Following their epic extra innings victory in Game 6 on Thursday night, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa announced that ace Chris Carpenter would start Game 7 of the World Series against the Rangers tonight.

It was a move that has been anticipated since David Freese hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Cardinals a 10-9 win on Thursday night. Carpenter last pitched on Monday and has worked on short rest before in this postseason. While technically it’s Kyle Lohse’s turn in club’s postseason rotation and Edwin Jackson would be working on a normal rest period, La Russa has to turn to his workhouse in this situation.

In related news, both Matt Holliday (finger) and Nelson Cruz (groin) are expected to play in Game 7. Holliday suffered what Joe Buck called during the broadcast a “severely bruised little finger” when he dove back into third base during a pickoff attempt Thursday night. He jammed his hand into third baseman Adrian Beltre’s foot and was subsequently called out on the play. Holliday didn’t return to the game, leaving some to speculate whether or not he would play in Game 7.

Cruz strained a groin muscle on his final at-bat in Game 6 and was shown limping down the clubhouse steps. But as long as he can still walk, one would expect him to be in the lineup. This is Game 7 of the World Series, after all.

The St. Louis Cardinals won game one of the World Series 3-2 over the Texas Rangers. Tony La Russa seemed to have the magic touch as each of his moves worked perfectly in a tight game. In the sixth inning, La Russa sent out pinch hitter Allen Craig to hit for starter Chris Carpenter, and Craig got the game-winning RBI single.

From there, the Cards’ bullpen took over, and now they have game one.

Did you realize that we haven’t had a game 7 in the World Series since 2002? These teams seem to be pretty evenly matched, so Tom Verducci discusses how we might finally get to seven:

Is this the World Series we’ve been waiting for? Is the longest wait for the best day in sports about to end?

The ingredients are in place for a World Series that is nine years in the making: one so evenly matched and tightly contested that it takes every possible game to decide it. Baseball has not seen a World Series Game 7 since 2002, when the Angels defeated the Giants. It was so long ago that steroids were in full swing, the last year without testing. Since the best-of-seven format permanently replaced the best-of-nine format in 1922, this is the longest drought without a Game 7 in World Series history.

Why not now? The tone was set by the Night of 162, in which the last two playoff sports were decided on the last day of the regular season with three games that ended in the last at-bat. Such drama was then followed by a record-tying three Sudden Death games in the Division Series — all of which were one-run games that went down to the last at-bat.

He goes on to explain how the team that wins Game 1 is 19-4 in for the title since 1987, so Game 1 is very important. On the other hand, neither team has a dominant pitching staff, so Verducci thinks this year might be different.

As for game one, the Cards are favored with Chris Carpenter facing C.J. Wilson. The Cardinals are also loaded with right-handed bats, and the Rangers will start three lefties.

I have no idea who will win this thing, but it’s been a fun season, so maybe we’ll get a great series.

Could things get any worse for the St. Louis Cardinals? The season hasn’t even started yet and already one of their aces is out for the year and the other left a spring training game due to a hamstring injury.

The good news is that Chris Carpenter should be fine after leaving Tuesday’s outing with what is being called a strained hamstring. The bad news is that the Cardinals are clearly cursed and I wouldn’t be surprised if red ants invaded the infield grass at Busch Stadium and started attacking the grounds crew.

All kidding aside, I wonder if this scare with Carpenter will force the Cardinals to reconsidering adding another arm before the season starts. There was some thought that 32-year-old minor league free agent acquisition Raul Valdes would be considered a replacement for Wainwright, but the early camp impressions haven’t been good.

Kevin Millwood is still waiting for some team to call, and the Cards seem like a good fit for the 36-year-old. But St. Louis appears to be set on going with internal options at this point, which is surprising seeing as how they’re built to win now (at least they were before Wainwright was injured).

For now, it appears as though the Cards are going with what they have but the injury to Carpenter may have changed their outlook on the pitching situation.

Before their sweep of the Braves this week, I would have said that the National League Wild Card is a three-team race. But now that the Rockies are putting together a very Rockie-like charge, this is definitely now a four-horse competition in the NL.

Let’s break down the contenders and make a prediction.

(Side Note: I’m fully aware that the Phillies and Cardinals still have a great chance of catching the Braves and Reds in their respective divisions, but I’m going by the standings as of Thursday, August 26. In a couple of weeks, I’ll update this list so for now, let’s just call this Version 1.0.)

