SB Nation St. Louis - Cardinals And Rays Look For Series Win In Rubber Matchhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49009/stl-fave.png2011-07-03T10:00:53-05:00http://stlouis.sbnation.com/rss/stream/20197692011-07-03T10:00:53-05:002011-07-03T10:00:53-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Bring Kyle Lohse To Mound For Rubber Match Vs. Jeremy Hellickson
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> will look to surprise ace <span>Kyle Lohse</span> to win their second consecutive series in the rubber match of their interleague contest with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Tampa Bay Rays</a>. The Rays will roll out <span>Jeremy Hellickson</span>, the last and best of their young, cost-controlled starters, who is 7-7 with a 3.18 ERA on the year. Lohse's newfound control has silenced critics of the massive four-year contract he signed after 2008—at least so far. </p>
<p><span>Lance Berkman</span> has anchored the Cardinals' offense in their recent run against the AL East, homering Saturday in <span>Kyle McClellan</span>'s losing effort, and with <span>Matt Holliday</span> still <a href="http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110702&content_id=21309516&notebook_id=21311404&vkey=notebook_stl&c_id=stl" target="_blank">battling illness</a> from the designated hitter position it will be on Berkman again to make up for the offense the Cardinals lost when <span>Albert Pujols</span> hit the disabled list. </p>
<p>For Hellickson, whose dominant finish to his minor league career and 4-0 start in the big leagues has given him a higher profile than any young Ray since <span>David Price</span>, the game will be a chance to snap a four-game losing streak which has seen him put up an ERA of 4.74. </p>
<p>The game starts at 12:40. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/7/3/2256913/st-louis-cardinals-scheduleDan Moore2011-07-03T08:01:05-05:002011-07-03T08:01:05-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Lose Vs. Rays, Kyle McClellan Struggles Again
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a>' surprise winning streak fell apart Saturday, when <span>Kyle McClellan</span>'s rough return from a hip injury continued in a sixth inning that saw the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Tampa Bay Rays</a> score all five of their runs on the way to a 5-1 victory. <span>Lance Berkman</span> homered—his 21st of the season, seven more than he hit in all of 2010—to provide the Cardinals' only offense. </p>
<p>McClellan, who briefly led the National League in wins after making the post-Adam-Wainwright conversion to the starting rotation, has put together one good start in four tries since returning from the disabled list; with <span>Lance Lynn</span> on the roster as a reliever the rumor mill has a return to the set-up role he won as a possibility, but Tony La Russa has so far demurred. </p>
<p><span>Brandon Dickson</span> made his Major League debut in the loss, going for a perfect inning and a third in Tropicana Field before giving way to fellow newbie <span>Raul Valdes</span>, who retired the Rays' last batter. Dickson, a groundball-oriented starter in Memphis who was 4-7 with an ERA of 3.86 there in 2011, replaced <span>Ryan Franklin</span> on the roster after the Cardinals released their former closer. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-cardinals/2011/7/3/2256911/st-louis-cardinals-scoreDan Moore2011-07-02T08:00:54-05:002011-07-02T08:00:54-05:00St. Louis Cardinals Top Tampa Bay Rays On Colby Rasmus Homer
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> used Colby Rasmus's ninth home run to top the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Tampa Bay Rays</a> Friday, continuing their interleague resurgence after a sweep of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Baltimore Orioles</a>. <span>Jake Westbrook</span> pitched perhaps his strongest game of the season, throwing seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts, while Rasmus's three-run homer counteracted <span>Matt Joyce</span>'s two-run shot an inning later.</p>
<p>Rasmus's home run was his third in four games after a miserable start to June; he was hitting .215/.260/.367 on the month before the binge began. <span>Wade Davis</span> was the hard-luck loser for the Rays, allowing just two runs in seven innings of work. </p>
<p>The Cardinals and the Rays will continue their weekend set at Tropicana Field on Saturday, when <span>Jeff Niemann</span> and <span>Kyle McClellan</span> face off at 6:10; <span>Kyle Lohse</span> and 24-year-old <span>Jeremy Hellickson</span> will finish the set on Sunday. The Cardinals improved to 45-38 on the year after their fourth straight win, an improbable full game atop the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Milwaukee Brewers</a> after stoppering a long slump in Baltimore. </p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/2011/7/2/2337375/st-louis-cardinals-top-tampa-bay-rays-on-colby-rasmus-homerDan Moore