Cardinals Vs. Nationals: St. Louis Loses Three Out Of Four To Washington

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N.L. Wild Card Standings: St. Louis Hanging On

The St. Louis Cardinals dropped three of four this weekend in Washington, failing to take advantage of the struggles their nearest competitors had over the weekend. Cincinnati is not one of their nearest competitors. The good news is that the Cardinals are still holding on to the second and final National League Wild Card Spot. The bad news is that the wild card is now likely the only way the Cardinals will be able to defend their title.

The Reds have all but locked up the National League Central with a 9.5 game lead and just 27 games to play. St. Louis trails Atlanta by three games for the first wild card spot, but St. Louis is in the second wild card spot by a half game over the Dodgers. Los Angeles has played one more game than St. Louis so far.

The Pirates are also right there for the wild card, sitting 1.5 games behind St. Louis and a game behind Los Angeles. Arizona has fallen off the pace after losing eight of its past ten games. The Diamondbacks and Brewers are now 6.5 games behind St. Louis with Milwaukee having won eight of ten.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals Game Recap: Lynn Implodes As St. Louis Drops Series Finale

The St. Louis Cardinals dropped their series finale vs. the Washington Nationals on Sunday, 4-3. The defeat resulted in a series loss for the Cardinals, as they lost three out of four to the first-place Nationals.

Cards starter Jake Westbrook pitched fairly well, as he was really only beaten by Kurt Suzuki, who homered and hit an RBI single off of the veteran righty in his 5.1 innings of work. Westbrook did scatter nine hits, but he struck out six batters and walked only one on his way to allowing two runs. After reliever Edward Mujica cleaned up for Westbrook to finish up the sixth inning, the Cardinals rallied to tie the game in the top of the seventh, as Daniel Descalso hit a two-run homer off of Sean Burnett.

Lance Lynn was unable to capitalize on the momentum from Descalso's big hit, as he allowed two runs on consecutive singles from Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Nats had four hits in that frame, and all of them came after Lynn got the first two outs quickly via a double play.

Tony Cruz doubled in a run with two outs in the following inning, but St. Louis stalled from that point on, as Tyler Moore flied out to end the inning and the Cards went down in order in the ninth.

For more on the Cardinals, be sure to visit Viva El Birdos. Additional coverage on the Nationals can be found at Federal Baseball, while Baseball Nation is the place for all things MLB.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals: Jake Westbrook, Stephen Strasburg Face Off at Nationals Park

The St. Louis Cardinals will look to build on Saturday's win and expand their slim lead in the National League wild card race when they face Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals had lost four straight games before Saturday night's 10-9 win over the Nats.

Manager Mike Matheny will turn to Jake Westbrook, who is 13-10 on the season with a 3.94 ERA. Westbrook has struggled in his last two starts, giving up five runs in five innings in a win over Houston on Aug. 23 and conceding seven in a five-inning loss to Pittsburgh on Aug. 28.

Strasburg enters Sunday's game with a 15-6 record and a 3.05 ERA. The young righty is on a strict inning count for this season, and has been told he has just two or three more starts this year before the Nationals shut him down, regardless of playoff positioning. The game will be his first career start against the Cardinals.

St. Louis enters today's game leading Pittsburgh and Los Angeles by 1.5 games for the second National League wild card spot. Washington leads the NL East by 6.5 games. FIrst pitch is scheduled for 12:35 p.m. CT, with coverage on Fox Sports Midwest.

Check out Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals news, and head over to Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Also visit Baseball Nation for even more coverage from around the league.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals Final Score: St. Louis Ends Losing Streak, Defeat Washington 10-9

The St. Louis Cardinals ended their four game losing streak as they defeated the Washington Nationals 10-9 on Saturday. Early on in the game it did not look like the Cardinals would end their losing streak as the Nationals bolted out of the gate by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first off of starter Kyle Lohse.

The Cardinals responded when third baseman David Freese hit a two-run home run to make it a 4-2 lead, but in the top of the second the Nationals came back to score two more runs and led 6-2 after two innings.

