Cardinals (19-10) @ Reds (15-13) May 8,9,10

[el loco]

Game 1

Preview:

Cincinnati has had trouble beating the St. Louis Cardinals of late. With illness and injuries currently plaguing the Reds' roster, the challenge to end their skid against the NL Central leaders could be even tougher.

The Cardinals look for a fifth consecutive victory over the potentially short-handed Reds in the opener of a three-game series Friday night at Great American Ballpark.

St. Louis (19-10) enters this contest coming off a two-game home sweep of Pittsburgh after losing three in a row prior to that set.

"For us to bounce back the way we did, I think it shows a lot about the character of this team," said Cardinals catcher and former Red Jason LaRue, who hit the go-ahead homer in the Cardinals' 5-2 win over the Pirates on Thursday. "There's no quit."

The Cardinals went 10-5 against Cincinnati (15-13) last season and won the final four meetings between the clubs. St. Louis went 5-4 at Great American Ballpark where the Reds are 5-8 in 2009.

Ending that skid and turning things around at home likely won't be easy for Cincinnati, which managed a 6-5 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday despite missing Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips -- its top run producers -- to the flu. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez is still plagued by a pulled side muscle that will likely keep him out of this series.

"It shows us we can win no matter who we put out there," manager Dusty Baker told the Reds' official Web site. "You'd rather have the big bats out there, but if not, you have to win with what you have."

The Reds can certainly use Votto -- batting .370 with a team-best 23 RBIs -- and Phillips, who is 10 for 28 with three homers and 11 RBIs in his last six games.

On Thursday, Jay Bruce homered to extend his hitting streak to eight games for the Reds, who have alternated wins and losses in their last six games. Bruce has three home runs during that span, but hit .190 with 13 strikeouts in 12 games versus the Cardinals last season.

Regardless of who's in the lineup, the Reds hope to benefit from having Johnny Cueto on the mound.

Cueto (2-1, 1.65 ERA) allowed four hits and struck out nine in eight innings of a 5-0 win at Pittsburgh on Sunday. The right-hander has allowed two runs in 26 2-3 innings over his last four starts.

"I want to go deep in the game," Cueto said. "I'm working hard to be more consistent and that's the goal in every game."

Cueto has not been able to do that against St. Louis, going 0-2 with a 16.20 ERA against them.

The Cardinals counter with Joel Pineiro (4-1, 3.24), who looks to continue his strong start while trying to remain perfect against the Reds.

Pineiro allowed four runs -- one earned -- and seven hits in seven innings of a 6-1 loss at Washington on Saturday.

The right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA in four career starts against the Reds, with two victories coming at hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark.

Skip Schumaker had three hits and Ryan Ludwick drove in a run Thursday for the Cardinals. Ludwick is batting .344 with nine homers and 26 RBIs in 29 career games against Cincinnati.

Albert Pujols, who's batting .356 despite going hitless Thursday, is a lifetime .367 hitter with 35 homers versus the Reds.

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/preview?gameId=290508117

[el loco]

The Reds have surprisingly taken the first two games of this series. They sure picked a good time to decide to win a series at home this season by gaining two games on the top team in the division. I am sure the rest of the National League Central is glad to see the Reds doing what they have been doing to the Cardinals.

In the first game, The reds jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after the first two innings, and Johnny Cueto had another nice start for the Reds. He improved his record to 3-1 on the season with this victory. On the day he went 7 innings and gave up only 1 earned run and kept his overall era to an amazingly low 1.59 for the season. Offensively, The Reds got on base, and moved around the bases to score runs. 4 players had 2 or more hits in the lineup. Taveras, Bruce, and Hernandez continue to improve their averages to respectable levels. Final score 6-4 Reds. Cordero picked up save number 9.

Game two, The Reds continue to win even though the entire starting infield is on the shelf. Edwin is still out with a broken wrist, Gonzalez is out with an abdominal strain (when is he not out?), Phillips finally played after missing time, and Votto continues to be out with the flu, but that hasn't slowed the Reds down. Jay Bruce went yard in the bottom of the 1st with a 2 run blast, which gives him a team leading 9 home runs on the season. Hairston went yard for the 2nd time this season in the game. It was a close game tied up 2-2 until the Reds blew it open in the bottom of the 6 where they crossed the plate 5 times. Harang got the win and improved to 3-3 and a 2.93 era on the season, it was his Birthday (he turned 31). He helped his cause with a 2 run single with the bases loaded during the 6th inning rally.

Game Three is scheduled to start on Sunday at 1:10 ET. Wainwright Vs. Volquez.