Cardinals' 18th win in April would be historic

It's a chance at history for the Cardinals today. A win over Cincinnati in an afternoon game at Busch would be their franchise-record 18th in April. The 2000 and 2006 Cardinals won 17 games in April. The 2000 team went on to win 95 games and reached the NL Championship Series. The 2006 team won just 83 regular-season games, but caught fire in October and won the team's 10th World Series.

It won't be easy today, with the Reds sending strikeout master Aaron Harang to the mound against Braden Looper. Harang was 2-0 against the Cardinals last year and has won four of his last five decisions against them.

Adam Kennedy, Cesar Izturis, Yadier Molina and Ryan Ludwick are on the bench. Kennedy is 1-for-6 against Harang in his career, while Izturis is an alarming 0-for-17. Molina is 4-for-21 and Ludwick is 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Here are the lineups for the rubber game of the series:

Cardinals
Skip Schumaker RF
Aaron Miles 2B
Albert Pujols 1B
Rick Ankiel CF
Troy Glaus 3B
Chris Duncan LF
Jason LaRue C
Braden Looper P
Brendan Ryan SS

Reds
Ryan Freel CF
Jeff Keppinger SS
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Joey Votto 1B
David Ross C
Aaron Harang P