Pitching coach Dave Duncan said he has been surprised the Cardinals starters haven't done better this year even with the loss of Adam Wainwright before the season. His comments on the staff:

KYLE LOHSE

"Lohse is coming off a good start. Does that mean his next one is going to be a good one? I don't know, because that's what's taken place all year."

JAIME GARCIA

"Jaime's had three games in a row where he hasn't been anything like what we expected him to be."

JAKE WESTBROOK

"Up and down all year long. He'll have some good games and an equal number of games where he doesn't give us quite the chance to win that we need him to give us."

EDWIN JACKSON

"He's a guy who probably other people see the same way I do — that physically he's a talented guy. You can envision him being a successful pitcher on a consistent basis. But not doing things the way he's doing them now. He's got to do things a little bit different.

"He's got to be more aggressive. He's got to throw more strikes. You can have a tremendous arm and all that. But if you don't throw strikes and make the hitter swing the bat ... you've got to be able to make pitches, no matter how great your arm is.

"Sometimes, guys overcomplicate pitching. They try to do more than they need to do, in order to succeed. And a lot of times that will get them into trouble."

CHRIS CARPENTER

"Really the only guy in our rotation who's pitching well right now is Carpenter.

"I think he's been a lot better than 8-8. You could probably go back over the games that he's started and he should have won a few more games than he did.

"We've made a lot of mistakes when he's pitched that are not in the record books — those little non-plays, those plays you expect to be made — that don't get made. It seemed like he was the victim of that more than anybody else."

KYLE MCCLELLAN

"I think he could return to the rotation. How good would he be? I don't know. Is he going to be a top-of-the-rotation guy? Probably not. But could he be a serviceable starting pitcher on a contending team? He probably could be.

"Under the circumstances, I'm not disappointed in McClellan's year."