ERST LESEN! » he has good technique, he sees the play, he feels th

ST. LOUIS -- While the St. Louis Cardinals continued their recent trend of solid to outstanding work from their starting pitchers on Saturday, the Milwaukee Brewers kept moving the needle in the wrong direction.Adam Wainwrights seven shutout innings gave St. Louis a 3-0 win and deepened Milwaukees recent skid offensively. In losing three straight games, the Brewers have managed just two runs.Weather permitting, Milwaukee will try to figure things out against the Cardinals in Sundays series finale at Busch Stadium.Were in a little bit of a funk offensively, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. Were just in one of those couple-day stretches of struggling to get things going and create opportunities.St. Louis (42-38) has tended to do that to Milwaukee (35-45) in recent years. It owns a 6-2 advantage in this years season series, outscoring it by 48-14, and is 45-20 against the Brewers, dating to the start of the 2013 season.But a 90 percent chance of rain might present Milwaukee with a temporary reprieve. While the teams played through showers for most of Saturdays game, some forecasts are calling for as many as 2/3 inches of rain Sunday.Nothing could dampen the Cardinals mood after perhaps their best defensive game of the season. They turned four double plays, used a nifty deke at second base to steal an eighth-inning out and denied at least two hits with outstanding plays to turn hard-hit balls into outs.It was a stark contrast from their previous three games, in which they made eight errors and other mental mistakes.Just good plays all the way around, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. Being able to trust your defense is one of those confidence-boosters for your pitching staff. They dont have to be perfect.Michael Wacha (4-7, 4.42 ERA) gets the call for the Cardinals on Sunday. He has pitched well in his last four starts, all of them quality, and has won two straight outings, including an 8-4 verdict on Tuesday night in Kansas City.Wacha, who lost seven straight decisions from April 23 to June 22, has displayed much better command lately. He has hit the lower parts of the strike zone with his fastball, enabling him to use his changeup as a wipeout pitch.Wacha, whos 3-0 with a 4.22 ERA in five career outings against the Brewers, will be opposed by right-hander Chase Anderson (4-8, 5.45). Hes coming off a 6-5 loss on Tuesday night to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who rocked him for eight hits and six runs (five earned) in four innings.That outing actually qualifies as an improvement of sorts for Anderson, who has been hit so hard in his last three starts that his ERA during that span dropped to 12.71 after Tuesday night. But he has enjoyed good outings in his two career starts against St. Louis, allowing only two earned runs in 12 innings.Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is expected to make his 73rd start in 81 games and is looking to build on his 1,500th career hit that he accomplished in the fourth inning Saturday.Hes been one of the greatest Cardinals ever, Wainwright said of his longtime battery mate. We were excited for him. Swell Lahev . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Swell Lahev Cz . The Australian is competing in his final season in Formula One and still looking for his first win this year. He will look to end Vettels run of six straight race wins on Sunday. Webber, who is fifth in the championship, earned his second pole from the past three races and 13th of his career. http://www.swelllahevcz.com/ . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Stoke City are, at times, a challenging side to figure out, some weeks they look unbeatable with skill all over the pitch, and some weeks they just look rather disinterested.Manager Mark Hughes has done an admirable job with his side, but has yet to figure out how all the talented pieces can fit together. Hell get another chance to solve that mystery on Wednesday night when his lads welcome Southampton to bet365.com Stadium.The Potters (5-4-6) find themselves in 11th place heading into the midweek matches, miles better than earlier in the campaign when they spent a sizable chunk of time at the foot of the table. They enter Wednesdays clash in decent form, having won two of their last three league matches.Stoke had the better of the play early in Saturdays 3-1 loss to Arsenal, and grabbed the lead through a 29th-minute penalty from Charlie Adam before the Gunners broke free.Despite the loss, Hughes took some positives from the performance.In the past weve come here and struggled to get any shots on goal or get out of our own half but I think we can be reasonably pleased with what weve produced (Saturday), Hughes said. Were an honest group and Im not going to claim that we deserved to win because Arsenal are a very good and strong team, as their league position shows.But we can take positives from the way weve gone about it. Weve taken a look at one or two things; we will be without the likes of Wilfried Bony, Mame Diouf and Ramadan in January due to African Cup of Nations and its important that we look at what we can and cant do ahead of that.This clash will be Hughes 400th in the Premier League. He becomes the sixth manager to reach that milestone in the Premier League.dddddddddddd.Stoke will be a bit shorthanded as defender Geoff Cameron remains out, along with goalkeeper Jack Butland and Phil Bardsley.Southampton (5-5-5) have also won two of their last three Premier League fixtures, including Sundays clinical 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, which saw Sofiane Boufal score the 53rd-minute winner. Southampton manager Claude Puel was pleased with his clubs performance, especially that of midfielder Jordy Clasie.I was happy for the game of Jordy, because I think its the best game since the beginning of the season, Puel said. He took responsibility to go forward to try to shoot and to give possibilities offensively for the team.I think he can do better with his qualities, not just to defend, because he has good technique, he sees the play, he feels the play and when he brings something offensively its good for the team.Puel also provided an injury update heading into Wednesdays tilt.Dusan Tadic returned to the side against Middlesbrough after recovering from a broken nose, while Austin will be out for three to four months with a shoulder injury. Defender Matt Targett and goalkeeper Alex McCarthy remain unavailable as Saints go in search of back-to-back wins.Stoke City have won just one of their previous four home Premier League games against Southampton, with both teams scoring in each match.Southampton have scored in each of their last 13 league visits to Stoke, last failing to score there in a league game in August 1977. ' ' '