Cards vs. Astros

If you saw the P-D today, you know that Aaron Miles has been great at short stop and that Scott Spiezio wants to stay with the Cards. I agree that we need to keep Speezer.

Due to the Rosh HaShanah holiday, this blog will not be updated again this weekend, except for maybe a recap of today's game early tomorrow morning.

Thursday
Chris Carpenter (15-6, 2.79) takes on lefty pitcher Andy Pettitte (13-13, 4.37). Carp is looking for another strong outing to lock up those votes for his second consecutive Cy Young Award. This is Carp's fourth start against the Astros this season. In three starts this season, he's 1-1. In his career, he is 5-2 in ten starts with a 2.52 ERA. This season, Pettite is 2-0 in four starts against the Cards with a 4.43 ERA. In his career, Pettite is 3-1 in 8 starts with a 2.92 ERA.

St. Louis 5, Houston 6
Losing pitcher - Chris Carpenter (15-7)

Friday
Jason Marquis (14-15, 5.82) surprisingly takes a start on Friday night (Rosh HaShanah) against Jason Hirsch (3-4, 5.59). The question is: which Jason Marquis will show up against Houston? He's 2-2 this season in four starts against Houston. Two of those games were where he went 7 innings deep, giving up 1-2 runs. In 13 starts (5 relief appearances makes that 18 games), Marquis is 7-4 with a 4.88 ERA against the Astros in his career. Hirsh has not faced the Cardinals this season at all. Marquis ended up getting scratched and Chris Narveson picked up the start instead.

St. Louis 5, Houston 6
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (9-3)
HR: Ronnie Belliard (11), Chris Duncan (19), David Eckstein (2)

Saturday
Anthony Reyes (5-7, 4.92) starts against Roy Oswalt (14-8, 3.05). Reyes is 0-0 in two starts against Houston this season. In four games (3 of those being starts), Oswalt is 2-1 against the Cardinals with a 1.93 ERA. Oswalt's sole loss against the Cards came in a relief appearance in the 10th inning on July 8, 2006, in which Brad Lidge blew the save and Pujols went yard for the Cardinals to win. In 17 starts (18 games) against us in his career, he is 7-5 with a 3.30 ERA. Marquis made the start instead.

St. Louis 4, Houston 7
Losing pitcher - Tyler Johnson (0-4)
HR: Chris Duncan (19)

Sunday
Jeff Weaver (4-4, 5.27) starts against Matt Albers (0-2, 6.00). Weaver is coming off an impressive start against the Brewers. Weaver will make his 2nd start of the season against the Astros. In his career, he is 2-3 in six starts against them with a 4.42 ERA. Albers makes his first start this season against the Cardinals.

St. Louis 3, Houston 7
Losing pitcher - Josh Hancock (3-3)

Milestone watch:
Albert Pujols needs 8 home runs to tie Ken Boyer for 2nd on the Cardinals all-time home runs list with 255.
Jim Edmonds needs 1 home run to pass Ray Lankford for 4th all-time as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 1 saves for 250 career saves.
Albert Pujols has his sixth consecutive season with 100 runs, 100 RBI, 30 home runs, and at least a .300 batting average. He is the only player to do so in the first five seasons of a MLB career. With less than a month to go in the season, Pujols is batting .329.