Kyle Lohse

  Tonight at 8:15 RHP Joe Blanton (0-2, 8.41 ERA) vs. St. Louis RHP Kyle Lohse (3-0, 1.97).   Tomorrow at 8:15 p.m. RHP Brett Myers (1-2, 4.83) vs. St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (3-0, 2.76).

A look at the starting rotations of the top National League clubs (standings on Page 71):   PHILLIES (W-L, ERA)   Roy Halladay (12-8, 2.21) Roy Oswalt (6-12, 3.42) Cole Hamels (7-7, 3.48) Joe Blanton (4-6, 5.85) Kyle Kendrick (6-4, 4.44)   BRAVES (W-L, ERA)   Tommy Hanson (8-7, 3.99) Tim Hudson (11-5, 2.40) Derek Lowe (10-9, 4.58) Jair Jurrjens (3-3, 4.37) Kris Medlen (6-2, 3.57)   REDS (W-L, ERA)

Drew Stubbs had three hits, and righthander Aaron Harang singled home a run and chugged around the bases to score another during host Cincinnati's five-run fourth inning, leading the Reds to a 7-5 victory last night over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Harang (3-5) singled for a 3-2 lead, then barely scored from first on Orlando Cabrera's double. He allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings, including Ronny Cedeno's two-run homer. Stubbs added an RBI double and a solo homer. Lefthander Brian Burres (2-2)

Ryan Howard dropped the black, 34-ounce Marucci bat with his right hand and watched with an entire city. Howard gazed because this ball, a Kyle Lohse change-up, sailed deep into the crisp Philadelphia night and landed in the first row of the second deck. He circled the bases in 22 seconds, pointed to his parents and fiancee, and all was right. But it was more than that. This was a moment made for Howard, whose last taste of the postseason was the defining image of failure for the 2010 Phillies.

The pressure of a tight game against the St. Louis Cardinals' closest pursuer in the NL Central brought out Scott Rolen's best. Rolen tied the score with a home run in the seventh inning, then hit a winning single in the ninth that led host St. Louis over the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, yesterday and boosted the Cardinals' NL Central lead to 2 1/2 games. "The at-bats that are tough are ones in 8-1, 9-1, 10-1 games," Rolen said. "Those are filling up stat sheets. I enjoy the competitiveness of an at-bat.

For Albert Pujols, slumps tends to be brief. The St. Louis Cardinals slugger snapped out of a three-game skid, hitting his 25th home run and finishing a triple shy of the cycle to help beat the Florida Marlins, 7-4, last Thursday night. "I just put a good swing on them," he said. "Hopefully, I can continue to do that the rest of the series. " Pujols came into the game only 1-for-14 on the Cardinals' trip. He walked and scored in the first inning, singled and scored in the third, homered in the fourth and doubled in the sixth.

Phillies-Cardinals: Season Series At. St. Louis, May 16 Cardinals 3, Phillies 1 Jake Westbrook allowed a run in seven innings and the Cardinals got the better of Cliff Lee, who was winless in six starts since throwing a three-hit shutout at Washington on April 14. May 17 Cardinals 2, Phillies 1 The Cardinals strung together four singles in the bottom of the ninth, capped by Lance Berkman's game-winning...

ST. LOUIS - Randy Wolf outfoxed the St. Louis Cardinals for seven innings to earn his first postseason win at age 35, and the Milwaukee Brewers got two more hits from Ryan Braun in a 4-2 victory Thursday night that evened the National League Championship Series at two games apiece. Matt Holliday and Allen Craig homered for the Cardinals, representing their only runs in the last 16 innings. Francisco Rodriguez allowed a hit in the eighth, and John Axford finished for his second save of the series and third this postseason.

Ryan Howard dropped the black bat with his right hand and watched with an entire city. A Kyle Lohse change-up sailed through the crisp Philadelphia night, into the first row of the second deck at Citizens Bank Park, and suddenly all was right again. It was OK to wave towels, to scream at no one in particular, and to hug the closest human. The Phillies, dealt an early deficit that silenced a stadium in Game 1 of the National League division series, were not done. They are very much alive.

THE SELLOUT CROWD in the Miami Marlins' new ballpark cheered the introduction of their starters, who were accompanied by women dressed as Latin showgirls. There was another roar for Muhammad Ali, who delivered the first pitch. Then Kyle Lohse and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals went to work, and the place grew quiet. Lohse held Miami hitless until the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth to help the Cardinals win the first game in Marlins Park, 4-1, Wednesday night.