However, the St. Louis offense stayed on fire in the third and fourth innings where they scored six of their own runs to go up 8-6 after just four innings. The Cardinals runs came on a Matt Holiday solo home run, a base clearing double by Matt Carpenter which scored three runs and then a RBI single by Allen Craig.

The Nationals made another scoring run when they put up three runs in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo home run, and then a two-RBI single. After six innings the Cardinals trailed once against 9-8.

The Cardinals scored a run in the eighth to tie the game on a Carlos Beltran RBI single to tie the game at nine, and the game winning play was also a RBI single which was hit by in the top of the ninth. Cardinals closer Jason Motte was able to pitch a perfect ninth inning to earn his 32nd save of the season.

Check out Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals news, and head over to Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Also visit Baseball Nation for even more coverage from around the league.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals: St. Louis Tries To Halt Losing Streak At Washington

The St. Louis Cardinals (71-61) will try to snap a four-game losing streak on Saturday when they face the Washington Nationals (80-51) in the third game of a four-game weekend series.

The NL East-leading Nationals have outscored the Cardinals 18-1 in the first two games of the series as St. Louis continues to search for some offense to halt their current losing streak. With just one run in the four losses, the Cards expect to add Lance Berkman's bat to the lineup as the first baseman returns from a knee injury that has had him out of the lineup since early August.

Berkman comes back on the heels of the Cards losing shortstop Rafael Furcal for the season to an elbow injury. Despite the losing streak and offensive dry spell, the Cardinals remain tied for the lead in the NL wild card race.

St. Louis is scheduled to start Kyle Lohse (14-2, 2.64 ERA) on the mound. Lohse hasn't required much offensive support of late, giving up just five runs in his last five starts.

Washington will counter with right-hander Jordan Zimmerman (9-8, 2.63 ERA) who has struggled in his last three starts, where he has gone 0-2 and not pitched past the sixth inning.

The game is scheduled to start at 3:05 p.m. CT and will be televised on FOX.

Check out Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals news, and head over to Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Also visit Baseball Nation for even more coverage from around the league.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals Final Score: St. Louis Gets Shutout 10-0

The St. Louis Cardinals had a poor offensive night as they were shutout by the Washington Nationals 10-0 by Gio Gonzalez who pitched a complete game shutout to win his 17th game of the year. Gonzalez held the Cardinals to five hits and also struck out eight batters.

The Cardinals Adam Wainwright got the start and he was beat up pretty bad as he lasted only 2.2 innings and in that time allowed nine hits and six runs. The relief pitching was only slightly better as Trevor Rosenthal came into relief Wainwright but he lasted only two innings and gave up another two runs. The other two runs were given up by Jason Motte who allowed a two-run home run by Ryan Zimmerman.

This was just one of those baseball games where nothing went right for the pitchers or batters.

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Rafael Furcal Injury: Cardinals Shortstop Likely Out For Season With Injured Elbow

The St. Louis Cardinals could be without shortstop Rafael Furcal for the remainder of the season after he reportedly suffered a torn UCL in his right elbow. Furcal is receiving an MRI to confirm the diagnosis today, according to SB Nation Cardinals blog Viva El Birdos:

Now, Joe Strauss reports that Furcal is flying back to St. Louis for an MRI confirmation of an initial diagnosis of a UCL tear.

The UCL or ulnar collateral ligament is a ligament that stretches across the elbow. UCL tears and strains are extremely common in baseball, although somewhat more common among pitchers than position players, due to heavier abuse of the elbow among pitchers.

The treatment for a torn UCL is normally Tommy John surgery, which means a lengthy rehab of usually 6-9 months.

The St. Louis Cardinals are now thin at infield with no clear replacement for Furcal known at this point. Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Cardinals will not pursue a trade to replace Furcal and will likely promote Pete Kozma, who is hitting .232 with 11 home runs and 63 RBIs for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds this season.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals: St. Louis Looks To Rebound, Rebuild Wild Card Lead

The St. Louis Cardinals picked a bad time to start losing games, with their most recent 8-1 loss to the Nationals cutting their wildcard lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates to only half a game. They'll face a tough pitching matchup in the second game of their four-game set against the Nationals on Friday.

