albert is 1-4 in his career against Marshall.

On Sunday, Kip Wells(6-13, 5.24) will take on Carlos Zambrano(14-9, 3.86) in the Sunday Night ESPN Baseball game of the week. Kip has won his last two starts, and has not lost since July 24th, against the Cubs. His last two starts combined he has went 13 innings, 10 hits, and just 4 runs in 12-4 win over the Brewers, and 2-1 win over the Padres. Kip is 3-4 lifetime against the Cubs.

Zambrano has dropped his last two starts for the Cubs, in his effort to pick up win #15 on the season. Carlos last start against the Cardinals in July, he went 6.1 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs in a 4-3 Cub win. His last start he was beat around a bit by the Reds, giving up 13 hits and 6 runs in just over 5 innings pitched. Carlos is 7-4 in his career against the Cardinals. This year, Albert is 1-6 with a homerun, and rbi. For his career, Pujols hits Zambrano at a .205 clip with 3 homeruns and 7 rbi’s.

Monday’s game will pit Joel Pinero, against Ted Lilly. We will have more on this matchup later!

GOOD LUCK PUJOLS AND THE CARDINALS!!!

The St. Louis Cardinals, winners of five straight will travel to Chicago this weekend to take on the Chicago Cubs for a four game set. The Cardinals come in 2.5 games out of first place, and only 2 behind the second place Chicago Cubs. The last time the Cubs faced the Cardinals in August with both teams in contention was in August of 2003, when the Cubs took 4 of 5. Time to turn the tides. Let’s hope Albert and the boys can get the best of the Northsiders this weekend! Go Cardinals!

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The St. Louis Cardinals gave the Milwaukee Brewers a major beatdown this week. Coming into the series 5.5 games out of first place, the Cardinals have put themselves in position, with 44 games to go, to compete in the National League Central race, and possibly another National League title. The Cardinals are now 58-60, 2.5 games out of first place, behind the Brewers, who are now 62-59, and the Cubs, who are 61-59. The Cardinals are now 29-20 against NL Central foes.

On Tuesday, the Cardinals trailed 3-0 early, before making a big comeback, scoring twice in the third on a Ryad Ludwick rbi double, then 6 in the 5th, 2 in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th. Our man, Pujols had 3 hits, and everyone in the lineup had a hit for the Cardinals, except Brendan Ryan. Jim Edmonds had a season high 4 hits. Kip Wells went 6 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs and struck out 5, to improve to 6-13.

Wednesday’s game started out well for the Cardinals, as Pujols went deep in the first off Yavardi Gallardo, and then Scott Rolen blasted a 2 run homerun, for a 3-0 lead after 1. The Brewers got one back in the 2nd, Cardinals added a run in the fourth, and 3 in the sixth to bust it open to 7-1. The Brewers picked up a run in the 7th to make it 7-2, but then one more in the 8th, made it 8-1, then the Brewers got 2 in the 8th, for a 8-3 final. The Cardinals pounded out 13 hits, after 19 the night before. The Brewers had 7 hits both Tuesday and Wednesday night. Albert went 2-5 to raise his average to .318. Scott Rolen picked up 4 hits on the night. Joel Pinero pitched his second straight back to back great decision, going 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits, 2 runs while striking out 4.

Thursday, the Brewers had a chance to stop the bleeding, and not let the Cardinals completely back in it. Adam Wainwright had other ideas. Wainwright went 7 innings of 2 hit, no run ball, and Yadier Molina homered twice, to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead, going into the 9th. A 5 run 9th off Turnbow and Cordero, blew the game wide open, as the Cardinals won 8-0. Ryan Franklin and Troy Percival slammed the door on the Brewers the last two innings, as the Cardinals outhit the Brewers 9-4. In the three games, the Cardinals picked up 41 hits, to the Brewers 18, while outscoring them 28-7. Pujols went 1-5 on Thursday to maintain a .317 batting average(8th in the NL).

