Starting Friday, the Cardinals and rival Cincinnati Reds enter a stretch of schedule that seemingly offers a smoother ride for St. Louis.

With Roy Oswalt headed to Philly, our insiders kick around a few other names (Edwin Jackson?) that could help the Cardinals rotation.

With his start today, Pujols appears in his 1,500th career game, and few Cardinals can match his production to this point.

Cards, while moving on from Oswalt, blanked by knuckleballer Dickey; 10th shutout loss of season, nine of them on the road.

Lack of familiarity with Mets starter R.A. Dickey, combined with his funky stuff, creates huge challenge for Cards hitters.

RBI single by limping slugger erases Mets' comeback from 6-0 deficit.

They seek pitching help, but are less optimistic about a deal before Saturday's deadline.

BLAKE HAWKSWORTH

Joe Strauss: Unreal. The Tsunami checks out Kyle Lohse in Memphis and returns to a Banzai Pipeline of fan angst. Let's see: The team plays fast and loose while dropping a series in Chicago, which foll

Cards pounce on Santana in the first but Mets rally for tie. Cards ahead, 8-7, in 13th. Are Cards talking Tejada? Also: Team promotes veteran pitcher MacDougal, options Salas.

Nothing displays the extreme psycho nature of the 2010 Cardinals more than the disparity in home/road record and performance.

Jeff Gordon writes: In all 21 starts for the Astros this season, Brett Myers has pitched at least six innings. The Cards could use such reliability behind their top three of Wainwright, Carpenter and

It's hard to tell much from the Cardinals' recent history of dealing with division rivals -- because they haven't done it much. Plus, Pujols' name drops and milestone.

The Cardinals weren't competitive last night, and getting back on track against one of baseball's toughest lefthanded pitchers will not be easy.

One-for-20 slide drops his average below .300, but he insists "that's not going to get to me."

Cards ace felt out of sorts before even throwing a pitch and allowed six runs in an 8-2 drubbing.

Cleveland's Westbrook fits profile of a depth pitcher who's available to the highest bidder.

JAIME GARCIA

Our insiders say inconsistent play, injuries and maybe even a lack of hustle have hurt Cardinals.

Mets trounce Wainwright for six runs, win 8-2. Mozeliak talks about impact of Lohse's rehab start on trade deadline.