The Milwaukee Brewers hoped Yovani Gallardo would settle down and stop the St. Louis Cardinals.

Instead, he went wild.

Albert Pujols hit an RBI double during a four-run first inning against Gallardo and the Brewers never quite recovered, dropping to the Cardinals 4-3 Wednesday night and falling into a 2-1 deficit in the NL championship series.

“When you make mistakes like we did the first inning, they’re going to get their hits, they’re going to score some runs,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.

Gallardo, who’s 1-7 with a career 5.66 ERA against the Cardinals, trailed 2-0 after his first 12 pitches and barely made it out of the opening inning.

The 17-game winner walked three, one of them intentional, and the Brewers had Chris Narveson up in the bullpen before Yadier Molina grounded into a run-scoring double play for Gallardo’s first outs.

Gallardo trudged to the dugout after his 33-pitch ordeal that included RBI doubles by Jon Jay and David Freese.

“I think I made a good pitch to Jay,” Gallardo said. “I tried to go up and in with a fastball and I was able to do that and he just hit it out to the outfield. And to Pujols, it might have been a little bit up and over the plate but I thought it was a good pitch.”

In all, Gallardo lasted five innings and gave up eight hits, walked five (two intentional) and tied an NLCS record with three wild pitches. He struck out two.

The Cardinals’ 4-0 lead seemed as if it would be plenty with ace Chris Carpenter pitching. It was, barely, thanks in large part to a 12-up-and-12-down performance by the St. Louis bullpen.

Four relievers — Fernando Salas, Lance Lynn, Marc Rzepczynski and Jason Motte — were perfect over the final four innings.

Milwaukee chipped away at Carpenter with two runs in the second on singles by Rickie Weeks, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Yuniesky Betancourt, and a sacrifice fly by Gallardo. Mark Kotsay’s homer leading off the third made it a one-run game.

Carpenter, coming off a shutout against Philadelphia in the deciding game of the divisional series, wasn’t nearly as sharp this time.

“We got to 4-3 and I felt good,” Roenicke said. “I felt we were going to score some more runs.”

Carpenter labored through five innings, giving up six hits and walking three (one intentional) and striking out three.

“It was a battle all night long,” Carpenter said. “My stuff was OK, but these guys worked me hard.”

The Brewers had runners on base in every inning against him. Weeks struck out with two on to end the fifth. But Milwaukee couldn’t touch the St. Louis bullpen.

“It’s not going to work very often that you can put four zeros against their offense,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

Jason Motte, who had two saves lasting more than inning in September, and another in Game 2 of the division series at Philadelphia, got four outs for this save. He fanned pinch-hitter Casey McGehee to end it.

Carpenter won his seventh postseason game to tie Bob Gibson’s franchise record, but with none of the brilliance of his three-hit win over Roy Halladay and the favored Phillies in Game 5 of the first round. Nearly half of his 89 pitches were balls.

The starters’ ineffectiveness was surprising considering their track records.

Carpenter has been clutch throughout his career in the postseason, going 7-2 with a 3.14 ERA in 12 games. Gallardo allowed only two runs in 21 innings, a minuscule 0.86 ERA, before Game 3.

Kyle Lohse, pitching on 12 days’ rest, starts Game 4 Thursday for the wild-card Cardinals against Randy Wolf.

The Cardinals batted around against Gallardo in the first. Pujols delivered an RBI double after starring in a Game 2 win with a home run and three doubles.

St. Louis had its chances to break away later, but hit into three double plays and stranded nine runners.

Luckily for the Brewers, Carpenter didn’t have his “A” game, either. He walked none in that gem against the Phillies, but already had a walk and a hit batsman in the Brewers’ first three plate appearances.

Carpenter escaped with help from Kotsay, who strayed too far off second on Prince Fielder’s lineout to center and was doubled off the bag by Jay’s strong throw to end the inning.

Kotsay got a spot start in place of Nyjer Morgan, partly because he’s 4 for 11 against Carpenter. Morgan flied out to start the seventh as a pinch hitter and was roundly booed throughout the at-bat.

Ryan Braun and Fielder each entered the game hitting .500 in the NLCS with a combined seven RBIs. They were a combined 1 for 6 with no runs or RBIs Wednesday.

“We competed,” Braun said. “We had plenty of chances. It’s a tough game and just get ready for tomorrow.

Your turn, Albert Pujols.

The St. Louis slugger had one of the biggest postseason nights of his career in Game 2 of the NL championship series, going 4 for 5 with a home run, three doubles and five RBIs to lead the Cardinals past the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3 on Monday.

Pujols belted a two-run homer in the first, a two-run double in the third and an RBI double in the fifth, then added another double in the seventh. The crowd cheered sarcastically when the Brewers finally retired him in the eighth.

“Sometimes when they come, they come in a bunch,” Pujols said.

His big hits came one night after Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder bashed the Brewers to a 9-6, come-from-behind victory in Game 1.

This time, the big bats couldn’t bring Milwaukee back — even at Miller Park. The best home team in the majors all season, the Brewers had won all four home games in the playoffs until Monday.

The series now shifts to St. Louis, where Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter faces Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo in Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Pujols can become a free agent after the World Series, so a big postseason could raise his price. The three-time NL MVP was 1 for 4 in Sunday night’s loss, hitting into a double play with runners on first and third in the seventh inning. A run scored on the play, but it seemed to be an indication that Pujols wasn’t quite on his game. He came into Monday with only one RBI in the Cardinals’ first six postseason games.

