St. Louis, MO (My Sportsbook) - The Florida Marlins try for their first three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in almost seven years as they conclude their series tonight at Busch Stadium.

Florida won 7-3 last night behind eight strong innings from star rookie Dontrelle Willis. The Marlins, who have won 12 of their last 15 contests, have pulled within a game of Philadelphia for the National League wild card spot.

A victory tonight would mark Florida's first three-game sweep of the Cardinals since August 27-29, 1996 at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis, which has dropped three straight, has fallen into third place in the NL Central, three games behind the front-running Houston Astros.

Josh Beckett takes the mound tonight for the Marlins. He had a two-start winning streak broken in his last outing, despite allowing just two hits and two run in seven innings against Houston on Friday. Over his last three games, Beckett has struck out 25 and walked just four.

Beckett faces the Cardinals for the third time in his career tomorrow tonight, and for the first time at Busch Stadium. The righthander is 2-0 with a 4.85 ERA against the Cardinals, having allowed seven runs on 13 hits with four walks and 14 strikeouts over 13 innings. He faced the Cardinals earlier this season, April 26 at Pro Player Stadium, allowing two runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts over seven innings.

Brett Tomko will toe the rubber tonight for St. Louis. He is 5-2 in his last nine starts and is coming off a victory against the Mets on Saturday. In that game, the righty scattered nine hits and surrendered three runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Tomko is 0-4 at home this season and has yet to win in his career at Busch Stadium, as he's 0-5 in 16 outings.

Tomko is 3-0 in five career games against the Marlins.

Last night, Willis (11-2) allowed three runs on five hits, while striking out six and walking one batter. The lefthander, who has won five straight road games, tied Brian Meadows' team rookie record with his 11th win of the year. Nate Bump worked the ninth inning to preserve the win.

Mike Lowell and Juan Encarnacion each drove in two runs for the Marlins, while Ivan Rodriguez hit a solo homer for Florida.

Dan Haren (2-3) took the loss after allowing five runs on 10 hits over six- plus innings. Haren, who had won his last two decisions, walked one and fanned six.

Scott Rolen drove in two runs and Eduardo Perez homered for the Cardinals. Albert Pujols went 1-for-4 to extend his career-high hitting streak to 20 games. With a hit tonight, Pujols will own the longest hitting streak on the team since Joe McEwing's 25-gamer in 1999.

St. Louis is 31-24 at home, while Florida is 27-28 on the road.

The Marlins have won five of their last six and eight of 11 at Busch Stadium, dating back to August 8, 2000.