video thumbnail

Garcia fans five, allows no earned runs

The Cardinals begin a seven-game road trip with three games in San Diego beginning Monday and then four in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

Those four games against the Dodgers carry added importance because the Cardinals are trying to hold off Los Angeles for the second NL Wild Card spot.

The trick for the Cardinals is to not get too far ahead of themselves and neglect to take care of business against the Padres.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was cautioning Sunday about not overlooking the Padres, who have played well in the second half of the season.

"[That] would be extremely unwise for us to do that," Matheny said. "The guys have obviously been watching and understand that that team is playing well right now. Never make that mistake."

The Padres are 66-75 after Sunday's 8-2 victory over the Diamondbacks and are in fourth place in the National League West, but they are 32-22 since the All-Star break.

"They've played real well," Matheny said. "They have a couple good pitchers throwing extremely well that we're going to be seeing. We don't take any game for granted."

The Cardinals, who beat the Brewers 5-4 Sunday, are 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Reds in the NL Central, but they hold down the second spot in the Wild Card standings, a game ahead of the Dodgers, pending the outcome of the Dodgers game against the Giants Sunday night.

Cardinals: Freese questionable
• Third baseman David Freese is questionable for Monday.

He exited Saturday's game with a mild left ankle sprain (X-Rays negative) and wasn't in the lineup Sunday because the ankle was still swollen.

• Left-hander Jaime Garcia will start Monday's first game of the series.

Garcia is 4-6 with a 4.16 ERA in 15 starts for the Cardinals.

Padres: Headley stays hot
• Third baseman Chase Headley continued his sensational play in the second half of the season in Sunday's game.

Headley was 1-for-4, hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning and now has 60 RBIs in the second half. That ties him with Padres hitting coach Phil Plantier (1983) for the second-most all-time by a Padre in the second half of a season.

Ken Caminiti had 81 RBIs in the second half of the 1996 season.

Headley now has 102 RBIs on the season and 27 home runs, including 19 in the second half.

• Lefty Eric Stults will get the start for the Padres Monday.

Stults is 5-2 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts for the Padres.

Worth noting
• The Cardinals' Matt Holiday was 1-for-4 and hit his 26th home run and had two RBIs to raise his total to 94 Sunday. He is hitting .302.

MLB.com Comments