Cardinals 8, Dodgers 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers handled St. Louis' trio of MVP candidates. It's the bottom of the Cardinals' order that gave them fits.

Mike Matheny, Edgar Renteria and Reggie Sanders combined to go 8-for-10 with five RBIs and five runs scored, helping the Cardinals win without the long ball Thursday night.

After tying a postseason record with five home runs in NL playoff series opener, eight singles, two doubles and a triple produced the same outcome St. Louis in Game 2, an 8-3 victory over the Dodgers.

”The big three has been the catalyst for us all year, and they're definitely the reason we are where we are,” Sanders said. ”But this is a collective effort. It's everybody.”

Following a sweep at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals head to Dodger Stadium with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Matt Morris will try to wrap it up against Jose Lima in Game 3 on Saturday night.

”These guys aren't here because it's a fluke,” Larry Walker said. ”They're not going to just roll over. They're going to battle, so that's what we've got to do.”

Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, who each had 100 RBIs, were a combined 1-for-11 in Game 2. The closest the Cardinals came to a home run was Tony Womack's triple off the base of the wall in the second and a drive to the wall in left-center by winning pitcher Dan Haren in the pivotal three-run fifth that put the Cardinals ahead 6-3.

”That's all I've got,” Haren said. ”I'll settle for the win.”

Instead, seven of the eight St. Louis runs scored with two outs as the Cardinals chased Jeff Weaver in the fifth. The Cardinals have gone 7-for-15 with two outs in each of the first two games.

”One of the things that's important is that two-out hits will usually win ballgames,” Sanders said. ”This team battles and battles and battles and doesn't give a pitcher a chance to be at ease.”

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.

”It's a formidable task for us, obviously,” manager Jim Tracy said. ”But I'm not going to sit here and say it can't be done.”

Matheny, the No. 8 hitter, is the first Cardinals player to get four RBIs in a division series game after hitting a pair of two-run singles in the fifth and seventh. A .239 career hitter, he's 15-for-39 (.385) during an 11-game postseason hitting streak.

Renteria, batting sixth, was 3-for-4. His two-out, go-ahead single was the key blow in the fifth. Sanders was 3-for-3 and scored twice while batting seventh.

The Cardinals won despite a shaky outing by 15-game winner Jason Marquis, making his first career postseason start. He couldn't hold a 3-1 second-inning lead, allowing homers to Werth in the first and to Green and Bradley on consecutive at-bats to start the fourth.

The homer by Bradley, the Dodgers' troubled right fielder who had a run-in with a Los Angeles reporter on the off-day Wednesday, was a drive, estimated at 461 feet, that ricocheted off the right-field scoreboard.

Marquis lasted only 3 1-3 innings — his shortest outing of the year — and allowed three homers for the second time this season. Both came against the Dodgers.

”He's been outstanding,” manager Tony La Russa said. ”But he was struggling.”

Five relievers kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Haren, who worked two scoreless innings, is projected to be in the rotation next year with both Morris and Game 1 starter Woody Williams eligible for free agency.

The Dodgers' best chance to break the game open came in the fourth after Cal Eldred walked Cesar Izturis and Werth with two outs to load the bases and then went to a 3-0 count against Steve Finley before retiring him on a fly out to center.

Weaver made his first career postseason start and endured his second straight shaky postseason outing, giving up six runs on eight hits in 4 2-3 innings. Last year, he was with the Yankees and surrendered a 12th-inning, game-winning homer to Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins in the pivotal Game 4 of the World Series.

Weaver worked around two walks in the first when he struck out Edmonds for the final out. He had another shaky inning in the second and the Cardinals capitalized, with the first run scoring on Weaver's wild pickoff throw to first.

With two outs, Tony Womack hit an RBI triple off the right-field wall and Larry Walker followed with a run-scoring double just inside the first-base line for a 3-1 lead.