Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon is an online sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Jeff Gordon Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

The stage was set for another memorable week at Busch Stadium III.

The defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs were in town for four games, to be followed by the persistent Milwaukee Brewers for a season-closing weekend series. This final stretch carried playoff implications for all involved.

“Great schedule-making,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Monday afternoon in his pregame media scrum. “Right down to the wire against the teams that are there.”

The Cubs were on the brink of clinching the National League Central title. The Brewers were barely alive in the division race, but they were still within range of Colorado for the second wild-card slot.

“I’m just looking forward to the competition,” the ever-optimistic Matheny said. “I’m looking forward to the atmosphere and the excitement I see with our team. I hope we see that with our fans, too. I imagine there will be some support from up north, too. There usually is. All that put together, with it being this time of year, it’s a great time to be in the game of baseball.”

Ah, but it did not start so great for the Cardinals. They did not respond to the atmosphere Monday night. They did not play with excitement.