“You learn from the mistakes that you made,” Pujols said. “Yesterday was just so tough. Going to bed, I was just thinking about some of the opportunities I had to help our ballclub win. I turned that page, knowing today was a new day.”

But he struck a confident tone when asked about his struggles after Sunday night’s loss, saying “Tomorrow I can come and blow it out, and what are you going to say tomorrow?”

Blow it out, he did.

“The last time we saw them at their place he was swinging the bat just like this,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “You can’t make mistakes to him. You have to hit spots. You have to keep it down in the zone. He doesn’t miss too many mistakes.”

Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer in the fourth for Milwaukee, then was involved in a disputed play in the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Weeks grounded into a double play, though replays showed he was safe.

Weeks — hobbled by the lingering effects of a midseason left ankle injury — appeared to beat the throw to first base and seemed upset when he was called out.

“Big part in the game, whether he’s safe or out,” Roenicke said. “You guys saw the replay. That was a big play.”

But it didn’t matter much after the Brewers gave up four runs in a backbreaking seventh inning. Fielder homered in the eighth, well after the outcome had been decided.

Cardinals starter Edwin Jackson went 4 1/3 innings, giving up Weeks’ home run. Lance Lynn got the win.

It was a short and ugly start by Milwaukee’s Shaun Marcum, who gave up five runs on seven hits in four innings and took the loss. Marcum, obtained in an offseason trade with Toronto, struggled mightily in the final month of the season. After a rough outing in Game 3 of the NL division series against Arizona, his place in the Brewers’ postseason rotation might come into question.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Roenicke said, adding later: “As far as I’m concerned right now he’s pitching again.”

St. Louis got started early when Jon Jay bunted for a one-out hit in the first. Pujols came to the plate and delivered what amounted to a warning shot, hitting a long fly just foul. Then he zeroed in on Marcum’s offering, smacking it to left field for a home run.

Pujols stood at the plate and admired his shot for a moment, flipped his bat away and trotted around the bases.

“I’ve seen Albert like this before,” Roenicke said. “He’s a great offensive player. He’s a heads-up defensive player. He’s a heads-up baserunner. This is a great baseball player.”

St. Louis added two more runs in the third. Jackson’s single fell in when center fielder Nyjer Morgan got a bad break on the ball, tried to make a diving catch and then dropped it. With one out, Jay sneaked a single down the third-base line, again setting the stage for Pujols.

Pujols hammered a pitch deep to center, Morgan missed a chance at what would have been an acrobatic catch, and two runs scored to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead. Pujols pointed to the sky upon arriving at second base, then clapped his hands.

“Heck, you know at some point he’s going to assert himself,” teammate Lance Berkman said. “Certainly tonight that was the case. He got some good pitches to hit and he crushed them.”

The Cardinals added another run in the fourth. Yadier Molina doubled, advanced on a groundout and scored when Nick Punto dribbled a single up the middle with the infield in to give St. Louis a 5-0 lead.

Milwaukee finally got to Jackson in the fourth, when Fielder led off with a double and Weeks hit a two-run shot to left to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 5-2. A one-out single by Yuniesky Betancourt threatened to keep the rally going, but Jonathan Lucroy grounded into a forceout and Casey McGehee tapped back to the pitcher to end the inning.

Brewers reliever Marco Estrada took over in the fifth, but the Cardinals kept on swinging.

Jay led off with a double and Pujols laced a ball into the gap in right-center for an RBI double. Pujols advanced to third on a groundout, then scored when a ball slipped through Lucroy’s legs for a wild pitch. Lucroy found the ball and made a quick throw to Estrada at the plate, but it wasn’t in time.

“The bullpen didn’t do so well, either,” Roenicke said. “We didn’t pitch well today.”

Milwaukee put runners on second and third after a walk and a one-out double by Braun in the fifth, chasing Jackson. Arthur Rhodes walked Fielder to load the bases and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa made another pitching change, bringing in Lynn, who got Weeks to ground into the disputed double play.

Things fell apart completely for the Brewers in a four-run seventh. Pujols led off with a double and Matt Holliday, Molina, David Freese and Punto delivered RBI singles.

Freese homered in the ninth, his second of the series.

— Associated Press —

Even before the first pitch, the Milwaukee Brewers took a swing at the St. Louis Cardinals.

Come Sunday, the Brewers swapped their barbs for bats — and just kept bashing.

Needing a comeback in the NL championship series opener, Milwaukee turned to its power duo of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, then got a clutch hit from Yuniesky Betancourt to beat the Cardinals 9-6.

The Brewers celebrated wildly as the big hits came during a rapid-fire rally.

“It’s the playoffs, bro,” Fielder said. “You’ve got to let it all out.”

Braun launched a two-run, 463-foot homer in the first inning and added a two-run double during a six-run burst in the fifth. Fielder hit a two-run homer and the typically light-hitting Betancourt added a two-run homer to cap it.

The midgame turnaround came so fast that the crowd wasn’t done cheering Braun’s big hit when Fielder went deep.

“I don’t even know if I heard the ball come off Prince’s bat,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “I knew it was a good swing and came off nice, but when you can’t hear the ball, the sound of it, because of all the people yelling. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen there until I saw the ball flight.”