The Milwaukee Brewers come into this series boasting the National League’s best home record. The Brewers are 39-20 at Miller Park. The Cardinals have struggled mightily on the road this season, with an overall record of 25-33, losing their last give games on the road(Pirates and Nationals). The Brewers come in with a 1.5 game lead in the NL Central over the Chicago Cubs, and 5.5 over the Cardinals. The Brewers fell to the Astros on Sunday 6-4, while the Cardinals pummelled the Dodgers 12-2. The Brewers are 62-56 overall, while the Cardinals sit at 55-60.

The Cardinals will throw Kip Wells on the mound on Tuesday, with a record of 5-13, 5.27 ERA, and he will face the Brewers lefthander Chris Capuano, 5-9, 4.96. Wells in his last start against the Brewers went 5 innings, giving up 11 hits, 5 runs, all earned, walking 2 and striking out 7. He gained a no decision in that game. His last outing, on the 8th of August against the Padres, Kip went 7 innings, gave up 6 hits, 1 run, and striking out 4 in a 2-1 win. Kip is 2-2 in his last 10 starts. Wells is 6-8 in his career against the Brewers.

Chris Capuano has not won a start since May. He is 0-5 in his last 10 starts, including three straight losses, including 11-4, 11-5, and 5-2 losses. In Capuano’s last start against the Cardinals he garnered a no decision, going 3 innings, giving up 2 hits, and striking out 1. He is 4-4 in his career against the Cardinals. Our guy, Albert Pujols is 2-4 with a double and strike out on the season against Capuano, and 14-25, for a .560 average against the lefty. That includes 3 doubles, 3 homeruns, 10 rbi’s, while striking out 5 times and walking three times. Albert loves facing Chris Capuano, but he also LOVES Miller Park. Albert is 6-11 for a .545 average, with a walk in 07 at Miller. In his career, Albert is a .321 hitter at Miller including 7 long blasts. Time to up those numbers on Tuesday Albert!

On Wednesday, Joel Pineiro will take on Yovani Gallardo. Joel is coming off a great outing against the Padres, going 7 solid innings, allowing only 4 hits, no runs, striking out 4 in a 5-0 Cardinal win. His start before that, he went 5 innings against Washington in a 12-1 loss to the Nationals. Joel has never faced Milwaukee.

Gallardo has been good for the Brewers in 2007, but is coming off a horrible outing against the Rockies where he went 2.2 innings, giving up 12 hits, 11 runs, walking 3 in a 19-4 loss to the Rockies. On the season, he is 4-2, with a 4.20 ERA. His last start against the Cardinals, he went 5 innings, allowing 4 hits, and 4 runs in a game the Brewers lost, due to the bullpen. Pujols is 1-3 on the season, and his career against Gallardo.

The final game on Thursday pits Adam Wainwright against the Brewers, Dave Bush. Wainwright comes into the game with a 10-9 record, 4.21 era and is coming off a complete game loss to the Dodgers, where he only gave up 6 hits and 2 runs, in a 2-1 loss. In his career, Adam is 0-0 against the Brewers.

Bush, is 9-8 with a 5.07 era, but 0-2 in his career against the Cardinals. He has yet to face the Cardinals in 2007, and for his career Albert is 1-2 with an rbi, and a walk and a strikeout.

CHECK BACK HERE ALL WEEK FOR THE LATEST ALBERT PUJOLS AND ST. LOUIS CARDINALS COVERAGE!

Well, this week is the make or break week for the St. Louis Cardinals. Trailing in the NL Central race by 5.5 games with around 40 games to go, the Cardinals need a big week, and really anything less than 4 wins, and the Cardinals can pretty much shut down for 2007. The Cardinals HAVE to win 4 of 7, and really need to win 5 of 7. The Brewers host the Cardinals Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while the Cardinals then travel to Chicago Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 2 of 3, and 3 of 4, would put the Cardinals in PRIME position to make one final push going into the month of September!