Phillies nab rare sweep at Busch

Burrell homers as Philadelphia knock off St. Louis 5-3.

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Pat Burrell wants to forget about the past and not peer into the future.

"I don't like to look back at the bad start we got off to and I don't want to think about what might happen later this week," Burrell said after homering in the Philadelphia Phillies' 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

When he looks back, Burrell sees his team getting off to an 8-18 start that has it struggling to get to the .500 mark. When he looks ahead, Burrell and his teammates face the possibility of a strike that might derail their momentum.

Marlon Anderson also homered as Philadelphia won its fifth in a row and swept the Cardinals at Busch Stadium for the first time since 1990.

At 64-65, the Phillies are within one game of .500 for the first time since the first week of the season.

"This was one of our best series of the year, to come in here and beat a first-place team," Burrell said. "Our goal is to get to .500 and we hope we get to carry through on that."

The NL Central-leading Cardinals lost their third straight game as the Houston Astros moved to within three games of first place.

Placido Polanco, traded from the Cardinals to Philadelphia last month in the deal for Scott Rolen, singled off Jason Isringhausen (2-2) in the ninth after singles by Bobby Abreu and Travis Lee for a 4-3 lead.

Isringhausen, who lost for the first time since June 30, deflected Polanco's hit but couldn't field it cleanly.

"It's just a reflex, you stick your hand out and usually make that play," he said.

Jeremy Giambi walked with the bases loaded to add an insurance run.

Burrell said the Phillies were looking ahead to a series against Montreal starting Tuesday that could be for second place in the NL East.

"It's big, our goal is to get to .500 and get to second place, we've got it all in front of us."

Phillies manager Larry Bowa said it was tempting to speculate on what the Phillies might have done if they had not gotten buried at the start of the season.

"I'm not saying we could have beaten Atlanta, they are playing unbelievable baseball, but it might have been fun," Bowa said.

Carlos Silva (4-0) won in relief. Jose Mesa got three outs for his 36th save in 45 chances.

The Phillies were leading 3-2 when the Cardinals tied it in the eighth on a pinch-hit double by Jim Edmonds. Rolen lead off with a double and scored when Edmonds doubled off Silva.

The Phillies built a 2-0 lead on home runs by Anderson and Burrell off Cardinals starter Luther Hackman.

Rookie Brett Myers, making his seventh start, gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings.

Hackman, making his fifth start this year, allowed two runs in four innings. He has not pitched more than 5 2-3 innings as a starter.

Anderson hit his eighth homer in the second. Burrell hit his 33rd home run in the fourth.

The Cardinals, who had gone 16 innings without a run, tied it in the fourth after loading the bases with one out on singles by Albert Pujols and Tino Martinez and Anderson's error at second base.

Mike DiFelice drove in one run with a sacrifice fly and Fernando Vina walked with the bases loaded.

Lee drove in the third run for the Phillies in the fifth with a single off reliever Gabe Molina after a walk to Jimmy Rollins and a single by Burrell.