Series Preview: Phillies at Cardinals, 6/21-6/23

When the Cardinals and Phillies meet in a 3-game series beginning on Tuesday night in St. Louis, it will be a match up of two teams that have held onto the top spot in their respective divisions, despite repeated injuries all season long.

The Cardinals (40-33) are in first place in the National League Central, but they are just 1/2 game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers. They'll have a difficult time holding onto that lead as baseball's top hitter suffered a fractured wrist on Sunday in a collision with the Royals' Wilson Betemit. Pujols, the 3-time NL Most Valuable Player, is expected to miss up to 6 weeks with the injury.

St. Louis has also lost top pitcher Adam Wainwright for the season to an elbow injury. In addition, outfielder Matt Holliday has spent 2 stints on the disabled list. Nick Punto, David Freese, Gerald Laird, Eduardo Sanchez and others are also currently on the DL.

The defending NL East champion Phillies (45-28), with Brian Schneider, Joe Blanton and Brad Lidge currently out of action have also missed Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Domonic Brown and others to injury this season. With all of that, Philadelphia still possesses the best record in Major League Baseball, as they begin this series with St. Louis.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and more key details for this series.

Tuesday, 8:15PM. Roy Halladay (9-3, 2.56 ERA) vs. Kyle McClellan (6-3, 3.96 ERA). Halladay is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 2 starts against the Cardinals. In his last 6 starts, Halladay is 4-0 with a 3.14 ERA. Halladay has a 4-2 record with a 2.45 ERA in 6 road starts this year. McClelland has a 0-2 record and a 4.50 ERA in 10 games against the Phillies in his career. In 6 home games this year (5 starts), McClellan is 3-1 with a 4.38 ERA. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino are a combined 0-for-10 against the right-hander McClellan.

Wednesday, 8:15PM. Cliff Lee (7-5, 3.12 ERA) vs. Kyle Lohse (7-3, 2.88 ERA). In 3 career starts against St. Louis, Lee has a 2-1 record and a 2.11 ERA. In 6 road starts this season, Lee is 1-4 with a 5.35 ERA. In his last 3 starts, Lee is 3-0 with a 0.38 ERA. In 8 career starts against the Phillies, Lohse is 2-3 with a 4.00 ERA. Lohse has a 2-2 record with a 3.09 ERA in 6 home starts this year. Ryan Howard is 6-for-13 (.462 avg) with a HR in his career against Lohse.

Thursday, 8:15PM. Roy Oswalt (4-5, 3.37 ERA) vs. Chris Carpenter (1-7, 4.47 ERA). In 29 career games against the Cardinals, Oswalt is 9-8 with a 3.15 ERA. Oswalt is 2-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 7 road starts this season. In his last 8 starts, Oswalt is 1-5 with a 4.57 ERA. In 9 career starts against the Phillies, Carpenter is 5-2 with a 5.08 ERA. In his last 7 starts, Carpenter is 0-5 with a 4.62 ERA.

In 36 career games against the Cardinals, Shane Victorino has a .311 batting average with 10 doubles, a triple and 4 HR. In his last 12 games Victorino is 20-for-49 (.408 avg).

Ryan Howard, who was born in St. Louis, has a .365 average with 4 doubles, 8 HR and 31 RBI in 23 career games at Busch Stadium.

In 17 May games, Carlos Ruiz posted a .300 batting average. In 17 June games, Ruiz is batting .192.

Former Phillie Ryan Franklin has an 8.17 ERA and a .367 batting average against in 21 games out of the Cardinals bullpen this season.

In 4 games since returning from the disabled list with a quadriceps injury, Matt Holliday is 5-for-12 (.417 avg) with a double and 2 HR. Holliday is batting .316 at home this year, compared to .374 on the road.

Skip Schumaker, in 31 career games against the Phillies, has a .330 batting average and a .900 OPS. Schumaker's overall career numbers are .288/.725.

Phillies team batting average- .247
Cardinals team batting average-

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