The Cardinals beat the Dodgers in the first game of a four-game set in St. Louis, 6-1. For a full recap and boxscore click here.

THE BARE ESSENTIALS:

Randy Wolf threw his sixth consecutive solid start, throwing six innings and giving up two runs, but took the loss to fall to 5-5. By comparison, Wolf made 18 starts in 2007 with a 4.73 ERA and was 9-6. This season, he’s made 22 starts with a 3.43 ERA.

The Dodgers had at least one hit in every inning and 11 in all, but could muster only one run. The Cardinals also had 11 hits but produced big hits, going 3-for-8 with RISP.

Chris Carpenter, operating almost strictly in the high 80’s with his fastball, threw seven strong innings, although he allowed 11 baserunners. Carpenter is a good example of a starter getting older and losing MPH on his fastball but still being effective — although Carpenter is younger and has a bit more left in his fastball than the Dodgers’ Jason Schmidt.

ETC…ETC:

Every hitter in the Dodgers lineup had at least one hit. Rafael Furcal went 3-for-4 with the lone RBI, raising his average to .263.

Manny Ramirez struggled, going 1-for-5, grounding into two double plays and striking out once. He left 5 men on base.

Left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo made his first appearance since April 29 tonight, throwing a scoreless inning.

Jeff Weaver was fined an undisclosed amount today by MLB for hitting Hanley Ramirez with a pitch in the sixth inning of Sunday’s loss to the Marlins.

ON DECK:

Chad Billingsley (10-5, 3.72) and Adam Wainwright (11-6, 2.95) start tomorrow at 5:15 P.M. PST.