Philadelphia @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2010 ) Philadelphia 1, St. Louis 5

The St. Louis Cardinals are hotter than Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break, while the Philadelphia Phillies are colder than the Arctic Circle.

The NL Central-leading Cardinals will look to keep the heat on their struggling opponents as they aim for their ninth straight win Thursday in the finale of their four-game series.

Matt Holliday belted a solo home run in the seventh inning to snap a tie game on Wednesday and Felipe Lopez added a two-run double as St. Louis cruised to a 5-1 triumph over Philadelphia, extending its win streak to eight. Holliday has gone deep in consecutive games and is batting .385 with 10 RBIs during the streak.

Three-time National League Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols had an RBI single for the Cardinals, who have outscored the floundering Phillies 20-6 in the first three games of the series.

On Thursday afternoon, St. Louis will vie for the sweep behind All-Star Adam Wainwright (14-5, 2.02 ERA), who has allowed just one run over 29 1/3 innings. The stingy pitching has guided him to four straight victories.

The 28-year-old right-hander tossed six shutout innings while permitting just five hits in a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday.

Wainwright will have to keep fellow All-Star Ryan Howard under wraps. The St. Louis native belted his team-leading 22nd homer of the season on Wednesday – and fifth in seven games – for Philadelphia (48-46), which fell for the 10th time in its last 12 road games.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, that was all the offense they could muster en route to dropping their sixth of seven games since the All-Star break.

Rookie Jaime Garcia retired the first 12 batters he faced on Wednesday and cruised to his ninth victory of the season. The 24-year-old left-hander allowed just the one run and four hits while striking out six in this one.

The struggling offense was not aided by a curious move made by Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel, who opted to send starting pitcher Joe Blanton to the plate with the bases loaded and the game tied at 1-1 in the seventh inning.

Blanton struck out on three pitches to end the inning – and then served up Holliday's blast in the following frame.

Philadelphia will look to rebound with Cole Hamels (7-7, 3.63) on the mound on Thursday.

The 26-year-old left-hander has been as consistent a hurler as the Phillies have in their struggling rotation.

Hamels has recorded at least seven innings in seven of his last eight outings. Sadly for the 2008 World Series Most Valuable Player, a lack of run support has resulted in just a 2-3 mark during that stretch.

As evidence, Hamels permitted just one run and eight hits in seven innings during his last start on Saturday. He was saddled with a no-decision before the Phillies rallied to a 4-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs.