(Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres start up their post All-Star break schedules tonight at Busch Stadium in the first of four consecutive meetings between the teams.

Tonight's series opener features an intriguing matchup of pitchers, with the Cardinals' Kyle Lohse attempting to build on a surprisingly excellent first half and the Padres sending reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy to the hill.

Peavy's 2008 campaign has been hampered by a strained elbow that caused the hard-throwing ace to miss nearly a month, but he's been back at top form since returning from a stint on the disabled list. In six starts following his reinstatement to the active roster, Peavy has posted an outstanding 1.75 earned run average to go along with a 3-2 record.

The right-hander has been especially dominant over his final two starts before the break. Peavy fired seven shutout innings of three-hit ball to defeat Arizona on July 5, then followed up with another seven scoreless frames to lead San Diego to a 4-0 victory over Atlanta last Friday. In that game, Peavy yielded just four hits and a walk while fanning seven Braves.

The two-time All-Star owns a 3-2 record with a 2.89 ERA in seven regular- season starts against St. Louis. In his lone career appearance at the new Busch Stadium, Peavy threw six shutout innings to beat the Cardinals on August 7 of last season.

Lohse, who signed with the Cardinals during spring training, has been one of the keys to St. Louis' unexpected contention for a postseason berth. The right-hander has compiled a stellar 11-2 record over his 20 first-half starts and enters tonight's tilt tied for third among NL hurlers in wins.

Much of Lohse's success has come on the Busch Stadium mound, where the 29- year-old has gone 5-1 with a 2.75 ERA in 11 starts thus far in 2008.

He also comes into this evening's matchup riding a streak of eight straight winning decisions, with his last loss occurring all the way back on May 8. Over the course of that winning streak, Lohse has recorded a 2.18 ERA in 10 starts and allowed two runs or less on eight of those occasions.

Lohse was again sharp in his most recent start, as he delivered seven shutout innings to down Pittsburgh on the road this past Friday.

The California native is 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA in three lifetime starts against San Diego, but has not faced the Padres yet this season.

St. Louis enters tonight's play with a 53-43 overall record and a half-game edge on rival Milwaukee for the lead in the NL Wild Card race. The Cardinals and Brewers will clash in a four-game series at Busch Stadium beginning Monday.

Tonight's matchup kicks off a stretch of eight consecutive home games for St. Louis, which is 26-21 at Busch Stadium this season.

San Diego is a substandard 14-28 on the road this year and is bringing up the rear in the NL West with a disappointing 37-58 record. The Padres, who are opening up an 11-game trek this evening, have dropped two in a row overall.

These teams played a three-game set in San Diego back in May, with the Cardinals winning two of those encounters. In their only visit to St. Louis last season, the Padres lost three of four games to the Cards.