No McGwire? Cardinals Have Edmonds

So who needs Mark McGwire when you’ve got Jim Edmonds?

The Cardinals were again without McGwire, but that hasn’t kept them from overpowering the Cubs the past two games at St. Louis.

Edmonds made up for a quiet opener with a home run, double and three RBIs in a 10-4 victory Wednesday night.

“This is the way we expect it to be,” Edmonds said. “I don’t think we expect to score 10 runs every night but I think we expect to be explosive.”

Edmonds, acquired from the Angels on March 23, had an empty feeling after walking twice and striking out twice in an 0-for-3 opener. He again walked twice Wednesday, but also hit a two-run homer to the opposite field in left in the first inning and had an RBI double in the third.

Ray Lankford also homered and even reliever Rick Ankiel had an RBI triple for the Cardinals, who have outscored the Cubs, 17-5, in the first two games with five homers.

McGwire hasn’t played because of a lower back strain, although he took batting practice Wednesday and expects to play today.

Early-season troubles continued for the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa, who was 0 for 4 with two popups and two groundouts. Sosa, who drove in his first run with a groundout in the sixth, is two for 15.

Pat Hentgen, part of the Cardinals’ all-new rotation, allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings to get the win.

Milwaukee 8, Cincinnati 5--Ken Griffey Jr. is still 0 for 2000, just like his new team, as the Brewers won again at Cincinnati,

The Brewers, not Griffey, showed the power, with Kevin Barker, Tyler Houston and Geoff Jenkins each hitting homers.

Griffey walked, grounded out three times against Milwaukee’s infield shift, struck out and stranded two runners on third. He’s 0 for 10 in three games.

Houston 11, Pittsburgh 2--Jose Lima, disappointed he didn’t start the opener, shook off control problems to pitch seven effective innings and Roger Cedeno’s stand-in, Daryle Ward, homered as the Astros won at Pittsburgh. Cedeno has a sore elbow.

The Astros, 1-5 at Pittsburgh last season, have outscored the Pirates, 16-4, in the first two games.

Atlanta 9, Colorado 6--Andres Galarraga, after hitting a home run in his first game following a one-year layoff for cancer treatment, came back and hit a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Braves at Atlanta.

Kerry Ligtenberg, who missed all of last season because of elbow surgery, made his first appearance since a playoff game against San Diego on Oct. 12, 1998. He pitched a perfect ninth for his first save since recording 30 as a rookie two years ago.

San Diego 4, New York 0--Woody Williams pitched six shutout innings for the Padres at New York, and relievers Carlos Almanzar and Trevor Hoffman completed the shutout against a team hitting only .177 in four games.

The Mets’ Bobby Jones struggled in his first start since last May 22, lasting only 2 2/3 innings and getting booed when left trailing by four runs.

San Francisco 11, Florida 9--Rich Aurilia hit a three-run homer with one out in the ninth inning at Miami and the Giants came from behind twice to beat the Marlins.

The sloppy but exciting game drew a crowd of 8,365, the smallest at Pro Player Stadium in the Marlins’ eight-year history.

Arizona 11, Philadelphia 3--Lenny Harris hit a grand slam during a six-run first inning and Mike Morgan got his first save in nine years as the Diamondbacks won at Phoenix.

Todd Stottlemyre, who worked out daily during the off-season to strengthen an unrepaired tear in his right rotator cuff, gave up three runs and six hits--including Scott Rolen’s second solo homer in two games--in five innings.

Morgan became the 25th major leaguer to play in four decades when he pitched in the sixth.