Evening Shade: Carpenter & Cards look to continue NL takeover

Most weekday evenings, Big League Stew looks at five approaching games worth monitoring. As they occur, feel free to discuss the night's happenings with other Stewies in the comment section below.Cardinals at Dodgers, 10:10 ET Will this three-game series play a key role in the race for homefield advantage in the NL playoffs? That notion would have been ridiculous a month ago, but with the Cardinals since hot (14-4 since July 27) and the Dodgers since not (8-13 since July 26) we've been given the go-ahead to make such a suggestion.Coming into the series, Los Angeles holds a 3.5-game lead for the best NL record, but St. Louis has the advantage in the opening pitching matchup. Chris Carpenter (above) will be looking to win his eighth straight decision while the Dodgers will be forced to start knuckler Charlie Haeger, whose main claim to fame is being a former 20 Questions subject. Royals at White Sox, 8:11 Mark Buehrle hasn't won a game since his perfecto, but the Royals ...