Philadelphia @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 4, 2011 ) Philadelphia 3, St. Louis 2

THE STORY: The St. Louis Cardinals had their backs against the wall throughout much of the regular season before a spirited surge secured them a wild-card berth. After falling victim to Ben Francisco's pinch-hit three-run homer in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, manager Tony La Russa's club is once again pushed to the brink of elimination. The Philadelphia Phillies, who posted a franchise-record 102 wins this season, will look to provide the final shove when they turn to veteran Roy Oswalt for Game 4 on Wednesday. Should St. Louis prevail with righthander Edwin Jackson on the mound, ace Chris Carpenter would face reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay in Game 5 on Friday.

TV: 6:07 p.m. ET, TBS

PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Roy Oswalt (9-10, 3.69 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Edwin Jackson (12-9, 3.79 ERA)

Oswalt has been either red hot or ice cold in his last four outings. St. Louis was burned when it faced the 34-year-old, who scattered five hits over seven innings on Sept. 17. The Cardinals got the better of Oswalt on June 23 in his shortest outing of the season. To add injury to insult, Oswalt went on the disabled list with a back injury immediately after the contest.

Jackson has been rock-solid over his last eight trips - seven starts - to the mound. In fact, the 28-year-old has not lost since Aug. 20. Jackson was shelled in his lone outing against the Phillies, although that was on July 27, 2010 when he was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

ABOUT THE PHILLIES: When perusing Philadelphia's lineup, Francisco is hardly the first name someone would expect to deliver the big hit. After all, he had just one hit in 18 career at-bats in the postseason. In addition, he had just six homers in 250 at-bats in the regular season. Numbers aside, Francisco jumped on a belt-high fastball from Jaime Garcia and gave the Phillies all of their offense on Tuesday. Jimmy Rollins ended the regular season with a flourish and has picked right up in the postseason. He recorded his 12th multi-hit game of the postseason with a single and double in Game 3. Rollins, who is 7-for-12 in the series, has never faced Jackson, however. Ryan Madson earned his first five-out save of 2011 after relieving Brad Lidge in the eighth and inducing a double play.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS: Albert Pujols has brushed aside any stray thoughts about his health in this series. The three-time MVP didn't look hobbled by a heel injury after ripping three doubles and a single on Tuesday to improve to 7-for-13 in the series. Pujols has seen Oswalt his fair share of times, going 26-for-86 (.302) in his career. Like Pujols, Ryan Theriot also collected four hits to improve to 6-for-9 in the series, and has enjoyed success versus Oswalt (10-for-32). While Pujols and Theriot had four hits apiece, the rest of the Cardinals were a combined 4-for-28 against the Phillies in Game 3. Matt Holliday (hand) made another pinch-hit appearance on Tuesday, muscling a single to left off Lidge before departing for a pinch-runner.

FINAL PITCH: Tony La Russa was fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball for publicly criticizing umpire Jerry Meals for having "two different strike zones" during an in-game television interview. During Tuesday's in-game interview, La Russa joked that his lips were sealed this time.