PHILADELPHIA -- Adam Wainwright and Adam Morgan will be looking to snap slumps of varying degrees on Friday when the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies open a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.Wainwright (9-7, 4.72 ERA), the Cardinals 34-year-old right-hander, matched the shortest start of his career in his last time out -- working just two innings in a 13-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. The three-time All-Star allowed seven runs on six hits and walked three, and afterward called his outing embarrassing, according to Major League Baseballs official web site.Wainwright, who is winless in his last five outings, also surrendered six runs on nine hits over six innings in losing his previous start to Atlanta.Morgans struggles are much more pronounced. Philadelphias second-year left-hander is 1-7 with a 6.62 ERA, and hasnt won since beating the Braves for his lone victory on May 10. In the meantime, he has gone 0-7 with a 7.46 ERA over 12 starts, a drought interrupted by a stint at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in which he went 5-0.Morgan returned to the parent club last weekend but was forced to depart Sundays start against Colorado after three innings when he was hit on the elbow by a line drive off the bat of Nick Hundley. Morgan reported no ill effects.Morgan was saddled with a no-decision in his only start against St. Louis this year, allowing three runs on six hits over four innings. He is 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA in two career starts against the Cardinals.Wainwright, who is 6-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 13 career outings against Phillies, told reporters after the loss to the Cubs that he was feeling a little under the weather, but did not wish to use that as an excuse. He also denied that he was tipping his pitches, as was suspected in his previous outing.Today, the way I was tipping is that when they got in the batters box, they knew I was going to throw something in the middle of the plate, Wainwright said, according to MLB.com. You do that against a good team, and theyre going to hit it really hard.The Cardinals, who hold a one-game lead over Pittsburgh in the race for the National Leagues second wild-card berth, have won four in a row. The Phillies, who beat the Dodgers 5-4 on Thursday night to salvage the finale of a three-game series, have won four of six.Maikel Francos two-run homer off Dodgers reliever Grant Dayton in the seventh inning proved decisive.Fastball, right down the middle, said Franco, who jumped on a 1-1 offering. Put a good contact on it, nothing else. I just go try to put the ball in play, put good contact on it.It was Francos 11th game-winning RBI, which leads the Phillies and is tied for fourth in the National League. It was also his team-leading 19th go-ahead RBI.With all the swings and misses and expanding the strike zone, he comes up big an awful lot, manager Pete Mackanin said. You cant deny the numbers that hes put up. Nike Shox Clearance Sale . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Clearance Nike Shox .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. http://www.nikeshoxdiscount.com/ .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Nike Shox Clearance Wholesale .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Nike Shox Discount . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. SAN DIEGO -- If baseball players want to shorten the schedule, management says they should accept a reduction in pay.Tired from travel in an era that frequently has quick turnarounds following overnight flights, players are seeking changes in collective bargaining. The regular-season schedule increased from 154 games to 162 in the American League in 1961 and the National League the following year, and playing 162 games in 183 days has left little flexibility.There are ways to produce more off days in the schedule. Some of those have very significant economic ramifications, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday. If in fact we are going to go down those roads, those economic ramifications are going to have to be shared by all of the relevant parties. You want to work less, usually you get paid less.ddddddddddddUnion head Tony Clark, a former All-Star first baseman, says the sport currently is not putting players or giving the clubs and their players the best opportunity to play every day at a high level throughout the course of the season. He said the grind is so difficult that players need to take days off to give their bodies time to recover.I dont agree that there would need to be a discussion about a loss of salary or a rollback of salaries, Clark said. If there is a lessening of the games and we put players in the position where playing whatever number of games are in that season, theyre able to play, the value of every game goes up as well. ' ' '