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For the first time since Opening Day (which seems oh, so long ago), the Cardinals are set to face a team not housed in the National League Central. No one in baseball had such a lopsided schedule to begin the year. In fact, before tonight’s game against Arizona, St. Louis was the only club in the Majors not to have already played at least one series against a team from all three league divisions.

The Cardinals ended their early-season tour through the Central with a 16-11 record against those division opponents. They won seven out of nine series, though never did earn a sweep. And as mentioned in a recent blog entry, the Cards did leave some wins on the table.

They currently lead Cincinnati by 2.5 games and are at least four games ahead of each of the other four division teams. No one is further back than six games.

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In case you missed all the fun last night, here is the gamestory from Carlos’ Beltran career night against the Pirates. To supplement that, here are a few additional noteworthy items to pass along:

• The Cardinals scored all 12 of their runs on Wednesday in the first three innings. They have now outscored opponents, 60-19, in the first three frames.
• Jon Jay had another three hits, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. This was his fourth three-hit game this year and his third in five games this homestand. No one on the club has had a longer hitting streak in 2012.
• David Freese saw his hitting streak end at eight, though he only played four innings on Wednesday.
• The Cards have scored in double digits six times this season. This was the first time they had done so in consecutive games.
• The 17 hits recorded are a new season high. The run total fell one shy of the team’s season best.
• While Cardinals pitchers have limited opponents to a .226 batting average this season, the team’s offense is, incredibly, hitting .290 through 24 games. That is a Major League best. The second-best batting average in the National League belongs to the Astros and Braves, who are batting .266.
• No one in the NL has scored more runs than the Cardinals (135).

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With several news items taking precedent yesterday, I needed to delay this “April in review” bit for a day. My apologies. I’m sure most of you have already seen many of the stats that reaffirm how good a month the Cardinals had. I won’t rehash those. Instead, I’ll contend that the month actually should have been better.

This is not an attempt to be a Debbie downer on what certainly was a terrific start to the season. But it is worth pointing out the opportunities the Cardinals missed that could have allowed them to really separate themselves from the rest of the division.

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In case you missed it earlier, the Cardinals have taken Allen Craig off the disabled list following a seven-game stint in the Minors. Craig is in the lineup and batting seventh for Tuesday’s series opener against Pittsburgh. Craig takes the roster spot that belonged to Rule 5 Erik Komatsu, who has now been designated for assignment. Read this story for more details on the roster move and what this means for Komatsu’s future as a Cardinal.

The Cardinals will not overuse Craig out of the gate, so look for Matt Carpenter to still get some starts at first base until Lance Berkman returns. Speaking of Berkman, he didn’t sound all that optimistic that he will be ready to return on Friday, the first day he is eligible to come off the DL. Berkman just resumed running yesterday.

Note, too, that Skip Schumaker is again manager Mike Matheny’s choice to play second again. You should see a pattern developing.

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The Cardinals’ plans to have Allen Craig rejoin the club for this series against Pittsburgh certainly seem warranted after Craig’s performance with Triple-A Memphis on Monday night. In what was expected to be his final rehab game, Craig finished 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs. He drove in all the runs Memphis scored in its one-run win.

Craig also played first base in the game, the second straight day in which he played the field.

In all, Craig appeared in seven Minor League rehab games (three at high-A, four in Triple-A) and went 10-for-28 with three homers, four runs scored, eight RBIs, one walk and four strikeouts.

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Though the Cardinals have already raced out to a division lead of four games, the club is still missing a series sweep. The Cards have another shot at notching one today. They also have the opportunity to further bury the Brewers, a club that many anticipated hanging near the top of the division all season. Heading into Sunday, Milwaukee sits five games back, largely because its pitching staff has a 5.38 ERA.

In comparison, the Cardinals enter the day with a 2.59 mark.

As manager Mike Matheny eyes the sweep, he has opted to stick with the same lineup each game during the series. Why wouldn’t he? The club has scored 20 runs and recorded 25 hits in the first two games. Standing in the way of continued offensive success is Zack Greinke, who was terrific against St. Louis earlier this month. He shut the Cardinals out on four hit in seven innings on April 7.

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Not a ton of newsy topics to come out of manager Mike Matheny’s pregame session with the media this morning. So I’ll get straight to the lineups, and you can catch up on what news there was by reading this afternoon’s notebook on cardinals.com.

CARDINALS LINEUP:

1. Rafael Furcal (SS)
2. Jon Jay (CF)
3. Matt Holliday (LF)
4. Carlos Beltran (RF)
5. David Freese (3B)
6. Yadier Molina (C)
7. Matt Carpenter (1B)
8. Skip Schumaker (2B)
9. Kyle Lohse (RHP)

BREWERS LINEUP:

1. Rickie Weeks (2B)
2. Carlos Gomez (CF)
3. Ryan Braun (LF)
4. Aramis Ramirez (3B)
5. Corey Hart (RF)
6. Mat Gamel (1B)
7. Alex Gonzalez (SS)
8. George Kottaras (C)
9. Marco Estrada (RHP)

Follow me on Twitter: @LangoschMLB

Jenifer Langosch/MLB.com

The Inbox feature was resurrected Thursday to fill the team’s off day, and you can find it here if you haven’t already given it a glance. The majority of questions I received over the past week were related to Chris Carpenter’s status, so that was an obvious way to start off the Inbox.

And if you weren’t satisfied by that latest update, here’s a new one. Carpenter told reporters this afternoon that he still does not know when his arm will be strong enough to resume throwing. ”I wish I did,” he said, “but they haven’t said.” The medical staff is waiting until Carpenter’s strength returns to pre-injury level before considering a return-to-pitch program.

Jon Jay tested his shoulder out by hitting on the team’s off day on Thursday, and he felt good enough to be placed back in the lineup. He’ll hit second. Other rehabbing Cardinals are showing improvement, too. Scott Linebrink threw his first bullpen session on Thursday. Allen Craig continues his Minor League rehab stint in Triple-A Memphis.

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I’ll be putting out a new Cardinals.com Inbox on Thursday, so consider this a call for any and all questions that you would like to have considered for this next edition. You can submit your questions by emailing me at Jenifer.Langosch@MLB.com. Remember to include you first name, last initial and hometown in the email.

Also, I am spending the week moving into my new St. Louis residence, so look for the blog activity to pick back up with the start of the next homestand on Friday.

Follow me on Twitter: @LangoschMLB

Jenifer Langosch/MLB.com

UPDATE: Jon Jay left the clubhouse this morning and is on his way back to St. Louis, presumably for more tests on his sprained right shoulder. The clubhouse is currently closed to the media, so it might be a bit longer before more information is known. Manager Mike Matheny did say earlier this morning that Jay was still feeling some soreness in his shoulder. Jay was scheduled to take swings and test his shoulder throwing. It’s likely that something didn’t feel right during one (or both) of those exercises.

More information to come when it’s available.

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If the Cardinals want to extend their streak of winning series, they’ll have to take Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh. Temperatures are winter-like here today, though the Cards will be get out of here in advance of the projected six-inch snowfall on Monday. Yes, it will be the 23rd day of April tomorrow. And yes, it is going to snow. Temperatures will be much milder in Chicago, the team’s next stop on this road trip.

The Cardinals again have Skip Schumaker and Jon Jay on the bench, though. as was evident on Saturday, manager Mike Matheny is going to be hesitant to use either unless it’s absolutely necessary. With the tying runs on base in the ninth on Saturday, Matheny sent up rookie Erik Komatsu to hit against Joel Hanrahan. Had he been healthy, Schumaker likely would have taken that at-bat.

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