Mulder Is Happy to Be on the Spot

To St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Mark Mulder now falls the task of trying to extend his team to a seventh game in the National League championship series. But, he admitted Tuesday, he was still dealing with the fact that there is indeed a Game 6, no sure thing Monday night when St. Louis was down to its last strike in Game 5 before Albert Pujols hit a winning home run.

“That was amazing,” Mulder said. “You go from one moment, trying to prepare yourself to pitch in two days to going, ‘All right, well, I guess I’m going home,’ to, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“So now, all of a sudden, I’m getting myself ready to pitch again.”

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Tonight’s starter for the Houston Astros, Roy Oswalt, said he’s not the least bit concerned if he has to turn the ball over to closer Brad Lidge, who gave up the home run to Pujols.

“[Lidge] is the type of closer that has amnesia,” Oswalt said. “He won’t think nothing about it next time he gets out there.

“If you’re a closer, it’s your job to come and get the last three outs. He’s been doing it all year for us. If he comes out [tonight] at the end of the game, I’m sure he’ll be lights-out, just like he always is.

“We kidded with him the whole time on the plane today. We actually told him we almost got hit by the ball when it took off.”

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The roof over Houston’s Minute Maid Park is retractable, but it didn’t move during the NLCS. Astro officials, feeling that the deafening decibel levels reached by Houston fans can be intimidating to the opposition, decided the roof would remain in place to contain the roar of the crowd.

Cardinal outfielder Larry Walker didn’t mind.

“It’s so loud,” he said, “that you don’t hear the individual drunk yelling at you. At least it gets rid of that one idiot.”

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If the Cardinals lose tonight, it will not only mean the end of their season, but the end of their stadium as well. Busch Stadium will be torn down at season’s end.

But that won’t affect the Cardinals’ commute. The new stadium is being built on an adjacent site.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.