ST. LOUIS - Arthur Rhodes is 41, a veteran of 20 seasons, a pitcher for nine different organizations. Lefthanded, he has become a pitching mercenary over the last five of those seasons, so maybe what occurred this year was bound to happen given the vagabond existence. A coveted free agent, Rhodes signed a $3.9 million deal with Texas hoping to reach his first World Series. It worked, too, just not exactly the way he had it mapped out. Rhodes was a Texas Ranger for most of this summer; a decreasingly effective Texas Ranger, in fact.

ST. LOUIS - Randy Wolf outfoxed the St. Louis Cardinals for seven innings to earn his first postseason win at age 35, and the Milwaukee Brewers got two more hits from Ryan Braun in a 4-2 victory Thursday night that evened the National League Championship Series at two games apiece. Matt Holliday and Allen Craig homered for the Cardinals, representing their only runs in the last 16 innings. Francisco Rodriguez allowed a hit in the eighth, and John Axford finished for his second save of the series and third this postseason.

THE FIRST instinct is to blame the manager, then the hitters, then the pitchers. It's the only thing a third party can do at this point: assess blame, determine responsibility, scout from the sofa. But the simple truth is that the baseball postseason was designed with a game like tonight's in mind. During the regular season, the Cardinals recorded 2.22 wins for every four games they played. The Phillies recorded 2.52 wins for every four games they played. Through four games of a National League Division Series between these two teams, things are exactly where they are supposed to be. They are even.

ST. LOUIS - Tony La Russa has taken a couple of bad swings in this postseason. He left Kyle Lohse in to face Ryan Howard in Game 1 instead of summoning lefthander Arthur Rhodes, who pretty much owns the Phillies' slugger. He started Chris Carpenter for the first time on short rest in Game 2, got a little lucky when his deficit stood at only 4-0 as Carpenter left the game after three innings. But starting Lohse in Game 1 allowed him to save another Phillies killer for tonight's Game 3 at Busch Stadium.

The bottom of the order came through for the Cardinals in Game 2 Sunday night. After falling behind, 4-0, the Cards tied the score on an RBI single by the No. 8 hitter Jon Jay. He knocked in No. 7 hitter Ryan Theriot, who hit a two-out double. Theriot had two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI, and Jay had two hits and two RBIs. Theriot, who bats righthanded, didn't play in the Cards' opening 11-6 loss. Jay was 0 for 4.   Smart Pujols Albert Pujols, who is suffering from a heel injury, showed his savvy in the seventh inning when he was held up in a rundown after the next batter, David Freese, grounded to Phillies pitcher Brad Lidge.

In one of his final acts while wearing a Phillies uniform, Kyle Lohse threw a pitch that slapped the Fightins' fans back to reality, a pitch that got them thinking: "Hey, at least we won a division title. " That pitch occurred in the fourth inning of Game 2 in the 2007 National League division series against the Colorado Rockies. After losing Game 1, the Phillies had a 3-2 lead when Lohse relieved a rookie named Kyle Kendrick in the fourth inning. Kaz Matsui launched a grand slam off the righthander and the Phillies never recovered, losing the best-of-five series in three games.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa didn't hear the news he'd hoped for when he checked on the availability of All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday for Game 2 of the National League division series against the Phillies. Holliday aggravated the tendon injury in his right hand when he pinch-hit in the ninth inning of the Phillies' 11-6 win in Game 1 and struck out. La Russa said Holliday will be reevaluated Monday when the team arrives in St. Louis. "I left that spot [in the lineup]

Like a man in a trance, Kyle Lohse handed the ball to manager Tony La Russa and, accompanied by a Citizens Bank Park din that might have awakened the dead or even Travis Lee, zombie-stepped into the Cardinals dugout. Once there, Lohse mindlessly placed his glove on the bench and began to pace, as if he still wasn't sure how a dream outing had turned so suddenly into a nightmare. If the dazed St. Louis Game 1 starter had forced himself to gaze that way, he'd have found the answer in the opposite dugout.

Ryan Howard dropped the black, 34-ounce Marucci bat with his right hand and watched with an entire city. Howard gazed because this ball, a Kyle Lohse change-up, sailed deep into the crisp Philadelphia night and landed in the first row of the second deck. He circled the bases in 22 seconds, pointed to his parents and fiancee, and all was right. But it was more than that. This was a moment made for Howard, whose last taste of the postseason was the defining image of failure for the 2010 Phillies.