At least for one game, the bitter NL Central rivals avoided any on-field confrontations in their first postseason matchup since the 1982 World Series.

That’s despite an already tense atmosphere that gained some steam when Brewers starter Zack Greinke let it slip on Saturday that some of his teammates don’t like the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter — a comment that drew a stern rebuke from Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Greinke hinted that he heard a few comments from the Cardinals’ dugout Sunday, but he said it was nothing out of the ordinary.

“They’re yelling from the dugout some, but most teams do that,” Greinke said. “Everyone always makes fun of me grunting when I throw a fastball. It’s kind of funny sometimes, but no big deal.”

The atmosphere was tense even before the first pitch, as La Russa was showered with boos during pregame introductions. He calmly tipped his cap to the crowd.

La Russa said afterward that he hoped the tension wouldn’t overshadow the competition — although he said he had a sense that some fans and media members would be disappointed if there aren’t any repeats of the on-field confrontations the teams have had in the recent past.

“I don’t want our players and their players to be egged on, and I don’t think they will,” La Russa said. “We’re going to play as hard and good against each other as we can.”

Greinke struggled at times, but reliever Takashi Saito got Cardinals star Albert Pujols to ground into a key double play in the seventh. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a hitless eighth and closer John Axford threw a hitless ninth for a save.

Game 2 is at Miller Park on Monday night. Shaun Marcum starts for the Brewers against Edwin Jackson.

“We’ll come back out,” Cardinals star Lance Berkman said. “The same thing happened to us in the first game against Philly. We were able to regroup.”

David Freese hit a three-run homer off Greinke in the fourth, and the Cardinals led 5-2 in the fifth.

But Milwaukee made it tough on Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia, who left after giving up Fielder’s homer. Garcia, who hit Fielder with a pitch earlier in the game, gave up six runs and six hits in four-plus innings with three walks. He took the loss.

Greinke earned the win despite his uneven outing, giving up six runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. He left the game to a standing ovation after giving up a leadoff single to Rafael Furcal in the seventh.

The Cardinals took a three-run lead into the fifth before Garcia allowed a leadoff single to Corey Hart and a double to Jerry Hairston Jr. Braun hit a two-run, ground-rule double to right and with the crowd still saluting him, Fielder hit the first pitch from Garcia deep to right for a two-run homer, giving the Brewers the lead.

Fielder then showed off his repertoire of celebrations, giving the team’s “Beast Mode” gesture upon his arrival at home plate and exchanging mock knockout blows with Braun as he trotted back to the dugout.

That was it for Garcia, who left with no outs in the fifth and his team down 6-5. It that wasn’t the end of trouble for the Cardinals, though.

Reliever Octavio Dotel fielded Rickie Weeks’ grounder and threw the ball away, allowing Weeks to go to second on the error.

Betancourt — who batted .252 in the regular season with 13 homers — then sent a 2-1 pitch from Dotel deep to left, where it flew into the Brewers’ bullpen and was fielded on the fly by Milwaukee bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel. Hanel pumped his fist, Betancourt circled the bases and the crowd continued its inning-long eruption.

Betancourt has taken plenty of criticism this season, but might be among the rare group of athletes who say they don’t pay attention to the critics and actually mean it. Through an interpreter, Betancourt said he manages to avoid criticism because he doesn’t speak much English.

“I don’t really pay attention to what the critics say,” Betancourt said.

With the score 8-5, Pujols came to the plate with runners on first and third and no outs in the seventh. Pujols broke his bat on a double-play grounder — a run scored, but the Brewers had limited the damage.

Betancourt doubled in the seventh and scored on a single by Jonathan Lucroy.

The Brewers and Cardinals split an 18-game series evenly this season, a sign of what has been one of baseball’s most intense rivalries in recent years. The Cardinals’ success against the Brewers in the final month of the season was one of the main reasons they climbed back into playoff contention.

St. Louis won six of its last seven games against Milwaukee, including a three-game sweep at Miller Park.

The animosity between the two teams spilled into this week, when Greinke told reporters Saturday that some of his teammates don’t like Carpenter because of his “phony attitude.”

La Russa said he got an umpire’s warning after Garcia hit Fielder with a pitch in the first inning, right after Braun’s homer. But the Brewers said they didn’t think the pitch was intentional, and La Russa said the team’s recent history probably affects the umpires’ attitudes.

“I certainly can’t fault the umpire,” La Russa said. “But, you know, you can’t go out and argue those things, or you get thrown out. I didn’t say anything. What I would have said is, if you watched the way Jaime pitched that whole inning, every fastball he threw was in that same area, out away from the right hander or in on Fielder. They just looked bad, but he was just trying to get the ball somewhere near the glove.”

— Associated Press —

The ultimate ace, it turned out, belonged to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Chris Carpenter tossed a three-hitter to outpitch old pal Roy Halladay in a duel for the ages and St. Louis edged the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 Friday night in the deciding Game 5 of their NL playoff series.

The wild-card Cardinals scored in the first inning when Rafael Furcal led off with a triple and Skip Schumaker followed with a double.

And that was it.

Heavily favored Philadelphia, which featured four accomplished aces in baseball’s best rotation, never broke through against Carpenter. Ryan Howard grounded out to end the game and hurt his leg coming out of the batter’s box — he limped a couple of steps and crumpled to the ground as St. Louis started to celebrate.

