Posted: Friday October 15, 2004 2:18AM; Updated: Friday October 15, 2004 2:46AM 
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Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols combined for three of the Cards' four homers.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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By Daniel G. Habib, SI.com
Turning Point
Another day, another weapon from the variously talented Cardinals, who used back-to-back home runs by Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen in the bottom of the eighth to break a 4-4 tie.
Pujols, now asserting himself as, aside from Barry Bonds, the majors' most feared hitter, was 3-for-4 with four quality at-bats, and drove Dan Miceli's first pitch out to left field; Rolen, who snapped an 0-for-14 playoff slump with an RBI single in Game 1, followed suit by launching a second-deck shot, his second home run of the game. (It was the first time in the Cardinals' postseason history that they had hit back-to-back home runs.)
"You try to have a good approach and you try not to be result-oriented, but sometimes you need a little success for confidence to take over," Rolen said.
He has long been protesting that he's been having good trips to the plate this October, but has merely been snakebitten. Rolen's bad luck has evened out, even though his swings look like they're all upper body. The question of his left knee/calf situation still lingers, but with results like these, it's beginning not to matter.
From the Bench
It's become easy to flame Astros manager Phil Garner in this space, but his decision to start the bottom of the eighth with Miceli, rather than closer Brad Lidge, left me speechless. It was the single least defensible managerial move of this postseason, all the more inexplicable given that Garner had both Miceli and Lidge warming in the top of the eighth, and that Lidge hadn't worked since Game 4 of the NLDS last Sunday, when he threw only seven pitches. He was well-positioned to work at least two, and possibly three innings, and no more pivotal situation could have arisen than the one Garner faced: a 4-4 game in the eighth, with the Cardinals' most dangerous hitters, their 3-4-5 of Pujols, Rolen and Jim Edmonds, due up.
Asked if he considered using Lidge, Garner said, "Had we gone ahead, I was going to do that. I would have used him two innings. If we got through the eighth inning still tied, I was going to use him for a couple innings, too."
This final turn of the screw -- a tied game in the ninth, but not the eighth, would have been appropriate? -- confused me even more, and reflected a silly, slavish adherence to the conditions of the save statistic.
It bears repeating that Lidge has, since becoming the Astros' closer in late June, struck out 15.7 per nine innings, meaning he's developed into the Eric Gagne of 2003 vintage. He's flat-out dominated. That Houston could use its bullpen for 3 1/3 innings in a tight road game without firing its magic bullet was incomprehensible.
Clubhouse Confidential
Not only did Pujols deliver the big blow, but he made the game's strongest defensive play in the top of the sixth. With runners on first and second, none out and pinch-hitter Eric Bruntlett squared to bunt, Pujols charged a high-hop sacrifice, barehanded it and fired to third for a forceout. "I just know the ball was wet a little bit," Pujols said. "I know that it's been raining a lot. But I just want to make sure I get there, get the ball and just give it a good throw and try to get it out, not try and get a double play." ... The St. Louis bullpen continued to one-up Houston's, this time with right-hander Kiko Calero working out of the aforementioned two-on, none-out jam. He struck out Craig Biggio for the second out, worked around Carlos Beltran -- he felt more confident against Jeff Bagwell, a wise sentiment that shows he values a shutout inning over bravado -- and got Bagwell to fly out to center by burying a hard slider down and away. There is no greater head-to-head advantage in this series than the Cardinals' bullpen over the Astros'. ... In lousy weather, a 50-degree chill and constant drizzle, nobody felt more comfortable than Larry Walker, a native British Columbian, who hit a two-run homer off Houston starter Pete Munro. "The weather's like this all year there," he said.
Bottom Line
St. Louis has held serve at home, but the Astros aren't out of commission, not with Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt starting Game 3 and 4 at home; obviously, though, they need wins from both to make this a series. Bagwell, 0-for-6 in this series, and Jeff Kent, 2-for-8, need to get hot, and Houston needs lengthier outings from its starters. Not since Brandon Backe went six innings in Game 3 of the NLDS has an Astros starter made it past the fifth. Part of that is short rest, part Garner's quick-hook tendency, but turning these games into bullpen-versus-bullpen confrontations is a negative-expectation strategy. The one player who can singlehandedly pull Houston back from the brink is Beltran, who already has six homers this October.
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