Philadelphia Phillies
Games Remaining: 36
Games Back: 0
What I Like About Their Chances: I like the Phillies because quite frankly, they’ve been here before. They know what it takes to play good baseball in the month of September and their roster is chockfull of veteran players. Even though they haven’t shown it of late, the Phils also still have the best lineup 1-8 of any of the four Wild Card contenders and a three-headed monster in Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt (who has been outstanding in the month of August) and Cole Hamels. This is, by far, the most talented team of the four listed…

What I Don’t Like: …that said, this club isn’t playing very good baseball right now. In their last seven games, they’ve won only two and they were just swept at home by the Astros. Also, despite all of their offensive firepower, they’ve managed to score just 16 runs in those seven outings. They also have six more games against the Braves, who they are just 5-7 against this season. This is a club that seemingly can’t put it all together this season and you just get the sense that something’s missing.

San Francisco Giants
Games Remaining: 34
Games Back: 0
What I Like About Their Chances: All of a sudden, the Giants have become an offensive juggernaut. In their last three games (all versus the Reds), they racked up 39 runs and 53 hits. Thus far, the acquisitions of Jose Guillen (to my surprise) and Cody Ross have paid off, and guys like Pablo Sandoval and Freddy Sanchez are starting to get hot at the dish. Believe it or not, it has been the pitching that has failed them over the last three weeks or so, but if Tim Lincecum can shake out of the funk he’s in then this will be a formidable team down the stretch.

What I Don’t Like: The recent offensive explosion could be a direct result of the warm weather that San Francisco has had. You might think that’s a lame statement, but the ball jumps off hitters’ bats at AT&T Park when it’s warm and deadens when it’s cooler (which is the normal climate in the “City by the Bay”). The weather is supposed to dip back down for the Giants’ series against the Diamondbacks this weekend, so we’ll find out soon if the 39 runs was just an anomaly. Of course, the Giants’ biggest concern at the moment is the seemingly season-long funk that their ace has been in. Since throwing a gem against the Dodgers on July 30, Lincecum has posted an 8.38 ERA in four straight losses and has surrendered 19 runs on 28 hits in just 19.1 innings of work. He has shown signs of getting back on track, but it’s safe to say he’s nowhere near the pitcher he was the last two years. If he doesn’t figure it out soon, the Giants’ chances of making the postseason reduce dramatically. Another reason to hate San Fran’s Wild Card hopes is its 2-9 record against the Padres – who they play six more times.

St. Louis Cardinals
Games Remaining: 38
Games Back: 1
What I Like About Their Chances: The Cards may have the easiest route to the postseason of any of these four contenders. Out of their 38 remaining games, 22 of them are against teams with losing records. And unlike the Phillies and Giants right now, their top three starters have been lights out recently. Chris Carpenter is 3-1 this month with a 2.60 ERA, Adam Wainwright has been even nastier while posting a 1.95 ERA and Jaime Garcia has amassed a 2.84 ERA this month. Aside from pitching, let’s not forget that this club also has the best pure hitter in baseball in Albert Pujols and ample protection around him in Matt Holliday and youngster Jon Jay. For August Busch’s sake, even Pedro Feliz is contributing at the dish right now.

What I Don’t Like: Twenty-two of their remaining 38 games may be against teams with losing records, but the Cards are a very pedestrian 23-21 against those clubs. While that’s still a winning record, keep in mind that we’re talking about teams like the Pirates, Astros, Nationals, Cubs and Brewers here. In the past two weeks, St. Louis has dropped series against the Cubs, Brewers and Pirates – in the middle of a pennant race, mind you. How does this happen with a starting rotation that features Carpenter, Wainwright and Garcia?

Colorado Rockies
Games Remaining: 36
Games Back: 4
What I Like About Their Chances: This team has already proven that they can get crazy hot and at 41-20, they’re extremely tough to beat at home. Carlos Gonzalez has carried this team and as proof of their 12-10 victory over the Braves on Wednesday, the Rockies are seemingly never out of any game. Six of their final 11 series are at home so if they can pull off a couple of more sweeps like they did against Atlanta, Colorado could shock everyone and win this race down the stretch.

What I Don’t Like: Despite their success at home, this club has played like garbage on the road, posting a 25-40 record away from Coors Field this year. That doesn’t bode well for them considering they have tough road challenges coming up against the Giants, Padres and Cardinals coming up over the next month or so. Those three series could essentially make or break Colorado’s chances and considering they have the most ground to cover of any team listed here, that may be too much to overcome. They also have the worst collection of starting pitching of the Wild Card contenders and Ubaldo Jimenez has dropped two of his last three starts. (Although it’s worth noting that he still has a 2.57 ERA this month.)

