Cardinals blank Brewers

ST. LOUIS -- Woody Williams looked perfectly healthy -- and dominant again at home.

Williams, limited to 17 starts last season by a pulled muscle in his left side, pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning to lead the Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 7-0 Wednesday night.

"Why would you worry?" manager Tony La Russa said. "He pitched great. I just tried to get him out at the right time."

Williams, acquired in August 2001, is 9-2 with a 2.13 ERA in his career at Busch Stadium and 17-5 with the Cardinals overall. His lifetime record is 75-67.

Mike Matheny had two RBIs and three of St. Louis' 13 hits.

Williams didn't allow a hit until Eric Young tripled to right with two outs in the sixth. Eduardo Perez just missed on a diving attempt of Young's slicing drive to the warning track.

The Brewers' only other hit against Williams (1-0) was a one-out single by Jeffrey Hammonds in the seventh. The right-hander struck out five and walked one in 6 2/3 innings.

"He was making us hit his pitches," Young said. "When you've got it going on like that, pretty much there's going to be some tough pitches you can't handle."

Because of last season's injury, Williams won't be extended much early, so he never really got carried away with the no-hit bid.

"No matter what you think or people say, I was just trying to get outs," Williams said. "I knew I wasn't going to pitch the whole game."

Williams, one of the best hitting pitchers in the majors, felt so good he forgot he's not supposed to swing away very often. He took a nice cut on the third strike in the second.

"I need to limit my swings and hopefully I'll make contact," Williams said. "I can't swing and miss too many times, I'll tell you that."

Four relievers finished the five-hitter. Williams is 3-0 with an 0.93 ERA against the Brewers the last two seasons.

Third baseman Scott Rolen saved a run when he grabbed Richie Sexson's chopper down the line and made a one-hop throw to first off his back foot for the final out of the sixth.

"It's amazing," Williams said. "I knew that was a double and a run in, and all of a sudden it's the third out."

The Cardinals scored 11 runs Monday, their most ever in an opener at Busch Stadium. This time, they hit five doubles off Glendon Rusch (0-1) to score three times in the fourth and fifth.

Rusch took no consolation from the fact a lot of the hits weren't exactly blistered.

"It wasn't what I wanted, obviously," Rusch said. "Even if they don't hit it hard, sometimes you have to make better pitches, and I didn't do that."

Perez's two-run double gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Albert Pujols and Rolen had consecutive RBI doubles in the fifth, and Matheny added a run-scoring single in each inning.

Matheny, a career .235 hitter, is 9-for-17 in his career against Rusch.

Rusch lasted five innings, allowing seven runs on 11 hits. He also lost to the Cardinals in his final start of 2002.

The Cardinals are 2-0 for the first time since 2000, when they won their first three games to sweep the Cubs.

Notes: Perez has a bruised hip from landing hard on the warning track and might be sidelined Thursday. ... Cardinals OF Eli Marrero was out of the lineup with a deep thigh bruise after a collision with 2B Fernando Vina on a pop fly in the opener. ... CF Jim Edmonds, recuperating from a left calf injury, has left both of the first two games at about the midway point. Kerry Robinson replaced him in the top of the sixth Wednesday. ... Vina, one of the toughest hitters to strike out with 36 in 622 at-bats last year, took two called third strikes. ... Young had two hits and is 5-for-9 in the first two games. ... The Brewers are 3-9 the last two seasons against the Cardinals.