“It was some kind of fun,” Carpenter said.

“He’s a great friend of mine,” he said about Halladay, “and like I said, he did a great job tonight also.”

Howard has a left Achilles’ injury and won’t know more about the severity of it until he has an MRI.

The Cardinals needed a monumental collapse by Atlanta in the final month and major help from the 102-win Phillies just to reach the playoffs. Now they’re heading to Milwaukee for the NL championship series starting Sunday following a stunning upset in which they beat three of Philadelphia’s four aces: Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt.

“Actually, I don’t know what to say,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “I just got through talking to our team, and basically when I look at it, we played 162 games, and definitely we had the best record in baseball.”

“I know that we’re capable of going farther in the playoffs. Our goal was to get to the World Series. It’s been that way for two years now,” he said.

To some, the Phillies seemed destined for the World Series because of their big arms. But in a city where the collapse of 1964 is still never too far from memory, and in a town that has endured more than its share of heartbreaks, jinxes and bad luck, a sure thing is never a sure thing.

Trailing two games to one, the Cardinals began their comeback with a win in Game 4. That night in St. Louis, a squirrel scampered across home plate as Schumaker batted in the middle innings — if the Cardinals keep winning, their fans will certainly go nuts, thanks to their “Rally Squirrel.”

Coincidentally, a squirrel was caught at Citizens Bank Park before Game 5. Not a good omen, apparently, for the Phillies.

Three of the majors’ four opening-round matchups went to a deciding Game 5, and all of them were pitching-rich thrillers. Detroit held off the New York Yankees 3-2 on Thursday night, and Milwaukee beat Arizona in 10 innings earlier Friday.

Then, the showdown between Carpenter and Halladay topped them all.

“Roy Halladay is, at this time, probably the best pitcher in the game and we were able to go out and jump ahead, which was huge,” Carpenter said.

“I think guys we’re just relaxed and having fun,” Carpenter said. “We put ourselves into position where everybody was expecting us to have no chance and we just started playing like the team we knew we were. And we were fortunate to get some help back into it with Atlanta losing and we were playing well the rest of that month.”

Carpenter was over 100 pitches when he took the mound in the ninth. He retired Chase Utley on a fly to the warning track in center and got Hunter Pence on a grounder.

Howard was next, and Carpenter got the big slugger to end a most improbable series win.

Catcher Yadier Molina threw his mask toward the mound, Carpenter turned to the left of first looking for someone to celebrate with before his teammates finally got there, led by Albert Pujols. The congregation settled at second base, as just off to the right, while Howard was carried off the field and into his dugout.

Howard took a called third strike with the tying run on second base to end the Phillies’ season last year in the NLCS against San Francisco.

The expectations for Philadelphia were even higher this year after Lee returned. The loss meant the teams with the top two records and payrolls in the majors — the Phillies and Yankees — were gone in the first round, even while holding home-field advantage.

“We had a great team this year. We had a great opportunity,” Pence said. “When you have a team like this, it’s definitely disappointing to not come through.”

Carpenter walked none and struck out three in the matchup of Cy Young Award winners who were longtime teammates in Toronto. The aces had already agreed to take a fishing trip together after this season.

Halladay was outstanding, too, but his year is over. Tagged by the first two batters, he allowed six hits overall, striking out seven in eight innings.

It wasn’t good enough, and now the Phillies will certainly be considered a disappointment in their own town after failing to win a World Series in an all-or-nothing season. The Phillies cruised to their fifth straight NL East title and were hoping to add to the crown to the one they won in 2008.

But nothing less than a second World Series championship in four years was going to be acceptable this season. Everyone from management to players to fans expected the Phillies to win it all.

A sellout crowd that stood and screamed from the first pitch held their heads in disbelief and silently walked out without even booing.

The pesky Cardinals looked nothing like an underdog. They were the best team in the NL down the stretch.

St. Louis trailed the Braves by 10½ games on Aug. 25, but went 23-8 the rest of the way and earned a wild-card berth after Game 162 when Philadelphia completed a three-game sweep in Atlanta.

The Cardinals scored three runs off Halladay in the first inning of the series opener on Lance Berkman’s three-run homer. They got to him again quickly in this one.

Furcal lined a triple to the gap in right-center. He did the same off Lee in Game 2, but was stranded that day.

Not this time.

Schumaker then lined a double to right to put the Cardinals up 1-0, stunning a crowd that expected Halladay to be lights-out.

Albert Pujols followed with a soft liner that second baseman Utley barehanded on one hop and threw out Schumaker at third. After Berkman reached on interference by catcher Carlos Ruiz, Halladay worked out of the jam, needing 33 pitches to get three outs.

Halladay stopped for a brief chat with plate umpire Gary Cederstrom on his way to the dugout. It was a cordial conversation, though Halladay may have expressed displeasure with a few close calls.

One run wouldn’t seem enough against a lineup that features seven regulars who’ve been All-Stars. But nearly everyone except Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino struggled.

Fans in the parking lot before the game talked about trying to unnerve Carpenter the way they famously did to Burt Hooton in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers at old Veterans Stadium.

They made plenty of noise and waved their white-and-red rally towels

Carpenter never flinched.

After Victorino lined a one-out double in the second, Carpenter retired Raul Ibanez on a foul pop and Placido Polanco on a grounder.

