Edmonds's 300th lifts Cardinals
Jim Edmonds hit his 300th career home run, Jason Marquis won his 11th straight decision, and the Cardinals won their eighth in a row, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, last night in St. Louis.
The Central leaders had only two hits, tying their season low, in beating the West-leading Dodgers for the second straight night. Marquis (14-4) helped the Cardinals win for the 13th time in 15 games.
Center fielder Steve Finley dropped a routine two-out fly ball by Reggie Sanders with runners on first and third in the sixth, allowing both to score and make it 5-0. Edmonds became the 103d member of the 300-homer club with a two-run shot in the second off Kazuhisa Ishii (13-7). It also was his 40th homer of the season, making him and Albert Pujols the first pair of 40-homer men in Cardinals history.
Giants 9, Diamondbacks 7 -- Dustan Mohr doubled in the tying run in the eighth and Deivi Cruz hit a two-run single two batters later, rallying host San Francisco over Arizona. Marquis Grissom hit a grand slam and also started the eighth-inning rally with a single.
San Francisco came back from a 7-1 deficit to beat the Diamondbacks for the seventh straight time. They pulled within a half-game of the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race.
Astros 6, Pirates 5 -- Mike Lamb hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning, and host Houston extended its season-high winning streak to eight games. Houston has won 10 of its last 12 games and 16 of its last 19 to move two games behind Chicago in the wild-card race.
Rockies 8, Padres 2 -- Shawn Estes (14-6) pitched seven solid innings and had two hits, and J.D. Closser hit his first major league homer as visiting Colorado beat San Diego.
Braves 9, Expos 0 -- Russ Ortiz (14-7) pitched a three-hit shutout and Andruw Jones hit a grand slam to help visiting Atlanta win its fifth straight game.
Phillies 7, Mets 0 -- Cory Lidle threw a three-hitter for his second straight shutout and knocked in three runs with a double, and host Philadelphia extended New York's losing streak to eight games.
Brewers 7, Reds 3 -- Russell Branyan and Keith Ginter each hit three-run homers, rookie Ben Hendrickson earned his first major league victory, and host Milwaukee handed Cincinnati its fifth straight loss.. . .
The Florida Marlins postponed today's game against the Chicago Cubs as Hurricane Frances crept ashore on Florida's east coast, wiping out the three-game series.
The series was not immediately rescheduled, but there's a chance the teams will make up one of the postponed games when they meet at Wrigley Field this weekend.
That means the Marlins would give up a home game, but they could be allowed to bat last in one of those games to help offset the disadvantage. The other two games might be played in Miami as a doubleheader Sept. 20, the only common day off for the clubs.
