Cardinals pushing for wild card; Rockies trying to avoid 100-loss mark

The St. Louis Cardinals have reached the postseason 16 times since 2000 but have made no appearances in the past three seasons.

This season, however, the Cardinals are fighting for the final National League wild-card spot with three weeks left in the regular season.

St. Louis (70-71) is four games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for that playoff berth after a tough 3-2 road loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.

The Cardinals will continue their playoff push on Friday night in the first contest of three games against the Colorado Rockies in Denver.

Andre Pallante (12-6, 3.57 ERA) is expected to be activated off the injured list to start against Colorado, which will send fellow right-hander Ryan Feltner (5-9, 5.84) to the mound.

Pallante landed on the 15-day IL on Aug. 21 (retroactive to Aug. 18) with right elbow inflammation. It was his first trip to the injured list in his five-season career.

Friday will mark his eighth appearance (third start) against the Rockies in his career, and he is 2-1 with 2.95 ERA in those outings. He has pitched three times at Coors Field -- including one start -- where he is 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA.

St. Louis lost six of eight games after Pallante went down, including a five-game skid, but won two of the past three in a series victory over the Dodgers. The Cardinals' offense burst open in the first two games against the Dodgers, putting up 21 runs, and was led by Thomas Saggese, who had two homers Tuesday night and the go-ahead hit in the 10th inning Wednesday in an 8-6 win.

"I think it just goes to show with our group and how we've shown that a lot," said Saggese, who also homered on Wednesday. "Just kind of the relentlessness to our lineup and our entire group of guys. We're never out of it. You feel that, too. It's really cool. It's a fun place to be when you're always fighting and you really are never out of it."

Colorado (54-86) has shown that relentlessness at points this season, most recently against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. The Rockies rallied in the ninth and 11th innings to pull out a 6-5 win in their drive to avoid a fourth straight 100-loss season.

They are on a pace to lose 100 games again.

Hunter Goodman has been a bright spot in another disappointing season for Colorado. His 36 home runs are a franchise record for catchers, and he has a chance to become the first NL catcher to hit 43 home runs since Javy Lopez of the Atlanta Braves in 2003.

Goodman knows history is attainable, but he doesn't obsess over it.

"It's hard not to think about it every now and then," he said. "I probably think about it more when I'm sitting at home on the couch or something like that. But during a game, I'm not really thinking about that stuff."

Feltner, who was bumped from his last scheduled start at Atlanta on Saturday due to an illness, is looking to end a personal three-game skid. His most recent outing came in relief Sunday against the Braves, and he was charged with the loss in a 3-2, 10-inning game despite allowing just one unearned run over four innings.

Friday will be his fifth career start against St. Louis, and he is 1-1 with a 4.03 ERA in the previous outings.

--Field Level Media