ST. LOUIS - Mark Mulder pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals once again built an early lead, beating the San Diego Padres 6-2 Thursday for a 2-0 edge in their first-round NL series.
Matt Morris will try to clinch it for St. Louis on Saturday at San Diego against Woody Williams.
The Cardinals, who led the majors with 100 wins this season, have advanced to the NL championship series four times in five chances under manager Tony La Russa. San Diego, which limped into the playoffs with an 82-80 record, hasn't shown any signs of stopping them.
Seven teams have rallied from a 2-0 deficit in division series play - the last team to do it was Boston against Oakland in 2003.
The Cardinals' first four runs came on balls that didn't leave the infield - or in one case, even the catcher's glove. David Eckstein had a run-scoring groundout and a squeeze bunt, Yadier Molina had an RBI grounder and Albert Pujols drew a bases-loaded walk to finish Pedro Astacio after four innings.
Reggie Sanders, who drove in an NLDS-record six runs in Game 1, hit a two-run double off Rudy Seanez in the seventh that made it 6-1. Sanders has eight RBIs in eight at-bats this series after totaling five RBIs in five previous division series appearances covering 68 at-bats.
