St. Louis (5-4) at Milwaukee (5-5), 1:05 p.m. CT

The Cardinals send the man who has been their best pitcher this year to the mound on Sunday as they hope to pick up their first series sweep of the season. Jason Marquis, who has allowed a single run in each of his first two starts, faces off against Milwaukee's Victor Santos.
Marquis remains one of the game's most extreme ground ball pitchers, with a better than 2:1 ratio in the early going this year after putting up a 2.17:1 mark last year. That means his defense has to be solid behind him, which thus far it has been.

The question for the sinkerballer this year has been efficiency, as Marquis has averaged more than 18 pitches per inning over two starts. If he can find just a bit more command, he can give his bullpen a rest in addition to keeping the opponents off the scoreboard.

The Cardinals head out after Sunday's game for a brief two-game series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Mark Mulder and Matt Morris take the hill at PNC Park in a couple of starts that will be closely scrutinized.

Pitching matchup
RHP Jason Marquis
• 1-0, 1.46 ERA in 2005
• 1-3, 4.70 ERA vs. MIL in 2004


RHP Victor Santos
• 0-0, 3.60 ERA in 2005
• 1-1, 2.70 ERA vs. STL in 2004


Player to watch
Mark Grudzielanek saw a lot of Santos last year when he was playing for the Cubs, and he fared pretty well. Grudzielanek carries a 7-for-13 (.538) lifetime mark against the Milwaukee right-hander.

Quotable
"You have to fight human nature, which means you look at your average, and think, 'I want to take a big step forward, get two or three hits.' You can't do that in this game. All you can do is crank out your best at-bat four or five times." -- Manager Tony La Russa on slumping players

On television
• STL: WB-11
• MIL: FSN

On radio
• STL: KMOX 1120 AM
• MIL: WTMJ 620 AM

Quick hits
Marquis has never won at Miller Park. ... Scott Rolen's homer on Saturday was his first extra-base hit since Opening Day. ... Cardinals pitchers have four RBIs already this season.

On deck
• Monday: at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. CT
• Tuesday: at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. CT
• Wednesday: vs. Cubs, 6:10 p.m. CT