The Tampa Bay Rays finish their home stand with a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals -- without slugger Albert Pujols -- to wrap up interleague play.

MADDON'S TIES TO STL CARDS

Though manager Joe Maddon hails from Hazleton, Penn., the Rays' skipper was a fan of the Cardinals during his youth.

When his mind drifted at school, Maddon found himself sketching St. Louis' logo on his papers.

"I thought they had the best logo in baseball. I had that thing memorized," Maddon said.

"I used to redo the logo with the birds and the bat underneath, I did the Cardinal thing with the 'C' and the whole word 'Cardinal' written out, according to memory. I was all of that. When I got into a team, I got into them totally. I used to write, I wrote to [then-Cardinals' announcer] Harry Caray back in the day. I listened to them every night on KMOX. It's kind of cool that they're here. I still want to beat them badly, but they played a big part in my development as a baseball fan and as a kid growing up."

CARDINALS WITHOUT PUJOLS

The last time the Cardinals journeyed to St. Petersburg, they had the luxury of first baseman Albert Pujols anchoring the middle of Tony LaRussa's lineup. Pujols hit 4-for-12 with a home run, four RBI and three runs scored to lead St. Louis to a three-game sweep of Lou Piniella's Rays.

The Cardinals lead the all-time series against Tampa Bay, 5-1, but this will be the first time the two teams meet without Pujols present. The 10-time All-Star is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a non-displaced fracture of his left forearm. To the fans' discontent, the Dominican-born slugger did not even make the trip to Florida.

Even Joe Maddon was upset by Pujols' absence from the Cardinals' order.

"He's one of the best players in the game, and truly, I mean this very sincerely, I wish he was here today. I like playing the other team at their full strength. I really enjoy when we beat a team at their full strength. It counts a little more.

MADDON ABOUT MANAGING AGAINST LARUSSA

Maddon highlighted St. Louis' advanced scouting and credited Tony LaRussa, who he said is a well thought-out manager.

"Tony is always in the corner of the dugout," something which gives his players a lot of confidence, Maddon said.

LINEUP FLIP

The Rays did their homework on Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook, and tweaked their lineup accordingly.

Westbrook, who hasn't won since June 7 in Houston, has allowed four runs in each of his last three appearances and has averaged about 5 1/3 innings pitched per start.

Hoping to continue that trend, Joe Maddon reversed Casey Kotchman and B.J. Upton's spots in the lineup to mix in another right-handed bat after Matt Joyce.

Entering today, right-handers have hit .335 against Westbrook, as opposed to .268 from the left side. Righties accounted for 32 of his 51 earned runs this season. The Tampa Bay starting lineup has as many as seven left-handed bats, which was the reason for the switch.

"He gets a lot of ground balls with his sinker," Maddon said.

And that's no exaggeration. 64.7 percent of his outs against left-handers were on the ground, compared with 59.6 percent against right-handers.

DAMON TIED WITH SPLENDID SPLINTER

Entering the game, Johnny Damon is tied with Hall of Famer Ted Williams for 71st on the all0time hit list. Damon notched his 2,654th career hit against the Cincinnati Reds as the designated hitter in the Rays' 4-3 loss Wednesday.

CASEY AT THE BAT

First baseman Casey Kotchman is hitting .338, which would rank third-best in Major League Baseball behind Adrian Gonzalez (.352) and Jose Reyes (.352). Kotchman is still 20 at-bats short of qualifying for the batting title.

MIDWAY GRADES

81 games into the season, the Rays' 45-36 record is third-best in club history, trailing the 2008 and 2010 teams' marks.

Series at a glance

Pitching probables:

Friday: Wade Davis (7-5, 4.32) vs. Jake Westbrook (6-4, 5.32)
Saturday: Jeff Niemann (2-4, 5.58) vs. Kyle McClellan (6-4, 4.02)
Sunday: Jeremy Hellickson (7-7, 3.18) vs. Kyle Lohse (8-4, 2.78)