Adam Wainwright (13-10, 3.63 ERA) will head to the mound for the Cards to take on Gio Gonzalez (16-7, 3.28 ERA) in a battle between two of the top pitchers in the league this season. Gonzalez is a Cy Young candidate with high marks in the NL in wins and strikeouts.

Wainwright will need to be at his best to help the Cards snap their three game losing streak, especially with the offense taking a blow after the Cards lost Rafael Furcal during Thursday's game, possibly for quite a while if the fears of a UCL tear are correct.

The game will be at Nationals Park at 6:05 p.m. CT.

Be sure to head over to Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals coverage, and check out Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Visit Baseball Nation for even more news and analysis from around the league.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals Game Recap: St. Louis Drops Opener in Washington 8-1

The St. Louis Cardinals lost the first game of a pivotal series against the Washington Nationals Thursday night 8-1. The Nationals got on the board early, with a two-run Bryce Harper home run giving them the lead in the bottom of the first inning. An Adam LaRoche sacrifice fly in the third scored Jayson Werth, extending Washington's advantage to 3-0. Werth scored his third run of the night on a solo homer in the fifth, and the Nationals added two runs in the sixth and seventh innings to build an 8-0 lead. St. Louis finally scored on a Ryan Zimmerman throwing error, breaking a scoreless streak that had extended to 28 innings.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia struggled, giving up six earned runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out just two. Former Cardinal Edwin Jackson starred for Washington, going eight innings and allowing just one run and four hits.

Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal left the game in the bottom of the sixth with a right elbow injury. No word as of yet on the nature of his condition.

The loss reduces St. Louis' wild card lead to just 1/2 a game over Pittsburgh. The Dodgers play later tonight, and will have a chance to reduce their current 1 1/2 game deficit.

Be sure to visit Viva El Birdos for Cardinals news and analysis, and Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Visit Baseball Nation for even more news from around the league.

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Cardinals Vs. Nationals: Lineups For Game 1

Jaime Garcia will face off against Edwin Jackson in the first matchup of a four-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals on Thursday night. The biggest news in terms of the Cards' lineup is the return of Yadier Molina from his injury, which sidelined him for Wednesday's series finale against the Pirates.

Here are the lineups for game one between the Cardinals and Nationals:

Cardinals:

1. Jon Jay, CF
2. Carlos Beltran, RF
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Allen Craig, 1B
5. Yadier Molina, C
6. David Freese, 3B
7. Skip Schumaker, 2B
8. Rafael Furcal, SS
9. Jaime Garcia, P

Nationals:

1. Jayson Werth, RF
2. Bryce Harper, CF
3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4. Michael Morse, LF
5. Adam LaRoche, 1B
6. Ian Desmond, SS
7. Danny Espinosa, 2B
8. Jesus Flores, C
9. Edwin Jackson, RHP

Be sure to head over to Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals coverage, and check out Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Visit Baseball Nation for even more news and analysis from around the league.

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Yadier Molina Injury: Catcher Will Return To Lineup Thursday

The St. Louis Cardinals lost a big part of their team on Tuesday night when Yadier Molina was bowled over by Josh Harrison of the Pittsburgh Pirates in a collision at home plate that saw the Cards' longtime starting catcher taken off the field injured. He was subsequently listed as day-to-day, and sat out St. Louis' series finale against the Pirates.

Now the Cardinals' lineup has been released for Thursday night's game against the Washington Nationals, with Molina batting fifth. He will try to help boost a Cards offense that struggled against the Pirates, scoring only four runs in the teams' three-game set. It's not yet clear if Molina will be back for good after being slotted in for Thursday night's series opener with the Nats.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. CT.

Be sure to head over to Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals coverage, and check out Federal Baseball for more on the Nationals. Visit Baseball Nation for even more news and analysis from around the league.