Morris seeks answer for recent struggles

The Cardinals pitcher is 3-5 with a 5.66 ERA in his last nine starts.

ST. LOUIS -- Fortunately for Matt Morris, he won't have to deal with the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs.

The St. Louis Cardinals' right-hander has dominated the Cubs for most of his career, entering this season with an 11-3 record against them. This year, he's 0-3 with an 8.02 ERA after getting knocked out in the fifth inning of a 5-2 loss Tuesday night.

"The Cubs take a good approach and they've got something on me that I keep doing, whether it's offspeed pitches or when I'm ahead in the count," Morris said. "They seem to sit on some curveballs and put some good whacks on them, so I tip my hat to them.

"But I've got to make some better pitches."

That's true in general for Morris, who made up for a late start to his season following offseason shoulder surgery with an 8-0 start. But in his last nine starts since July 23, his second start after the All-Star break, he's 3-5 with a 5.66 ERA.

During his early run, Morris (14-7) was the Cardinals' second-best starter after 20-game winner Chris Carpenter. Now, if he keeps fading and with the Cardinals likely to go with a four-man rotation in the postseason, his role as a starter in the playoffs isn't guaranteed.

Although the Cardinals could clinch the division within a week, Morris knows this time of the year is important to re-establish himself. He has four or five outings left.

"It's a crucial time for me to pick it up," he said. "I don't want to get to October and be wondering what I'm going to have or how I'm going to execute.

"This is the time to sharpen everything and these last two. ..."

Last fall, Morris pitched with an injured shoulder in the playoffs and allowed 14 earned runs in 21 1/3 innings, going 0-2 in the continuation of one of his worst seasons. Now, he said, neither the shoulder nor fatigue is a factor.

"Physically I'm feeling good, I'm feeling better than I did a month ago," he said. "It seems like I'm recovering faster from the time I had surgery and my first couple of starts.

"But I want to go out there and execute and feel good about going home and sleeping at night, especially at this time."

Morris got an extra day of rest before Tuesday's start, then he labored for 36 pitches to get the first three outs. Of the 18 pitches the Cubs swung at, they missed only once. For the first time all year he didn't have a strikeout and he exited after allowing four runs -- three earned -- on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.

"I don't know if we've lit him up but we've beaten him and that's all that matters," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "So even if there was something I wouldn't tell you because he would correct it, you know what I mean?"

Morris likely will have to face the Cubs one more time during a road series Sept. 15 to 18, unless the Cardinals decide to rest him and use one of their prospects to avoid further damage. And it's not just the Cubs who seem to have figured him out. The Marlins scored six runs in seven innings in his last start and the Dodgers got seven runs -- five earned -- in seven innings in late July.

"I don't know if it's just them now or what," Morris said of the Cubs. "I definitely could have thrown some better executed pitches.

"Whether it's mechanically or my game plan I'm not sure, but if I'm not executing it's hard to even figure out what you're doing wrong."