One of baseball’s biggest rivalries kicks off the Memorial Weekend at Wrigley Field.

St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

St. Louis avoided a sweep in San Diego on Thursday evening, picking up an 8-3 victory over the Padres at Petco Park.  The Cardinals had scored just one run in the first two games of the series, but broke out in a big way in the series finale, led by star 1B Albert Pujols.  He hit his first home run and picked up his first RBIs in 12 games, a slump that saw his average fall from .344 to .303 coming into the series.  “It’s always good when Albert’s hitting,” St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa said.  The team is now 12-13 on the road this season (-420) and 27-21 overall (-460).  Against division foes this season, St. Louis has compiled an 11-10 mark (-690) and is 93-85 against the NL Central over the last three years (-1,380).

Cardinals SP Chris Carpenter is 9-3 with a 2.81 ERA in 17 career starts against the Cubs, including a 2-0 mark and a 1.42 ERA over three starts in 2009.  He made just one of those starts at Wrigley Field last season, picking up a victory while allowing three runs and seven hits over six innings.  The former Cy Young winner is 2-1 with a 3.33 ERA in four daytime starts this year, allowing just 21 hits and striking out 20 over 27 innings of work.  The Cardinals are 8-2 in his starts during the 2010 season (+340).

Chicago enters this Memorial Day weekend series winners of eight of their last 11 games and finds itself back into contention within the division.  The Cubs currently stand five games of the division-leading Reds and just four back of the second-place Cardinals.  Manager Lou Piniella’s team is set to play their next 12 games against division opponents, as they’ve compiled a dismal 9-12 record within the NL Central so far (-900).  Day games are usually a bettors’ dream when backing the Cubbies each season, but they are an even 11-11 in 2010, after going 92-62 the previous two seasons (+530).

Cubs SP Randy Wells is set to make his tenth start of the season, owning a 3-2 record and 3.99 ERA with 45 strikeouts and just 11 walks.  The young right-hander is an even 1-1 with a 4.33 ERA at home in four starts this season, with the team posting a 3-1 record in those outings (+180).  He has made just two career appearances against St. Louis, producing a 0-1 record and 4.50 ERA in eight innings of work.  Wells is still looking for his first victory of May, being relatively sharp since a dreadful start in Pittsburgh on May 6.  Wells has led the team to victories in two of his last three starts, allowing just seven earned runs and 18 hits over his last 23 innings of work. 

Bettors need to really consider the following quote when capping today’s game at Wrigley Field, “We get into Chicago less than 12 hours before we play,” La Russa said. “Everybody does it, the Padres aren’t doing it any different than anybody else, but Major League Baseball ought to step in. … When you’ve got a club like ours that has a 1 [o’clock] game in Chicago, that’s not fair.”