Cards lose cool, Edmonds, La Russa

HOUSTON -- Not only are the St. Louis Cardinals losing the NL championship series 3-1, they're losing their cool.

Manager Tony La Russa and Jim Edmonds were ejected for arguing pitch calls in the seventh and eighth innings of Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros, another frustrating game for them in an increasingly frustrating series.

"No, I don't think we've lost control at all," Edmonds said. "I think that Tony thought the situation called for him to argue, and I was just asking why that was a strike when it hadn't been a strike all day."

Players were trying their best to move on and concentrate on the task at hand, namely beating the Astros' big three of Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens in succession to make it back to the World Series for the second straight season.

"Guess what, if we're going to be a champion we've got to come back," leadoff man David Eckstein said. "The bottom line is we still have life."

Nothing has gone right the last three games, all Astros victories, for the team that led the major leagues with 100 victories, swept the Padres in the first round and went 11-5 against the Astros in the regular season.

Before losing the manager who's third on the career victory list behind only Connie Mack and John McGraw, plus their second-best run producer, the Cardinals had already been short-handed. They were down to their third choice at third base, John Mabry, given that Scott Rolen had season-ending shoulder surgery in August and Abraham Nunez sustained a deep left thigh bruise in a collision with Astros baserunner Jason Lane in Game 3.

Nunez, who gingerly pulled his pants over a light cast on his leg after the game, also is a question mark for Game 4.

"I need to see how much movement I can get," he said. "It's just real weak."

They also went with a Reggie Sanders that was far from the player who leads the playoffs with 12 RBIs, going a quiet 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and no balls out of the infield after missing Game 3 with neck and lower back injuries.

With runners on first and third and none out in the ninth, Sanders missed a chance to tie it in when third baseman Morgan Ensberg fielded his chopper and then threw to the plate in time to get Albert Pujols in a tag play.

Mabry, who played well in the field, was 0-for-4 and grounded into a game-ending double play against Brad Lidge with runners on first and third.

La Russa became accustomed to playing without a full lineup during the season, when he managed for a long stretch without four regulars and made out 139 different lineups. Now, with the Cardinals totaling five runs on 18 hits the last three games, perhaps it's getting to him.

La Russa was apparently tossed for arguing pitch calls by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, storming onto the field after reliever Jason Marquis walked Lance Berkman on four pitches to load the bases with none out. He carried out lengthy arguments with both Cuzzi and then crew chief Tim McClelland, the third base umpire.

McClelland shielded La Russa from Cuzzi for several minutes, towering over him as the pair moved in lock step, before the manager finally walked off the field. After a delay of four or five minutes, the next batter, Ensberg, hit a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 2-1 lead.

La Russa's argument appeared to be a cumulative matter given that none of the pitches to Berkman appeared to be close calls. La Russa approached Cuzzi after the first inning, apparently to discuss low strikes that were called, and throughout the game he had been yelling at the umpire from the dugout.

"I'm ready to discuss anything about the game," La Russa said. "Anything involving umpires, there's nothing you should say after next day, next week, next year. So I have nothing to say about that."

Edmonds was batting with a 3-1 count and a man on in the eighth when he disagreed with a high, somewhat tight pitch that was called a strike.

"All I asked was where the pitch was," Edmonds said. "I said 'How do you call that ball a strike?' and he told me 'Don't you come back here and argue with me."'

Edmonds said that pitch wasn't a strike "the whole game."

"But it's beside the point now," he said. "We've got to do a better job with getting hits and scoring runs."

John Rodriguez, his replacement, hit a drive to deep center that was tracked down by Willy Taveras on Tal's Hill -- the irregular mound near the wall.

Even the mild-mannered Eckstein did some squawking after he struck out in the sixth on a checked swing.

"I try not to say much all year," Eckstein said. "But when I say something, it's pretty right on."

Before Game 3, La Russa cast a pre-emptive strike at Wally Bell, the plate umpire in Game 3 on Saturday, when during his pregame interview session he said he hoped that Roger Clemens wouldn't get any breaks.

After the game, La Russa made certain to compliment Bell for an evenhanded effort and in his media interview session before Sunday's game the manager made certain the media knew about it.

Not that it helped.