Prediction:
It’s a toss up between the Cardinals and the Phillies for me. They both have more talent than the Giants and Rockies, although both are coming off terrible series against bad opponents. In the end, St. Louis’ schedule is favorable and if they don’t wind up winning the NL Central, I like them to secure the Wild Card. Again, they have the easiest road of any team listed above and if they can get their act together on the road, I think they head back to the postseason. Of course, if Tim Lincecum can get back to being Tim Lincecum and the Giants’ offense stays red-hot, the Giants are going to be extremely tough to beat in a three-game series from here on out.

Is that clear? To recap, I like the Cardinals, Phillies and Giants to potentially win the Wild Card………………and maybe even the Rockies.

Update: With their win today, the Dodgers are now only 5 games back in the Wild Card race as well, with a huge series coming up this weekend in Colorado. Hopefully L.A. sweeps the Rockies and thus, make me look like a fool for not including them in this piece.

Since Phillips called the Cardinals “little bitches,” St. Louis has reeled off two straight wins in Cincy and erased a two-game deficit in the NL Central. With one game remaining in the series, the Cards have seized a ton of momentum and have a chance to turn the entire season on its head.

It appears as though Phillips’ comments did nothing but wake the Cards up, as evidence of the clubs’ brawl in the bottom of the first inning during Tuesday’s game. (Check out the video below before the MLB takes it down off YouTube.)

Following the melee was a pretty good game – a game in which the Cards downed the Reds, 8-4. The defeat ensured that the Reds will lose a series for only the second time in their last 14 and they’ll try to avoid the sweep today.

I think it’s humorous that the Cincinnati broadcast team in the video above try to pin the start of the scuffle on Yaider Molina. Phillips needs to realize that he can’t say what he did and then tap Molina’s shin guards like they’re old war buddies. I don’t blame Molina for getting in Phillips’ face, although I do blame Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker for what they did following the shouting match at home plate. Before La Russa and Baker started spatting at each other, the “fight” was nothing more than a tense huddle. But instead of getting the situation under control like they should have done, La Russa and Baker couldn’t put aside their own differences and they wound up escalating the situation.

And what was Johnny Cueto thinking? I realize he was backed into a corner, but so was Chris Carpenter and he didn’t feel the need to start sissy-kicking everyone. He could have seriously hurt someone (even more than Jason LaRue having to get stitches in his face) with that crap move. I’m sure plenty of people (including maybe even teammate Brendan Ryan) want to take a few shots at the loudmouth Carpenter, but kicking someone in the back with metal spikes on is weak.

Kudos to Scott Rolen for not only trying to play peacemaker, but for landing some real shots when the brawl actually started. Dude was a beast, although too bad he alone can’t stop the Cardinals from taking back the division.

The Reds have shown their resiliency before. There have been a several times this season when fans could have said, “Yep – here’s where it all falls apart,” but the club just kept winning.

That said, it’s gut check time for the Reds.

One day after reports surfaced that the Phillies were on the verge of acquiring Roy Oswalt via a trade, Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports hears that the Cardinals are now the front-runners for the Astros’ ace.

In fact, the Astros have been talking with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak for several days now, and Oswalt is quite amenable to go to St. Louis if the teams can agree on what players will head back to Houston. For their part, the Cardinals are convinced that matching Roy Oswalt up with Dave Duncan would take a guy who is already an ace and turn him back into the Cy Young candidate he was a few years ago. I’ll stop believing stuff like that when Dave Duncan actually fails for once. Which I wouldn’t bet on, frankly.

Of course, the big issue everyone has been talking about today has been Oswalt’s desire that his 2012 option be picked up. That’s $16 million, and that ain’t hay. My source tells me, however, that Oswalt would be willing to work with the Cardinals to make the option more palatable, possibly in terms of deferring some money. The sides aren’t quite that far yet.

The other issue is that the Cardinals’ farm system is tapped out, outside of top prospect Shelby Miller, who was the club’s first round pick in 2009.

Would St. Louis be willing to give up Miller and take on Oswalt’s salary? That’s a reach, especially considering Oswalt and Albert Pujols are each due to make $16 million in 2011, Matt Holliday is set to make $17 million, Chris Carpenter $15 million, Adam Wainwright $6.5 million and Kyle Lohse $11.9 million. That’s a lot of dough for six players and that doesn’t even include Ryan Ludwick, who is due a raise soon.

Speaking purely from a baseball standpoint, Oswalt makes every bit of sense for the Cardinals. But it’s a whole other story from a financial perspective.