Cardinals Hope for a Better Trip West

The Cardinals hope to have a better trip to Los Angeles than their last.

St. Louis players acknowledged that they played as poorly as they had all season in dropping two of three at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 10-12. The Dodgers play host to the Cardinals in Game 3 of the National League division series Saturday.

“We didn’t play too well out there in the regular season, but I think things will be different this time,” closer Jason Isringhausen said. “We just didn’t play good baseball and we made some uncharacteristic mistakes.

“We also didn’t have our whole lineup together in those games after [Scott Rolen] got hurt. He’s such a big part of our lineup, and everyone is together now. I really think it will be different.”

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After hitting five home runs in the first game, the longest ball hit by a Cardinal in Game 2 was by pitcher Dan Haren, a flyout.

“Our guys just enjoy playing the game, and the game includes everything,” said Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa. “Sometimes you take whatever the pitcher gives you.”

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The Cardinals scored five runs with two out in the third inning of an 8-3 victory in Game 1. Seven of their eight runs in an 8-3 victory in Game 2 were scored with two out.

St. Louis is batting .467 with two out in this series, and has scored 13 of its 16 runs and collected six of its nine extra-base hits with two out.

Talking about a drain on a pitching staff.

“That’s a real tough feeling as a pitcher,” St. Louis reliever Ray King said. “You’ve battled to get two outs, and you think you may just have to make one more pitch to get out of an inning.

“Then all of a sudden you go from one pitch to getting out of an inning to out of the ballgame because you’ve given up three or four runs. Real tough.”

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Dodger outfielder Milton Bradley is listed as day-to-day after he tweaked his left hamstring running out a double in the fifth inning Thursday night. After that, Bradley appeared to run gingerly in the outfield.

Word on Bradley’s condition was relayed from the training room because the Dodger outfielder did not talk to the media after the game.

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Exiting the locker room afterward, Dodger owner Frank McCourt had the same reaction as his players to the 2-0 hole the Dodgers find themselves in this best-of-five division series.

“We’ve been in holes all season,” said McCourt with a shrug of his shoulders.

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The consecutive home runs by Bradley and Shawn Green in the fourth inning Thursday night were the first consecutive homers by the Dodgers in the postseason since Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager accomplished the feat in Game 5 of the 1981 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Bradley’s home run was estimated at 461 feet.

Jayson Werth also homered Thursday night, giving the Dodgers three postseason homers in a single game for the first time since the 1978 World Series opener, also against the Yankees.

In that game, Davey Lopes hit two and Dusty Baker had the third.

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The Cardinals have won the first two games of a division series three times previously. All three times, they swept the series in three games.