The Phillies had runners on first and third with two outs in the fourth, but Ibanez flied out to the warning track in right.

Carpenter allowed a one-out single to Utley in the sixth, but Molina threw him out trying to steal second. Carpenter pumped his fist and hollered at Molina, who became the first catcher to nail Utley stealing this season. Utley had been 14 for 14 and 56 for 58, dating to 2009.

Furcal made an outstanding play to rob Ruiz of a hit in the eighth, diving to his left on a grounder up the middle and throwing out the slow-footed catcher.

This “dream matchup,” as Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called it, lived up to the hype. Halladay and Carpenter grew up together with the Blue Jays, have remained best buddies and often vacation together.

Halladay overcame a shaky start in Game 1 and pitched eight strong innings in an 11-6 win.

Pitching on three days’ rest for the first time in his career, Carpenter struggled last Sunday. He allowed four runs and five hits in three innings in his shortest outing of the season. But the Cardinals rallied from a 4-0 deficit against Lee and beat the Phillies 5-4 to even the series.

Charlie Manuel guessed right, twice.

Tony La Russa, well, he wound up getting second-guessed. And on his 67th birthday.

Pinch-hitter Ben Francisco and closer Ryan Madson made their manager’s moves look smart, and the Philadelphia Phillies held off the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Tuesday for a 2-1 lead in their NL playoff series.

“To steal a game here, if worse comes to worst, we come back home and we’ve got another game with Doc (Roy Halladay) on the mound,” Phillies slugger Ryan Howard said. “We put ourselves in a great situation.”

Francisco batted for Cole Hamels and broke open a scoreless game with a two-out, three-run homer off Jaime Garcia in the seventh inning. The Cardinals stuck with Garcia instead of opting for a pinch-hitter with two on and two outs in the sixth. Garcia struck out, then lost his pitching touch.

“Well, it didn’t work, so that’s bad managing,” La Russa said. “I’m watching him pitch and was really pleased. I thought he was the guy to continue pitching and I knew the matchups were in our favor. … It didn’t work.”

Madson earned his first multi-inning save of the year. He got Allen Craig to ground sharply into a double play with the bases loaded to escape in the eighth, then worked around Yadier Molina’s RBI single in the ninth.

Manuel’s reasoning: “I figured the game was on the line, and we had to stop them.”

The Phillies, favored to win it all after a franchise-record 102-win season, can finish off the wild-card Cardinals in Game 4 on Wednesday, with Roy Oswalt opposing Edwin Jackson.

The Cardinals are all too familiar with the win-or-else proposition. They won the NL wild card on the final day of the season, erasing a 10½-game deficit on Aug. 25 to overtake the Braves.

“Listen, we flip the page and come back ready to play with the same energy we’ve been having the last six weeks,” said Albert Pujols, who had four hits. “We’ve been in this situation before.”

Francisco’s shot on a 1-0 fastball from Garcia was only his second hit in 19 postseason at-bats. He hit six homers this season, the last on May 25 against the Reds.

Francisco had been preparing for that moment against a lefty, and Manuel said after the game that he might have stuck with Francisco even if the Cardinals had changed pitchers.

“I didn’t know it was a homer, I knew I hit it good,” Francisco said. “I saw it bounce over the fence and just pure excitement, pure joy.”

Hamels struck out eight in six scoreless innings and reversed a disturbing trend after allowing nine homers in September, with a pair of doubles by Pujols the only extra-base hits. He’s a franchise-best 7-4 in the postseason with a 3.09 ERA.

“You don’t want to make mistakes, you don’t want to leave the ball over the plate,” Hamels said. “Every pitch mattered, every inning mattered. I knew I couldn’t let it get out of hand.”

The Cardinals frustrated a season-high crowd of 46,914 by stranding 14 runners. They set a National League record with 169 double-play balls this season.

“Sometimes you’re going to get a bunch of hits, sometimes you’re going to get no hits with men on base,” Pujols said. “I don’t think Allen hit a ball that hard all season like he did with the bases loaded.”

Ryan Theriot also had four hits for St. Louis, a heavy underdog in this series. The Cardinals had runners in scoring position in six innings but came up empty despite three hits in the eighth, including a pinch-hit single by Matt Holliday in only his second appearance of the series.

The Cardinals’ decision to let Garcia bat with two on and two outs in the sixth backfired in a big way. Garcia struck out on Hamels’ 117th pitch and wasn’t the same in the seventh.

The Phillies, held to three hits to that point, doubled that total in the seventh. Shane Victorino led off with a single and moved up on a passed ball before Carlos Ruiz was intentionally walked with two outs. Francisco, who had been 1 for 9 against Garcia, deposited a 1-0 fastball in the visitors’ bullpen in left-center.

Francisco was clutch at the end of the year, getting seven hits in his last 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Lefty vs. lefty percentages, even against Howard, allowed Garcia to elude trouble until the seventh.

Chase Utley singled with two outs in the sixth, breaking a string of nine straight batters retired by Garcia, and went to second on a wild pitch on an 0-1 delivery to Hunter Pence.

The Cardinals elected for an intentional walk at that point, and the move paid off when Howard, who is 2 for 15 with a homer and an RBI against Garcia counting the playoffs, tapped out weakly to first.

Garcia was at only 74 pitches through six, but needed 26 more in the seventh.

