Seven games left in the season, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have life. After picking up a full game on the Dodgers on Sunday, Arizona trails by 2.5 games in the National League West. The Diamondbacks make their one and only visit to Busch Stadium to take on the St. Louis Cardinals for a 4-game series starting on Monday. In case you’re wondering, the Dodgers have only 6 games remaining, 3 at home against the Padres, and they finish on the road with 3 at San Francisco.

The Cardinals are in a late-season swoon, losing 8 of their last 10. They are 14.5 games out of first place in the National League Central, and have dipped to 4th place, behind the Cubs, Brewers and Astros. It hasn’t exactly been a banner year in St. Louis.

Here’s a closer look at both teams…

St. Louis Cardinals (80-75, 4th place in NL Central, 14.5 games behind Chicago Cubs)

Manager: Tony LaRussa (13th year with Cardinals, 1135-962)

Offensive Leaders:

AVG: Albert Pujols, .349

Runs: Ryan Ludwick, 100

Hits: Albert Pujols, 177

HR: Albert Pujols & Ryan Ludwick, 34

RBI: Albert Pujols, 106

SB: Cesar Izturis, 21

Pitching Leaders:

INN: Kyle Lohse, 194

Wins: Kyle Lohse, 14

ERA: Todd Wellemeyer, 3.66

Strikeouts: Todd Wellemeyer, 124

Saves: Ryan Franklin, 15

Bottom Line: Maybe the only intrigue left for Tony LaRussa’s team is to see if Albert Pujols can catch Atlanta’s Chipper Jones for the 2008 NL batting title. Going into this series, Pujols trails Jones .362 to .349. Pujols has hurt his chances with a lackluster September in which he has hit only .254, after hitting .398 for August. Ryan Ludwick also has been a bright spot for the Cardinals this season, with 34 homers and 103 rbis. In fact the Cardinals are only one of three National League teams to have more than one player with 100 runs batted in or more. They join the Mets (David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran) and the Astros (Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee) in that category.

Pitching has been an adventure for the Cardinals, namely in the bullpen. Nine players have combined on 40 saves for the season, led by Ryan Franklin, who has 15. In all, the Cardinals bullpen has blown 26 saves. There may be reason for future optimism for the Cardinals’ pen though, in the form of rookie right-hander Jason Motte. Motte hasn’t given up a hit in his last 6 appearances, and has a strikeout to walk ratio of 12 to 1 since being called up in early September. Motte pitched well at AAA Memphis this season, compiling a 3.24 ERA in 63 games, and striking out 110 while walking only 26. That’s 14.8 strikeouts per nine innings, a number that would easily lead the majors this season.

St. Louis’ pitchers vs. Arizona

Tonight: Todd Wellemeyer (2008: 12-8, 3.66 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 0-2, 8.22 ERA)

Tuesday: Kyle Lohse (2008: 14-6, 3.76 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 1-1, 3.27 ERA)

Wednesday: Adam Wainwright (2008: 10-3, 3.21 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 2-2, 3.05 ERA)

Thursday: Joel Pineiro (2008: 6-7, 5.21 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 0-0, 3.60 ERA)

Arizona Diamondbacks (78-77, 2nd place in NL West, 2.5 games behind Los Angeles)

Manager: Bob Melvin (4th year with Diamondbacks, 321-320)

Offensive Leaders:

AVG: Conor Jackson, .298

Runs: Stephen Drew, 87

Hits: Stephen Drew, 167

HR: Mark Reynolds, 28

RBI: Mark Reynolds, 94

SB: Chris Young, 14

Pitching Leaders:

INN: Brandon Webb, 212.2

Wins: Brandon Webb, 21

ERA: Brandon Webb, 3.26

Strikeouts: Dan Haren, 197

Saves: Brandon Lyon, 26

Bottom Line:With all of the ups and downs this season for a team who is currently in second place after spending 136 days in first, at least there’s some intrigue heading into the final week of the season for the D-Backs. Arizona trails the Dodgers by 2.5 games, and can shave another half-game off the deficit with a win today against the Cardinals. The Dodgers have the day off before playing the Padres for 3 games starting Tuesday. Arizona has won of their last 7 games, and they’ve done it with a return to strong starting pitching. In their last 7, the rotation has gone 48 innings, and posted an ERA of 2.06.

Offensively, the Diamondbacks had their biggest single-game output of the year Sunday in Denver, exploding for 13 runs and 19 hits. Even pitcher Dan Haren had 3 hits in the game.

Arizona’s pitchers vs. St. Louis:

Tonight: Brandon Webb (2008: 21-7, 3.26 ERA; career vs. Cardinals: 2-4, 4.43 ERA)

Tuesday: Randy Johnson (2008: 10-9, 3.99 ERA; career vs. Cardinals: 6-6, 3.91 ERA)

Wednesday: Max Scherzer (2008: 0-3, 3.00 ERA; career vs. Cardinals: 0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Thursday: Doug Davis (2008: 6-8, 4.25 ERA; career vs. Cardinals 4-5, 5.01 ERA)

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