Playoff baseball began yesterday with the Dodgers visiting the Cardinals. L.A. forced Woody Williams to throw 25 pitches in the first inning but did not score. Odalis Perez looked strong through the first two batters he faced and tried to pitch around Albert Pujols. However, Pujols dipped down and sent a pitch soaring just to the left of the batter's eye in centerfield. Steve Finley leapt up and almost made the grab, but he was unable to rob Pujols of his home run. While the red-clad fans packing the stadium demanded a curtain call from Pujols, Scott Rolen popped out on the first pitch of his at-bat, preventing St. Louis from building on their momentum.

In the bottom of the second, Edgar Renteria stole second and then narrowly escaped being picked off third. Perez ran towards Renteria with the ball and he looked trapped in a run down, but as Perez motioned to throw to second, the ball slipped out of his hand allowing Renteria to safely run back to the bag. However, Renteria remained stranded throughout the inning, so the error did not cost the Dodgers a run.

While Larry Walker missed badly when striking out in the first, he hit a towering shot to right field on the first pitch of his second at-bat. Pujols then hit a grounder through the infield into center for a single on the first pitch he saw. The first pitch to Rolen was a foot outside, and Perez eventually walked him, prompting a visit to the mound with Elmer Dessens beginning to warm up in the bullpen. Renteria hit a line drive down the third base line for a double, allowing both Pujols and Rolen to score easily. Jim Edmonds then capped off the hit parade with a first pitch home run into the Cardinals' right field bullpen, driving Perez from the game.

ESPN was late coming back from break, so we returned to see Mike Matheny trotting around the bases. He evidently sent the first pitch he saw over the left field fence. Dessens recovered to retire the remainder of the side without incident, but giving up a homer to the weak hitting catcher to put St. Louis up 7-0 did not help L.A. reclaim momentum.

In the top of the fifth, Cesar Izturis hit a fly ball into right field where Walker looked like he was going to catch it without much trouble. Walker instead dropped the ball, allowing Izturis to double. Werth then sent a ground ball shooting past Rolen for a double, scoring Izturis and putting the Dodgers on the board for the first time in the game. Taking the mound after Jason Grabowski unsuccessfully pinch-hit for Dessens during the top of the inning, Duaner Sanchez prevent the Cardinals from adding to their lead in the fifth.

Adrian Beltre hit a pop-up into shallow right field behind second baseman Tony Womack to lead off the sixth with a single. Later in the inning, Alex Cora dropped a fly ball into deep centerfield for a triple, scoring Beltre.

Kiko Calero relieved Williams prior to the seventh and prevented L.A. from scoring that inning. Giovanni Carrara went out to the mound for the Dodgers and promptly allowed Walker to send a ball over a different section of the right field fence, making the score 8-2.

With two outs in the ninth, Tom Wilson hit a home run off Jason Isringhausen just over the centerfield wall into the middle of the batter's eye. However, the game ended with L.A. down 8-3 to the Cardinals.