Hamels was up to the task as well, striking out David Freese with two runners on to end the first. The 2008 World Series MVP also got Garcia on a groundout with two on to end the fourth.

— Associated Press —

Cliff Lee has lost his October touch.

Albert Pujols hit a go-ahead single in the seventh inning after Lee blew a four-run lead, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Sunday night to even their NL playoff matchup at one game each.

The best-of-five series shifts to St. Louis for Game 3 on Tuesday. Cole Hamels will be the third straight All-Star pitcher to face the Cardinals, who’ll send Jaime Garcia to the mound.

The wild-card Cardinals, who got into the postseason only after the Phillies beat Atlanta in Game 162, got the split they were looking for on the road against the team that had the best record in the majors.

Lee hardly looked like the guy who used to be so dominant in the postseason. He gave up five runs and 12 hits, striking out nine in six-plus innings, to lose his third straight playoff start.

“I wasn’t able to make my pitches, so I take full responsibility,” Lee said.

The most sought-after free agent last winter, Lee stunned the baseball world when he spurned the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers to return to the Phillies, who traded him away after he helped them win the 2009 NL pennant.

Lee’s arrival raised Philadelphia’s expectations to all-or-nothing proportions. Anything less than a World Series title won’t be considered a success by fans, players and management.

For a while, it seemed the Phillies had this one under control as they took a 4-0 edge.

After all, Lee is one of the best postseason pitchers in history, and he was 17-9 with a 2.40 ERA and a major league-best six shutouts this season.

Lee was 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA in his first eight playoff starts — 4-0 with the Phillies in 2009 — before losing Games 1 and 5 of the World Series to the San Francisco Giants as a member of the Texas Rangers last year.

He’s 0-3 with a 7.13 ERA in the last three outings.

“Anytime I got a 4-0 lead in the first or second, I feel I have the game well in hand,” Lee said.

Now the Phillies head to St. Louis with no guarantees of any more home games. If they lose two at Busch Stadium, their season is over.

“Nobody is going to hand us anything. We have to earn it,” Lee said.

Pitching on three days’ rest for the first time in his career, Chris Carpenter struggled for the Cardinals.

But one reliever after another did the job for manager Tony La Russa.

Six Cardinals relievers combined to toss six shutout innings, allowing just one hit. Jason Motte finished for a four-out save.

After chipping away for a few innings, the Cardinals took the lead in the seventh. Allen Craig led off with a triple off center fielder Shane Victorino’s glove. A three-time Gold Glove winner, Victorino misplayed the ball. He had to go a long way to make the catch, but overran it and the ball bounced off his glove.

Pujols, who struck out in his previous two at-bats, lined a single over drawn-in shortstop Jimmy Rollins to give St. Louis a 5-4 lead.

Cardinals players jumped up and cheered wildly in the dugout, while Phillies fans sat silently in disbelief. The red-clad faithful had their hearts broken already once Sunday.

Just a few hours earlier, the Eagles blew a 20-point lead and lost 24-23 to the San Francisco 49ers in an NFL game across the street.

Many fans walked over to watch the two-sport doubleheader, and the crowd of 46,575 was the largest in the eight-year history of Citizens Bank Park.

On a chilly night when the gametime temperature was 50 degrees, Lee was the only starter in short sleeves.

Maybe he got cold.

Clinging to a 4-3 lead, Lee got the first two outs in the sixth. Then Ryan Theriot lined a two-out double to left and Jon Jay followed with an opposite-field single to left. Theriot slid home safely ahead of Raul Ibanez’s high throw to tie it at 4.

Down 4-0, the Cardinals started their rally in the fourth. Lance Berkman walked and Yadier Molina hit a one-out infield single. Theriot sliced an RBI double down the right-field line and Jay followed with an RBI single to get St. Louis within 4-2.

Jay advanced to second on the throw to the plate, and Carpenter was pulled for pinch-hitter Nick Punto. Lee fired a 92 mph fastball by Punto for the second out.

But Rafael Furcal followed with a line-drive single to left. Theriot scored and Jay came rumbling around the bases. Ibanez made a perfect one-hop throw and the ball arrived along with Jay. He slammed into catcher Carlos Ruiz, his left forearm knocking the stocky catcher backward. But Ruiz held to temporarily prevent the tying run from scoring. Lee, backing up the plate, pumped his fist while Ruiz calmly picked up his mask and jogged to the dugout.

Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, allowed four runs and five hits in three innings. It was the shortest outing of the season for Carpenter, who led the NL with 237 1/3 innings pitched this year.

The bullpen bailed him out.

“We felt real good about ourselves,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We got Carpenter out of the game early, and we were trying to get into their bullpen. The big problem was that their bullpen held us.”

Fernando Salas retired all six batters he faced, and Octavio Dotel set down five in a row to earn the win. Marc Rzepczynski gave up a two-out single to Rollins in the seventh, ending a streak of 15 straight batters retired. Rzepczynski left after hitting Chase Utley to start Philadelphia’s eighth.

Mitchell Boggs came in and got Hunter Pence to ground into a forceout. Arthur Rhodes replaced him and struck out Ryan Howard. Then it was Motte’s turn.

The Phillies, who overcame a 3-0 first-inning deficit in Game 1, took a 3-0 lead in the first in this one.

