GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: FLORIDA (56-70) at ST LOUIS (60-62)

NL: FLORIDA at ST LOUIS

<div class="pre">FLORIDA (4) VS ST LOUIS (6) - FINAL

FLORIDA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
H Ramirez ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333
D Uggla 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .247
M Cabrera 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .328
J Willingham lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .271
M Jacobs 1b 4 1 1 1 0 2 0 .261
M Olivo c 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 .239
J Hermida rf 3 1 1 2 0 2 0 .272
A Amezaga cf 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .265
S Olsen p 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200
M Lindstrom p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 33 4 7 4 0 6 4

BATTING: 2B - S Olsen (3, B Looper); J Willingham (27, B Looper). HR - M Olivo
(12, 2nd inning off B Looper 0 on, 2 Out), J Hermida (12, 7th inning off R
Franklin 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - M Olivo (46), M Jacobs (34), J Hermida 2 (42).
2-out RBI - M Olivo. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Uggla 1. Team
LOB - 2.

BASERUNNING: Picked Off - A Amezaga (1st base, R Franklin).

FIELDING: DP: 2 (H Ramirez-D Uggla-M Jacobs 2).


ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Eckstein ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .294
S Taguchi cf-lf 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 .295
A Pujols 1b 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 .322
J Encarnacion rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .284
R Franklin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Springer p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-C Duncan ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268
J Isringhausen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
S Rolen 3b 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 .270
R Ludwick lf-rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .248
Y Molina c 3 2 2 2 0 0 1 .282
B Looper p 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200
J Edmonds cf 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 .251
B Ryan 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .348

Totals 31 6 11 6 2 3 7

a-popped out to shortstop for R Springer in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - S Rolen (23, S Olsen); Y Molina (11, S Olsen); B Ryan (4, M
Lindstrom). HR - A Pujols (30, 1st inning off S Olsen 1 on, 1 Out), Y Molina
(4, 5th inning off S Olsen 0 on, 1 Out), J Edmonds (9, 7th inning off S Olsen 1
on, 1 Out). RBI - A Pujols 2 (83), Y Molina 2 (29), J Edmonds 2 (36). GIDP - Y
Molina, J Encarnacion. Team LOB - 3.

BASERUNNING: CS - D Eckstein (1, 2nd base by S Olsen/M Olivo). Picked Off - B
Ryan (3rd base, M Olivo).


----------------------------------------------------
FLORIDA - 010 000 300 -- 4
ST LOUIS - 200 010 30x -- 6
----------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA ip h r er bb so hr era
S Olsen (L, 9-11) 6 1/3 10 6 6 0 1 3 5.39
M Lindstrom 1 2/3 1 0 0 2 2 0 3.40

ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era
B Looper 6 4 2 2 0 5 1 4.90
R Franklin (B, 3) 1 3 2 2 0 1 1 2.01
R Springer (W, 6-1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.79
J Isringhausen (S, 25) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.56

B Looper pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

WP - M Lindstrom. Pitches-strikes: S Olsen 89-61; M Lindstrom 30-15; B Looper
90-57; R Franklin 18-14; R Springer 10-6; J Isringhausen 13-9. Ground balls-fly
balls: S Olsen 9-8; M Lindstrom 1-1; B Looper 5-8; R Franklin 0-1; R Springer
3-0; J Isringhausen 0-3. Batters faced: S Olsen 26; M Lindstrom 7; B Looper 22;
R Franklin 5; R Springer 3; J Isringhausen 3.

UMPIRES: HP--Brian Runge. 1B--Mark Wegner. 2B--Mike Winters. 3B--Bruce
Froemming.

T--2:33. Att--42,147.
Weather: 94 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 8 mph, out to
left.</div>

 

Pujols powers Cardinals past Marlins

<h3>ST LOUIS 6, FLORIDA 4</h3>ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Albert Pujols' home run hitting may becontagious.


Pujols homered for a personal-best fifth straight game andYadier Molina and Jim Edmonds also went deep as the surging St.Louis Cardinals defeated the Florida Marlins, 6-4, on Wednesday.

St. Louis has won three straight and eight of 10 to move to onegame under .500 for the first time since April 26.

"We've shown a lot of patience and resilience," Edmonds said."A lot of heart, we haven't played well all year and we justkeep battling. Guys are keeping their heads up. We just keepplaying baseball, we know it's going to be a close race - so wejust playing and see what happens."


Pujols, who has homered in four-straight games seven times inhis career, put the Cardinals on top in the first, sending his30th blast over the wall in left-center for a 2-0 lead.

It was the 14th home run since the All-Star break for the St.Louis slugger, best among all major league players.

"I'm just putting on better swings right now," said Pujols, whobecame the first player in Major League history with 30 or morehome runs in each of his first seven seasons. "I'm using thewhole field and making a couple of little adjustments at theplate. You need to figure out what the pitchers and the teamsare going to try to do to you and adjust to those things."

Molina's solo home run in fifth put the Cardinals ahead, 3-1.

St. Louis starter Braden Looper kept Florida off balance for thefirst six innings, with a solo home run by Miguel Olivo in thesecond as his only run allowed.


The converted reliever, who saved 28 games for the 2003 worldchampion team, allowed only three hits before Josh Willinghamled off the seventh with a double to left.


Looper was lifted by St. Louis manager Tony La Russa in favor ofRyan Franklin, who promptly gave up an RBI single to MikeJacobs. Two batters later, Jeremy Hermida lifted a ball overthe right field wall for his 12th home run of the season to givethe Marlins a 4-3 lead.


"I knew what I was thinking, making the move to Franklin, but itwasn't the best move," La Russa said. "I should have gone with(Tyler) Johnson. I played that wrong and paid the price.Fortunately, we came back."


"Looper went out there and threw a great game," Hermida said."He kept us all off balance and pitched the ball well. We cameback and got a couple runs right there to put us back on top.But they went out there and jumped right back on us, and that'sthe sign of a good team."


The Cardinals answered with three runs in the bottom of theseventh off Marlins starter Scott Olsen. Molina's run-scoringdouble was followed by Edmonds' blast to the right-center fieldbleachers and St. Louis was back on top 6-4.


"I was just looking for something to hit," said Edmonds, whohomered for the first time since June 9. "I never faced (Olsen)before and I was just trying to be careful and not swing atballs. It's just one of those things, you get lucky every oncein a while."


"We've got to get through the seventh," Florida manager FrediGonzalez said. "We had just put a big number up in the top ofthe seventh, we had an opportunity and we didn't get it done."

Russ Springer (6-1) was credited with win after pitching oneflawless inning, while Jason Isringhausen picked up his 25thsave.


Olsen (9-11) was charged with all six runs in his 6 1/3 innings.The lefthander allowed 10 hits, striking out one with no walksas the Marlins lost their eighth consecutive game, matchingtheir longest skid since July 2002.


"They gave me four runs, I should have won," said Olsen, whodropped to 1-4 over his last six starts. "Bad location, badpitch selection. This is the worst I've ever felt after aloss."