By Patrick MacCoonRecord Sports EditorAny hope the Chicago Cubs had to climb their way up the National League Central was thwarted by the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game sweep this past weekend.It didn’t help Joe Maddon’s youthful club to be playing at the toughest road venue in baseball either this season.While the all-time series still belongs to the Wrigley Field natives, with an 1,121-1,093 all-time record against the Redbirds, they continue to find themselves taking the backseat to a franchise that simply knows how to win.Already with the top pitching staff in baseball, the Cardinals lowered their earned run average to 2.61 on the way to outscoring the Cubs 15-4 in the series.John Lackey, Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez all kept up their superb pitching. Meanwhile the best bullpen in the majors didn’t allow a run and Trevor Rosenthal extended his scoreless innings streak to 21 2/3 innings.The three starting pitchers, who allowed four earned runs to a struggling Cubs lineup in 19 innings, joined the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates as the only teams to have three starting pitchers with 10-plus quality starts this season.Once again Mike Matheny’s club found ways to score and come up with timely hits. One of the biggest being a pinch-hit home run by Greg Garcia in the eighth inning off Pedro Strop in the series opener on Friday night.Garcia’s heroics and first major league homer helped set the Cardinals up two innings later for a walk-off win.A throwing error to home plate by the Cubs in the 10th, improved their rival’s record to 5-1 in extra-inning games at Busch Stadium this season.Kolten Wong and Yadier Molina were just two of the eight hitters in the all-star loaded lineup to hit the gaps as they each had three doubles off Chicago pitching.St. Louis finished with 12 doubles in the three-game series and at one point had 10 doubles in a span of 10 innings.Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways from the series was the performance by rookie Xavier Scruggs.Despite hitting a mere .251 through 60 games for triple-A Memphis, Scruggs did not struggle against Cubs pitching.For the first time in his big league career, he was awarded two starts in a series. He made the most of them on Saturday and Sunday by going 4-for-8 with three RBIs and a stolen base.While Mark Reynolds has won fans over in Cardinal Nation with several clutch hits throughout the season, Matheny may have a new weapon to deploy at first base in Scruggs. The 27-year-old has flashed 20-plus home run potential over his minor league career.Not only have the Cardinals tormented the Cubs as of late, but in the month of June, the club finished with a 18-8 record. With timely hitting and strong pitching, St. Louis is on pace for its first 100-win season since 2005.The emergence of Randal Grichuk and Jason Heyward at the plate in June, in which they combined for 22 extra-base hits and nine home runs, has given a club that has endured several injuries to key players some valuable comfort room and added punch in its lineup.After being out since June 9 with a right quadriceps strain, Matt Holliday has made a speedy recovery and is expected back in early to mid-July. The team’s on-base machine could help solidify St. Louis even more as the best team in all of baseball.Even the often-injured Jaime Garcia has been nothing short of spectacular since his return on May 21. He has gone at least seven innings in all but one of his seven starts.The crafty lefty posted a 1.03 ERA in June, while only allowing 24 baserunners in 35 innings, which made for the best month of his professional career since joining the Cardinals in 2008.Using the next-man-up approach has helped an 11-time World Series championship franchise to one of the best starts by any team in the past decade.Instead of succumbing to injuries, which included a season-ending injury to perennial Cy Young contender Adam Wainwright, St. Louis has responded to every test of adversity thrown its way so far.Reaching 50 wins quicker than any team since the 2005 Chicago White Sox has given the Cardinals a surmountable lead in one of the toughest divisions in baseball.While the Cubs are on track for their first winning season since 2009, they have fallen 9 1/2 games back of first in the NL Central despite being claiming the second wild card spot behind the Pirates.Opposing teams entering Busch Stadium this season have only left with nine wins in 38 games, including a 1-6 mark for the Cubs.Matheny’s club has lived up to the “Cardinal Way” and they refuse to play anything short of that for one of the most supportive fan bases in all of professional sports.A memorable season could very well be in the making for St. Louis.The last Cardinals team to have a higher winning percentage than the club does right now was the Stan Musial-led 1944 squad that won 105 games and a World Series.

Patrick MacCoon will now serve as the Warren County Record's sports editor. He is originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee.