Clemens, Lidge silence Cards' bats

HOUSTON -- The St. Louis Cardinals hit their home runs as usual but not much else Saturday, and this time that wasn't enough against Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros.

Early solo homers by Larry Walker and Jim Edmonds accounted for the Cardinals runs in a 5-2 loss that cut their lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series to two games to one.

It was the second straight game that St. Louis scored all its runs on homers, and the Cardinals really couldn't muster any other kind of threat. They managed only three more hits -- all singles -- and three other baserunners, two on walks and a hit batter.

"We're fine," said Reggie Sanders, who was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. "This is baseball. Some days you're going to get it, some days you're not."

It seemed as though it would be one of the good days when St. Louis' first two hits went over the fence.

Walker's made it 1-0, but Houston got three in the bottom of the first. Edmonds made it 3-2 leading off the second inning, but the Cardinals would only get two runners to second base the rest of the game.

After hitting .413 (19-for-46) with runners in scoring position this postseason, the Cardinals were 0-for-5 with five strikeouts.

"You can't always have timely hitting in baseball," said leadoff hitter Tony Womack, who went 0-for-4. "But you can put yourself in a position to win and we did that."

That was the frustrating part for the Cardinals. They were within a run from Edmonds' homer until the bottom of the eighth, yet hardly ever put up a fight.

The closest thing they had to a rally came in the fourth, when Scott Rolen led off with a single and went to second on a one-out wild pitch. Edgar Renteria became the first St. Louis batter to hit with a runner in scoring position, and he struck out.

Reggie Sanders walked with two outs, the only time the Cardinals had two men on against Clemens. It didn't last as Mike Matheny, who had singled in his previous at-bat, struck out.

Although this was the first time the Cardinals were facing Clemens in a playoff game, they knew the drill: To beat him, get to him early. The extra incentive in this case was another chance to pound Houston's middle relievers.

By the time Matheny went down swinging, though, Clemens had found a groove. He was in the midst of getting six of nine outs on strikeouts and would allow just one more baserunner -- a one-out walk to Rolen in the sixth.

The only solace for the Cardinals was that they made Clemens throw 116 pitches.

"We were grinding those at-bats like we needed to," manager Tony La Russa said.

Having failed to get to the middle relievers, the Cardinals were forced to face a closer in a save situation for the first time this postseason.

Brad Lidge entered in the eighth with the Astros still nursing a one-run lead. Rested and ready, he picked up where Clemens left off.

Tony Womack flied out to right field, and Walker couldn't catch up to a high 98 mph heater for the second out. Albert Pujols, who homered in his last three games, got on with a single, but Rolen struck out on three pitches.

Houston padded its lead with two runs in the bottom of the eighth, so Lidge didn't mind walking Edmonds to lead off the ninth. The Astros didn't even mind him taking second base.

Renteria and Sanders struck out looking, and after pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson was hit by a pitch to bring the tying run to the plate, John Mabry struck out to end the game.

The Cardinals, who also had just five hits in their only other postseason loss, prefer to focus on their totals this series: 18 runs, 11 homers -- and a one-game lead.

"We've done very well in this series," Sanders said. "There's no time to panic just because of this game."