St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros, Game 4

Jeff Suppan will take the mound this afternoon at 4:45 PM against the Houston Astros. The Astros will have Brandon Backe starting for the first time since his last start on October 9th--the 18 inning game.

Suppan has yet to pitch against the Astros this season. He did pitch in the NLDS and NLCS last year to help clinch those series and advance St. Louis. However, all-time vs. the Astros, Suppan does not fare that well. I believe in Jeff just like I believe in the rest of the St. Louis Cardinals. If anyone performs well in Houston, it will be Jim Edmonds. Edmonds has played 49 regular season games at Minute Maid Park. In his career, he has hit 11 home runs and 33 RBI. Of the six games that he drove in the winning run in Houston, three came this season.

Chris Carpenter will start against Andy Pettite tomorrow at 8:28 PM.

Jayson Stark takes a look at some of our injuries during the postseason. I hope that both Reggie Sanders and Abraham Nunez are both well enough to start today. Sanders has been a MVP for us this season. The good news is Reggie Sanders will not be on Meet the Press or Hardball with Chris Matthews anytime soon.

"We've been doing this all year," said third baseman Abraham Nuñez, a guy who used this game to become the latest member of the Cardinals' ever-growing list of limping wounded. "We had 1,000 injuries, and we overcame them. The only difference is, we don't have a lot of time now. We just have a short period. It's not like we have six months to play. But hopefully, we'll overcome these injuries like we overcame all the other ones."

Nuñez was the last man out of the trainer's room Saturday. So he missed the scene that unfolded in his clubhouse before he staggered to his locker with a badly bruised left thigh. (More on how that happened in a moment.) But it's too bad he missed all that, because it had to be heard to be believed.

Normally, after a big one-run playoff loss, the media-player Q-and-A revolves around key plays, pivotal pitches, opportunities wasted.

But this clubhouse sounded more like the emergency ward -- with the press hordes not so much doing interviews as making rounds.

Here are some uplifting examples of how those conversations went:

The first patient to make himself available for inquisition was outfielder Reggie Sanders, last seen impaling himself on the warning track in St. Louis on Thursday night.

Look at the questioning that Reggie Sanders recieved yesterday.

OPENING QUESTION: "How ya feeling, Reggie?

OPENING ANSWER: (Smile.) "Well, uh, OK. If I was feeling good, I would have been out there today. So obviously, I'm not feeling good."

FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: "Yesterday, you'd said you thought you would play today. What happened between yesterday and today?"

FOLLOW-UP ANSWER: (Smile.) "Well, yesterday, I did feel pretty good. But I forgot I was on drugs. I got off the drugs last night. Today, I didn't feel so good."

MORAL OF THIS STORY: Never forget you're on drugs -- especially when you're in the midst of being interviewed by every member of the national media corps except Tim Russert.

If Abraham is unable to play, it looks like utility player John Mabry will be starting at third.

"Hey, that's the life of a utility man," Mabry said. "You understand the role, man. Wherever they need you, you try and prepare."

Mabry actually played four positions in one game this year. So if he could just clone himself, he might be able to solve all of this team's problems. But with no cloning scientists available, he'll just play whatever position they tell him.

Asked if there were any position he'd prefer not to play, Mabry replied: "Probably pitcher. I have done it before. But I don't know that I want to do it again."

Where can you hear or watch the game:
FOX: The game will start at 4:45 PM with the action being called by Thom Brenneman, Steve Lyons, Bob Brenley, and Kenny Albert.
ESPN Radio: Dan Schulman and Dave Campbell
ESPN Spanish Radio: Eduardo Ortega and Carlos Alfonso
KMOX Radio will carry the game on the Cardinals Radio Network (Wayne Hagin and Mike Shannon)

On a personal note, I'm going to miss being able to hear the Cardinal games on KMOX next year.

Oh, and by the way, Chris Burke WAS out. Want the pic for proof?


Here's the original caption: "Albert Pujols unsuccessfully tags Chris Burke on an attempted pickoff in the third inning." (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

How did the ump miss that call?

And what's up with all the ejections and blown calls? Rocket had his last year and he decided to unretire. They even took Zito off the All-Star team. Who is paying off the umpires to call this game very wrongly?