St. Louis Post-Dispatch
September 4, 2001

Morris Beats San Diego for 19th Victory

By Rick Hummel

SAN DIEGO -- Matt Morris now is but one step from a plateau he probably never thought he would reach when he blew out his elbow two years ago.

The Cardinals' righthander, who missed the entire 1999 season and was in the bullpen all of last year as he started his comeback, earned his 19th victory and seventh in succession Tuesday night as the Cardinals whipped the San Diego Padres 6-1.

This was not quite the no-hit gem rookie Bud Smith spun on Monday, but Morris scattered six singles, allowed no runs in seven innings and walked nobody for the second game in a row. As Morris (19-7) tied Arizona's Curt Schilling for the major-league lead in wins, the Cardinals closed to two games behind wild-card leader Chicago while staying six behind National League Central Division pacesetter Houston.

If not strong contenders in the divisional race, the Cardinals most certainly are in the wild-card mix. ``About six weeks ago, we were about 10 or 11 games out of October baseball,'' said manager Tony La Russa.

"We're close enough to get excited. We're playing these games like they mean something."

Morris will bid for his 20th victory Sunday at home against Los Angeles. He had 22 victories total in his three previous big-league seasons.

Asked how difficult it was to follow a no-hitter, Morris said he already had been there. Last May, while he was on a rehabilitation assignment at Class AA Arkansas, Morris followed Smith in the rotation.

The night before, Smith had thrown a no-hitter. "I didn't fare so well," said Morris. "But it's a little different up here."

Morris had ligament transplant surgery in his right elbow in 1999, a surgery that has been much more successful than anything involving shoulders.

"You worry more about shoulders," said La Russa. "If properly done, guys can come back after that elbow surgery. They say you can come back as good as new [em dash] and we knew what his other one was," referring to Morris' pre-surgery record of 19-14.

Control problems by San Diego rookie Junior Herndon (2-4) and fielding problems by backup third baseman Dave Magadan helped the Cardinals to three easy runs in the second.

Albert Pujols crushed his 33rd homer and Jim Edmonds his 24th in a three-run seventh. Pujols has 108 runs batted in and his third hitting streak -- at 12 now -- of 10 games or more.

"And I really believe the stats don't come anywhere telling the story of how this guy's played," said La Russa, who has had to use the rookie at four positions.

"That he's been able to maintain this for six months. . . . I don't care if you've been in the league 10 years . . . he's had a phenomenal season.

"I've been fortunate and had some MVP performances. I think of (Carlton) Fisk and Edmonds' near MVP. But I don't know anybody who has had a better year than this guy. He's been as good as any I've been fortunate enough to see."

In the second, Herndon walked Edmonds, who went to second on catcher Wiki Gonzalez's passed ball. Mark McGwire walked and Edgar Renteria singled hard to right to fill the bases.

Mike Matheny hit a one-hopper to Magadan, who had any number of plays but made none as he fumbled the ball. Edmonds scored and the bases were still loaded. Morris, who had walked once and had struck out 26 times in 61 at-bats this season, was passed to force in another run. Fernando Vina's double-play grounder netted the third.

In the seventh, Vina walked and Placido Polanco sacrificed him to second. J.D. Drew popped up before Pujols rifled his homer over the right-center-field wall against righthander Brett Jodie, another rookie.

The homer was Edmonds' fifth in his last nine games.

Morris came out after throwing 96 pitches, 62 of them for strikes.

Lefthander Steve Kline, who worked the eighth, set the Cardinals' record for games pitched at 78, breaking Michael Perez's mark set in 1992. But Kline's string of scoreless appearances ended at 30, covering 28 innings and two months when he allowed a run- scoring single by Ray Lankford in the eighth.

Kline hit pinch-hitter Alex Arias in the right knee with two outs after Mark Kotsay had singled and stolen second. Lankford, five for 18 against the Cardinals since his trade to San Diego a month ago, singled to left and it was 6-1.

Kline had not been scored on since July 3 at Milwaukee.