Cards bats, not Wainwright, beat Cubs

Despite the loss of Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals continue to make one of the best starts in the majors. With a 7-4 win over the Cubs, St. Louis improves to 8-3 on the year.

They got it done with hitting on Thursday with Chris Duncan, Khalil Greene and Brian Barden all going deep. Then again, the Cardinals were facing Cubs fifth starter Sean Marshall while the Cubs dealt with St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright.

Fantay Impact: Wainwright actually didn't pitch very well, giving up four runs in six innings while still earning a win. He's giving up a lot of base runners but keeping them from scoring. He'll need to right that ship if he wants to maintain a 3.31 ERA.

Duncan is hitting .389, and Tony La Russa's faith in him against lefties like Marshall is paying off. He picked up three hits today in four at bats.