Rollins lined a double off the right-field fence and Utley and Pence walked to load the bases. Howard, who hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning Saturday, then hit a sharp single up the middle to score two runs. His grounder appeared to hit the rubber and took an odd bounce on its way to center field.

Carpenter retired Victorino on a shallow fly, but Ibanez hit an RBI single to left to make it 3-0.

Rollins got things started again in the second with a two-out double off the top of the right-field fence. After Utley walked, Pence lined an RBI single to right for a 4-0 lead.

— Associated Press —

Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals completed one of baseball’s greatest comebacks, clinching the NL wild card Wednesday night with an 8-0 win over Houston and a later loss by Atlanta.

The Cardinals got their playoff spot when the Braves fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in 13 innings.

St. Louis trailed Atlanta by 10 1/2 games on Aug. 25. The Cardinals won 23 of their last 31 games.

The Cardinals will open the postseason on Saturday at NL East champion Philadelphia. In the other NL playoff matchup, Arizona visits Milwaukee.

Carpenter (11-9) struck out 11 and allowed two hits in his 15th career complete-game shutout as St. Louis kept up its improbable September charge.

“We had nothing to lose. We were already out of it,” Carpenter said. “People were telling us we were done. We decided to go out and play and not embarrass ourselves and do what we can. We played ourselves back into it.”

The Cardinals poured onto the field after Carpenter fielded J.D. Martinez’s weak grounder for the final out. The celebration was brief and muted, as the team raced into the clubhouse to watch the end of the game in Atlanta.

“It was exciting, there’s no doubt about it,” Carpenter said. “The way these guys have played the past month and a half has been amazing, every single night grinding, playing their butts off, not giving up.

“We continued to give ourselves an opportunity and now we are here.”

The teams entered Wednesday’s regular-season finales with 89-72 records.

Atlanta’s game started an hour earlier, but the Cardinals virtually took away any hope for a Houston victory in the first inning of their contest, jumping to a 5-0 lead against Brett Myers (7-14).

Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman drove in runs with singles, and David Freese doubled to left-center before Myers even recorded an out. Berkman scored when Skip Schumaker’s hard grounder ricocheted off Myers’ glove for an infield hit, and Freese came home on Nick Punto’s single to right.

Carpenter handled the rest.

He had struggled at Minute Maid Park lately, going 0-3 with a 4.62 ERA in his last five starts here, but he was in total command from the start on Wednesday, striking out five of the first nine hitters he faced. He also had an RBI single in the third to drive in Freese, who reached base when right fielder Brian Bogusevic dropped his fly ball for an error.

Freese led off the fifth with a double to right center, the Cardinals’ 10th hit of the game. Myers, 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in his last five starts, hadn’t allowed more than nine hits in a start since Aug. 6.

Freese later scored on Schumaker’s groundout to shortstop Clint Barmes for a 7-0 lead, equaling the most runs given up by Myers in 33 starts this season. Wilton Lopez replaced Myers for the start of the sixth.

As the Astros batted in the seventh, the left-field scoreboard posted a 3-3 tie in the Phillies-Braves game, prompting a roar from the large contingent of Cardinals’ fans in the stands behind the St. Louis dugout.

Carpenter then struck out Bogusevic and Jimmy Paredes to wrap up another easy inning. Allen Craig hit a solo homer in the ninth off Lance Pendleton.

The Cardinals huddled around a television in the clubhouse cafeteria after their victory.

Only three weeks ago, the Cardinals had virtually lost all hope.

“There was absolute doubt from us,” Punto said. “I remember early on in September, we were like, ‘Let’s just finish up strong for the fans. Let’s give them something to come out and watch.’

“When you’re 10 1/2 games out, that’s a hole you can’t climb out of,” he said, “unless you get a lot of help.”

The Cardinals were loose and relaxed — and confident — before the game.

Champagne was ordered for a potential postgame celebration and someone wrote, “Happy Flight! After Game” on a marker board in the clubhouse.

— Associated Press —

The St. Louis Cardinals are tied with Atlanta for the NL wild-card lead, getting a tiebreaking two-run triple from Ryan Theriot in the seventh inning of a 13-6 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

The sliding Braves lost 7-1 to Philadelphia, sending the race for the NL’s final playoff spot to the final day of the regular season. If the teams are tied after Wednesday’s game, St. Louis will host a one-game playoff on Thursday night.

The Cardinals trailed 5-0 early and appeared to be headed for a second straight loss to the Astros. But St. Louis scored five times in the fourth and erased a 6-5 deficit with a four-run seventh.

Lance Berkman hit a two-out single and scored on Allen Craig’s tying double. Craig entered the game in the third inning when Matt Holliday departed with discomfort in his right hand.

Yadier Molina walked before pinch-hitter Theriot delivered his clutch triple to make it 8-6.

Nick Punto, who had four hits, doubled in Theriot in the seventh and had a solo homer in the ninth. Craig padded the lead with a three-run homer to the Crawford Boxes in left field in the eighth.

Eduardo Sanchez (3-1) struck out two in 1 1/3 innings for the win in a game that included seven Cardinals relievers following an early exit by Jake Westbrook.

Skip Schumaker drove in three runs in the fourth, and Berkman had three hits and scored three times. The crowd booed loudly when Berkman, the longtime Astros star, scored the tying run in the seventh.

The Astros jumped on Westbrook for seven hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings to take the early lead.

Enerio Del Rosario (0-3) yielded two hits and three runs for the loss.

