Cards tumble, trail in series

HOUSTON -- Roger Clemens would love to carry his hometown Houston Astros to their first World Series, and he put them in good position to get there.

Clemens held the Cardinals in check over six innings Saturday, and Houston held off St. Louis 4-3 Saturday in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series.

Brad Lidge finally allowed a run against the Cardinals, but got David Eckstein to fly out with a runner on second to save it.

The Astros took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and need two more wins to reach the World Series for the first time in the franchise's 44-year history.

"I'll do whatever we need to do," Clemens said. "We need to make it happen."

With two games left at Minute Maid Park, Houston can wrap up the series at home. Game 4 is this afternoon, with Brandon Backe scheduled to face St. Louis' Jeff Suppan.

"My thoughts going into it was to give the kid tomorrow a little leeway and not have it rest upon his shoulders," Clemens said.

Houston nearly won the pennant last year, but Clemens blew a two-run lead and lost Game 7 of the NLCS at St. Louis. This was his first chance to begin avenging that defeat, and he delivered -- despite coughing up a 2-0 cushion again.

His teammates picked him up with a couple of key hits, including Jason Lane's tiebreaking single, and the Clemens improved to 12-8 lifetime in the postseason.

And he might be on the mound again: If this year's series goes the full seven, the 43-year-old Clemens is scheduled to start the final game.

Of course, if Houston drops the next three, this could have been the final outing of his remarkable career.

"I was trying to stay extremely tall and violent on the mound so my stuff was moving well," said Clemens, bothered by a strained hamstring down the stretch. "Leg feels fine, just emptying the tank."

The banged-up Cardinals, already playing without left fielder Reggie Sanders, lost third baseman Abraham Nunez to a knee injury. Nunez only became a regular starter because All-Star Scott Rolen is sidelined following shoulder surgery. Larry Walker did play, despite an ailing neck, and delivered a sacrifice fly.

Third-stringer Hector Luna made an error at third, and the Cardinals dropped their second game in a row after taking the opener at home.

The home team has won nine of 10 games between the clubs in the last two NLCS meetings.

Missing his most overpowering stuff, Clemens struck out only one. But he kept the ball down and minimized the damage in the fifth and sixth, allowing six hits and walking two overall.

"He's unbelievable," said Mike Lamb, who homered for Houston. "We had not scored too many runs and we gave him a little bit of a cushion today and that allows the pitcher to be a little bit more aggressive."

Chad Qualls pitched two scoreless innings, and Lidge worked the ninth for his second save of the series. He gave up a two-out RBI double to pinch-hitter John Mabry, snapping a string of 31 consecutive scoreless innings against St. Louis dating to 2003.

"I think it just proves he's human," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I mean, he's really, really good, but if you compete against anybody, you have a chance to break through."

It was a gorgeous 84 degrees and sunny outside, but the Astros closed the retractable roof at Minute Maid Park, as usual in the playoffs -- enhancing the noise from the sellout crowd of 42,823.

Losing pitcher Matt Morris, who won the clincher in a first-round sweep of San Diego, matched Clemens until the fourth, when he issued a leadoff walk to Morgan Ensberg. Lamb then lifted a 2-1 pitch to the opposite field over the short porch in left, his second homer of the postseason.

"I've seen them do it a number of times, flip it over into those boxes," Morris said. "I didn't think he hit it as good as he did, and I don't think he hit it that good anyway -- but it went out."

Clemens had a 2-0 lead, but he couldn't hold it.

Yadier Molina and Nunez grounded singles to start the fifth, and Eckstein hit a sacrifice fly. Lane ran down So Taguchi's long drive to right, ending the inning.

Taguchi played left field in place of Sanders, still bothered by a sore neck and back after an awkward fall on the warning track in Game 2.

Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds opened the sixth with singles, and Walker's sacrifice fly tied it. With runners at the corners, Clemens retired Nunez on a tapper near the plate, escaping further damage.

"I've been around this game long enough to know you're going to be tested. In the course of a ballgame, you're going to have to get out of trouble at least twice," Clemens said.

Lamb doubled over Edmonds' head in center with one out in the bottom half, and Lane followed with a go-ahead single.

Brad Ausmus grounded a single to right, Lane turned for third and Nunez came up the line to field Walker's throw. As Lane went down to slide, one of his knees crashed into Nunez's left knee, leaving the St. Louis third baseman on the ground in pain.

Moments later, he was helped off the field.

Luna came in to play third and Brad Thompson relieved Morris as La Russa made a double switch.

Lo and behold, Adam Everett hit a chopper toward third that Luna gloved cleanly. But his throw to the plate was way high and wide, allowing Lane to score on the error and give Houston a 4-2 lead.

Noteworthy

* Lamb entered 5-for-14 (.357) with three homers against Morris.

* Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Game 2 winner Roy Oswalt, drawing a huge cheer.

* Clemens is tied with teammate Andy Pettitte and Tom Glavine for the most career postseason starts. Pettitte is slated to go in Game 5.