Braves take 3 of 4 from struggling Cards

The Atlanta Braves squared their record at 4 and 4 by taking 3 of the four games in their set with the struggling St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards dropped to 2-6 as their offensive woes have only been exceeded by their mound miseries.

Game one saw the Cardinal bullpen squander a 3-2 ninth inning lead, and come up on the short end of a 5-4 decision. Todd Worrell was the prime arsonist in the Cardinal bullpen, while David Justice homered, doubled, and drove in 3 of the Atlanta runs.

The Cardinal bats came to life in the second game, pounding out 13 hits and scoring 7 runs to earn a 7-4 victory. Bill Virdon started in center field for the first time and put down a claim on the position, at least for the time being, going 5 for 5 and scoring 3 times, with Ken Boyer notching 3 RBIs. Catcher Hal King homered twice for the Braves. The Cardinals went with Lindy McDaniel who pitched a scoreless ninth, wanting no part of Worrell this time.

The series switched to the south and the Braves took advantage of the home cooking for relatively easy 7-2 and 6-3 wins in games 3 and 4. They outhit the Cardinals 22-13 in the two games combined, with Dusty Baker's 5 for 9 effort leading the way. The Cardinals did have a bit of a breakout game from Don Blasingame in the finale as he went 4 for 4.
--submitted by BikeMike--