[BigRedChief]

ST. LOUIS --It's off to Wrigley Field in Chicago for a critical three-game series against the Cubs for the St. Louis Cardinals, who hope to make a statement.

The Cardinals (64-53) fell six games behind the first-place Cubs (69-46) in the National League Central on Thursday with a 4-1 loss to rookie left-hander Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium.
"Obviously, we know Cubs-Cardinals is a big thing," Cardinals second baseman Aaron Miles said. "They're ahead of us in the standings right now. It would be a big help if we can take that series.

"They're all important at this stage of the game, with less than two months remaining and where we are at in the standings. It's play good or go home. If we play good, we're going to be right there."

The Cardinals will pitch Braden Looper (10-9, 4.29 ERA) against the Cubs' Ted Lilly (11-6, 4.35 ERA) at 1:20 p.m. today. Todd Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.01 ERA) will pitch at 2:55 p.m. Saturday against Carlos Zambrano (12-4, 2.76 ERA), and Chris Carpenter will work at 7:10 p.m. Sunday against Ryan Dempster (12-5, 2.93 ERA).

Chicago has the best home record in the baseball at 43-16. The Cardinals, by percentage points, own the best road record in the NL at 31-25.
"We've just got to go in there and play baseball, play a solid game all the way around," Miles said. "They play good there, we play good on the road, so it should be a good matchup."

The Cubs and Cardinals have split six games this season, all in St. Louis. The Cardinals won two of three in May; the Cubs won two of three in July.

"Any time you're facing a first-place team, it's going to be a tough challenge," right fielder Ryan Ludwick said. "We've just got to battle. We've got Lilly, Zambrano and Dempster. We're going to have to step in the box and grind out at-bats and try to put as many good at-bats together as we can.

"From the pitching side of things, we've got some guys going on our side who are good in my opinion, too. It will be a dogfight."