The St. Louis Cardinals won their first postseason game since 2006 Sunday night, rallying back from a four-run deficit to stun Cliff Lee and the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 in the second game of their 2011 NLDS matchup. After Chris Carpenter, starting on three days' rest, fell apart immediately things looked grim, but Fernando Salas and the Cardinals' bullpen combined to throw six scoreless innings to hold Philadelphia at four runs. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' offense, tops in the National League, went to work.
Ryan Theriot and Jon Jay were the surprise heroes, with Jay driving in two runs from the eighth spot in the lineup and Theriot doubling twice ahead of him. Albert Pujols, still limping, went 2-5 with two singles and an RBI, and Rafael Furcal went 2-5 with a triple.
For the Phillies the whole thing was eerily similar to what they'd pulled off against the Cardinals just the night before. After putting up three first-inning runs against the Cardinals' ace, their offense shut down, reaching base just once against a collection of six Cardinals relief pitchers, including Jason Motte, who went an inning and a third for his first postseason save. After walking three times against Chris Carpenter they didn't manage another all night.
The box score is available at the Cardinals' very celebratory official website. Game three of the series hits Busch Stadium on Tuesday.