Chicago @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 24, 2011 ) Chi. Cubs 1, St. Louis 2
THE STORY: The Chicago Cubs were set up perfectly to inflict severe pain upon the rival St. Louis Cardinals and their fans. Then the Cardinals turned the tables. In one epic meltdown by Cubs closer Carlos Marmol in the ninth inning on Saturday, St. Louis managed to keep its postseason hopes alive and tweak rival Chicago in the process. The Cardinals now sit two games behind the National League wild card-leading Atlanta Braves with four contests to play. St. Louis will be looking to win the three-game series and stay in the race when it sends righthander Edwin Jackson to the mound in the finale on Sunday afternoon.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, CSN (Chicago), FSMW (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs RH Randy Wells (7-5, 5.09 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Edwin Jackson (12-9, 3.85 ERA).
Wells has gotten knocked around in each of his last two turns, allowing a total of 10 runs and 13 hits over 9 1/3 innings. The native of Belleville, Ill. grew up just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis and owns a 1-0 career record with a 3.29 ERA in two starts in front of his hometown fans at Busch Stadium.
Jackson has not lost since falling to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Aug. 20, but had a string of five straight quality starts broken up when he yielded five runs in a no-decision against the New York Mets. Jackson has never fared well against Chicago, posting a 2-3 record with a 5.75 ERA in six career starts.
ABOUT THE CUBS (70-88): Chicago has had very little to play for since the middle of the season, when it became clear that it would not be making a return to the playoffs. But with the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in town last week and then a trip to St. Louis, the Cubs finally had a chance to impact the standings. After taking two of three from the Brewers, Chicago opened its series against the Cardinals with a win on Friday, knocking St. Louis out of contention for the division. It looked as though the Cubs would knock the rival Cardinals out of the race for the wild card as well, carrying a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning on Saturday. But Marmol issued three straight two-out walks to force in the winning run and then unleashed a wild pitch that allowed the winning run to score.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS (87-71): St. Louis suddenly has some new life. Combined with Atlanta’s loss at Washington on Saturday, the Cardinals moved to within two games with that wild pitch. St. Louis ends the season at major league-worst Houston, while Atlanta has to face the major league-best Philadelphia Phillies in their final series. Manager Tony La Russa has to be a little concerned about his offense, which did not have an RBI hit on Saturday and has been shut down by Ryan Dempster and Rodrigo Lopez over the past two games. Matt Holliday returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing nine games with a finger injury and went 1-for-4.
FINAL PITCH: Chicago left fielder Alfonso Soriano, who has driven in four of the team’s six runs in the series, picked an odd time on Saturday to open up about his displeasure at spending most of the season in the No. 7 spot in the order. Soriano, who has 25 home runs and 85 RBIs, told ESPNChicago.com that “the way they treat me this year, I don’t like it.” The 35-year-old has three seasons left on an eight-year, $136 million contract.