Associated Press
ST. LOUIS -- Mike Matheny, Edgar Renteria and the St. Louis Cardinals can win with singles, doubles and triples, too.
After tying a postseason record with five home runs in the opener, the Cardinals stayed in the ballpark for Game 2 Thursday night. The result was exactly the same: another 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Following a sweep at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals will head to Dodger Stadium with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NL playoff series. The third game will be Saturday night, with Matt Morris trying to wrap it up against Jose Lima.
Milton Bradley, Shawn Green and Jayson Werth homered for the Dodgers, who lost their eighth straight playoff game and remained winless in the postseason since beating Oakland in the 1988 World Series. Los Angeles dropped to 0-5 at St. Louis this year.
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The Cardinals combined eight singles, two doubles and one triple, and the closest they came to a home run was a drive to the wall by winning pitcher Dan Haren. Seven of their eight runs scored with two outs as St. Louis used a small-ball approach to chase Jeff Weaver in the fifth inning.
Less prominent players in St. Louis' high-powered lineup were largely responsible with the 6-7-8 slots in the order going a combined 8-for-10 with five RBIs and five runs scored.
Matheny, the No. 8 hitter, became the first Cardinals player to get four RBIs in a division series game with two-run singles in the fifth and seventh. Matheny is a career .239 hitter, but is 15-for-39 (.385) during an 11-game postseason hitting streak.
