Game Day: Chicago @ St. Louis 1:10 EST

[Pennsylvania Punk]

Chicago at St. Louis
Saturday, September 15th, 1:10 EST
Ted Lilly (L) vs. Braden Looper (R)
(matchup)

The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals continue a critical weekend series Saturday from Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The clubs will play a day-night double-header then wrap up the series with a day game Sunday.

They got things started last night with the Cubs scoring a 5-3 win. Ace Carlos Zambrano won his second straight start with a solid outing and Cliff Floyd put the Cubs ahead with a solo shot in the 7th. They added three in the ninth on a Darryl Ward double then saw the Cards score two in the bottom of the inning on home runs by Jim Edmonds and Ryan Ludwick. Albert Pujols homered earlier for the first Cardinals run.

St. Louis (69-76) now has 16 games remaining - including these three against Chicago (76-71) and three against second-place Milwaukee - to try and make up a six-game deficit in the NL Central. The Cardinals adjusted their rotation so that Adam Wainwright (13-10, 3.75 ERA) would start this series' opener and though he pitched well Zambrano pitched better. Thus it may be too late as the defending World Series champions hardly seem deserving of a chance to defend their title.

St. Louis has now lost eight straight, matching its longest losing streak of 2006, set from July 28-Aug. 4. The Cards are 39-32 at home though this season while the Cubs are 37-35 on the road.

"We're a little flat, things aren't going our way, and we're not playing good baseball," Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds said after a 5-4 loss to Cincinnati on Thursday. "All those add up to losses. It's really no different than it was at the beginning of the year. It's just a bad time for it right now."

St. Louis was 10 1/2 games out at the end of June, but surged to draw within a game of first place in the NL Central before its current skid. The Cubs have now won three straight and nine-of-13 from the Cards this year including a 12-3 win in a makeup game Monday at Wrigley Field.

The Cards have a better record in days games (25-22) than at night (44-54) while the Cubs have played about the same in day (37-36) and night games (39-35) even though they play more day contests than any other team. It will be interesting to see how that plays out during Saturday's day-night double-header.

In Game 1 it will be southpaw Ted Lilly (15-7, 3.90) of the Cubs versus right-hander Braden Looper (12-10, 4.70) of the Cards. Lilly has pitched well on the road this year (6-2, 3.69) and Looper even better at home (7-2, 3.20). Game 2 will match southpaw Sean Marshall (7-7, 3.92) of the Cubs versus Cards late-season acquisition Joel Pineiro (4-3, 4.60). The right-hander has not pitched well in his career versus the Cubs, showing a 1-2 record and a 6.19 ERA. Marshall is 1-0 in three career starts versus the Cards with a 4.60 ERA.