Brian Bogusevic singled to start the Astros’ fifth before consecutive walks loaded the bases. Bogusevic scored when Jimmy Paredes grounded into a double play, giving Houston a 6-5 lead.

David Freese walked to start the big fourth inning by St. Louis. Berkman singled with one out, and the runners advanced on a wild pitch by Henry Sosa.

Craig then walked before Molina singled in a run and Schumaker cleared the bases with a double to center, chasing Sosa. David Carpenter came in and allowed Jon Jay’s tying sacrifice fly later in the inning.

The Astros scored four times in the third. Brett Wallace had a two-run single and Jimmy Paredes added a two-run triple that rolled up on the corner of Tal’s Hill in center field.

Cardinals star Albert Pujols got hit on the right elbow by a ball that glanced off his bat for a foul in the seventh. He writhed in pain for a minute before trainers came and checked on him. He continued his at-bat after a short delay, flew out to left field and played the rest of the game.

— Associated Press —

St. Louis missed out on a chance to join Atlanta atop the wild-card standings when Brian Bogusevic scored on Angel Sanchez’s bunt in the 10th inning Monday night, giving the Houston Astros a 5-4 victory over the Cardinals.

The slumping Braves lost to Philadelphia, but the Cardinals weren’t able to take advantage of the opening.

St. Louis rallied from three runs down to force extra innings, but Bogusevic doubled off Octavio Dotel (3-3) in the 10th and advanced on Jason Bourgeois’ bunt. Sanchez then dropped a bunt in front of the plate, and Bogusevic charged home as Dotel mishandled his attempt to flip the ball to catcher Yadier Molina with his glove.

Astros closer Mark Melancon (8-4) pitched two scoreless innings.

St. Louis had won 15 of 20 to close the gap on the Braves, who have dropped 16 of 25 games in September.

Former Astros star Lance Berkman hit a tying two-run double off Wesley Wright in the eighth. Matt Holliday had an RBI single for St. Louis.

Matt Downs hit a two-run homer for the Astros.

Houston led 2-1 in the fourth when Jaime Garcia walked Carlos Lee. Downs then drove a 1-0 pitch into the left-field porch for his 10th home run of the season.

Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez pitched out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth, getting David Freese to roll into a double play before fanning Albert Pujols.

The Astros escaped more trouble in the seventh. Ryan Theriot and Jon Jay led off with singles, and Nick Punto moved up the runners with a sacrifice.

Astros manager Brad Mills brought in Wilton Lopez to relieve Rodriguez, who threw 102 pitches. Lopez then retired pinch-hitters Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso on groundouts.

By then, the left-field scoreboard had posted the Phillies’ 4-2 win over Atlanta, and the Cardinals didn’t waste their next scoring opportunity.

Pujols singled and Holliday walked leading off the eighth against Fernando Rodriguez. Mills brought in the left-handed Wright to force the switch-hitting Berkman to bat right-handed. Holliday and Pujols pulled off a double steal, and Berkman doubled off the scoreboard, only his sixth double hitting right-handed this season.

— Associated Press —

Alfonso Soriano dealt St. Louis’ wild-card hopes another serious blow with his first home run of the month, a tiebreaking three-run shot in the eighth inning that sent the Chicago Cubs over the Cardinals 5-1 Friday night.

The loss dropped the Cardinals three games behind Atlanta, which beat Washington 7-4, for the wild card. The defeat also clinched the NL Central for Milwaukee.

Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh after throwing 93 pitches. The St. Louis bullpen got punished for the second straight game when Soriano hit his 24th homer, connecting off Kyle McClellan (12-7). Starlin Castro added an RBI single off Mitchell Boggs in the ninth.

The Cardinals missed a chance to narrow their wild-card deficit to one game on Thursday when they let the New York Mets score six runs in the ninth off three relievers. Now, after the fourth loss in 16 games, they have just five games left to catch Atlanta.

Shortstop Rafael Furcal, whose fielding error opened the door for the Mets’ big inning, did not play. He has five errors in his past six games.

St. Louis grounded into three double plays, the last in the eighth after getting two hits off Jeff Samardzija (8-4), and lead the major leagues with 165. They’re one shy of their own NL record set in 1958.

Carpenter allowed a run on five hits in seven innings, coming on the heels of eight shutout innings in his last start against the Phillies. His squeeze bunt in the second drove in the Cardinals’ lone run.

The Cardinals surpassed 3 million in attendance for the eighth straight season with a crowd of 40,355.

Castro opened the game with a single for his 200th hit, at age 21 becoming the youngest player in Cubs history to do it. Carlos Pena had an RBI double in the sixth and three walks to give him 97 on the year, the most by a Cubs first baseman in statistics kept since 1900.

Darwin Barney tripled to lead off the eighth and Pena was intentionally walked with one out before Soriano, who’s 4-for-8 with two homers and five RBIs against McClellan, hit his first homer since Aug. 30 into the visitors’ bullpen in left.

The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on two walks and a single. Ryan Dempster fell behind 2-0 in the count to each of the first four hitters but Ryan Theriot grounded into a double play swinging on the first pitch.

Dempster allowed a run on four hits in six innings, his fifth quality start in five tries this month with nothing to show for it. He’s 0-3 in September despite a 3.34 ERA, and 0-5 in his past seven overall.

— Associated Press —