Durango53
04-20-2005, 04:09 PM
Chicago Cubs (7-7) at St. Louis (8-4), Wednesday 6:10 p.m. CT
After a sluggish start, the St. Louis Cardinals' offense is starting to resemble the group that took the team to the World Series last year.
St. Louis looks to extend its winning streak to six games as they host the Chicago Cubs in the opener of a two-game set at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals had been struggling for runs before breaking out with a 7-1 victory over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. Jim Edmonds homered for the second consecutive night and Larry Walker and Albert Pujols each drove in two runs as the Cardinals outscored the Pirates 18-2 in the two-game series.
In 2004, St. Louis led the National League in hitting with a .278 average, .460 slugging percentage and 855 runs scored.
However, coming into Tuesday night contest, the Cardinals were hitting at a .231 clip, next-to-last in the National League.
"It's one of those things where at the beginning of the season you're starting to figure out what things we need to adjust to," St. Louis outfielder Reggie Sanders said. "We're starting to figure out what we need to do, so it's all about making the proper adjustments and we have a lot of veteran guys who can do that."
Facing the resurgent Cardinals' bats will be Cubs' right-hander Carlos Zambrano, coming off a poor effort in his last start.
Against the Pirates on Friday night, Zambrano gave up five runs and eight hits over six innings of an 8-5 loss.
He also allowed three home runs after yielding only 14 in 209 innings last season.
Zambrano was clearly unhappy after he and the Cubs couldn't hold leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3, declining interviews by saying, "I don't want to say something wrong."
Zambrano is hoping his team continues its recent surge of home runs.
Patterson, Michael Barrett and Derrek Lee hit solo homers that helped Chicago secure a split of the two-game series with the Reds in Tuesday's 7-1 victory. The Cubs hit seven homers during the series, two each by Patterson and Lee.
After a sluggish start, the St. Louis Cardinals' offense is starting to resemble the group that took the team to the World Series last year.
St. Louis looks to extend its winning streak to six games as they host the Chicago Cubs in the opener of a two-game set at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals had been struggling for runs before breaking out with a 7-1 victory over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. Jim Edmonds homered for the second consecutive night and Larry Walker and Albert Pujols each drove in two runs as the Cardinals outscored the Pirates 18-2 in the two-game series.
In 2004, St. Louis led the National League in hitting with a .278 average, .460 slugging percentage and 855 runs scored.
However, coming into Tuesday night contest, the Cardinals were hitting at a .231 clip, next-to-last in the National League.
"It's one of those things where at the beginning of the season you're starting to figure out what things we need to adjust to," St. Louis outfielder Reggie Sanders said. "We're starting to figure out what we need to do, so it's all about making the proper adjustments and we have a lot of veteran guys who can do that."
Facing the resurgent Cardinals' bats will be Cubs' right-hander Carlos Zambrano, coming off a poor effort in his last start.
Against the Pirates on Friday night, Zambrano gave up five runs and eight hits over six innings of an 8-5 loss.
He also allowed three home runs after yielding only 14 in 209 innings last season.
Zambrano was clearly unhappy after he and the Cubs couldn't hold leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3, declining interviews by saying, "I don't want to say something wrong."
Zambrano is hoping his team continues its recent surge of home runs.
Patterson, Michael Barrett and Derrek Lee hit solo homers that helped Chicago secure a split of the two-game series with the Reds in Tuesday's 7-1 victory. The Cubs hit seven homers during the series, two each by Patterson and Lee.