L.A. dodges elimination with rare playoff victory

Jose Lima led the Dodgers to their first postseason win in 16 years.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jose Lima and Shawn Green had big nights, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers their first postseason win in 16 years and staving off elimination in their first-round series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Lima followed two miserable outings by Los Angeles starters with a five-hitter, Green hit a pair of solo homers and the Dodgers beat St. Louis 4-0 to cut the Cardinals' lead in the best-of-five NL division series to 2-1.
"It feels great to be in Dodger Blue," Lima said. "The fans deserve it."
Working against one of the most formidable lineups in baseball, the animated Lima pitched his first complete game since 2001, striking out four and walking one. It was second shutout of his career.
After he retired the Cardinals in the eighth, the crowd of 55,992 -- largest at Dodger Stadium since Game 2 of the 1988 World Series -- chanted, "Lima, Lima, Lima." The 32-year-old right-hander came out of the dugout to take a curtain call.
Looking ahead
Odalis Perez, rocked for six runs in 2 2/3 innings in Tuesday's opener, starts Sunday night for the Dodgers against Jeff Suppan, trying to force a fifth and deciding game the following night in St. Louis. No NL team has won the division series after falling behind 0-2 since the expanded playoffs began in 1995.
Los Angeles had lost eight postseason games in a row since beating Oakland in the 1988 World Series. The Dodgers were swept 3-0 by Cincinnati in 1995 and by Atlanta the following year, then didn't get back to the playoffs until this year, when they twice lost 8-3 in St. Louis.
Lima pumped his fist, shouted and pointed at teammates in celebration and practically danced off the field after setting the Cardinals down inning after inning. St. Louis led the NL in batting with a .278 average and runs scored with 855.
Lima, 9-1 with a 3.08 ERA at Dodger Stadium this season, faced more than four batters in an inning only once -- when the Cardinals put two on with two outs in the fifth. Losing pitcher Matt Morris grounded into a forceout to end the threat.
Green hit solo homers off Morris in the fourth and sixth to give Los Angeles a 4-0 lead, with both sending the crowd into a frenzy.
The Dodgers, unable to get the clutch hit in the first two games, got one in the third when Steve Finley hit a two-out, two-run double.
Big break
Los Angeles got a big break earlier in the inning. Alex Cora was hit by a pitch and went to third on Brent Mayne's single. It appeared Lima's bunt bounced up and hit his bat as he left the batter's box, meaning it should have been ruled a foul ball or he should have been called out. Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny threw to second, but Mayne was safe, leaving the bases loaded.
Morris retired the next two batters before Finley came through, slicing a broken-bat double inside third.
Green opened the fourth by hitting a 2-0 pitch over the left-center wall and hit the first pitch from Morris over the right field fence with two outs in the sixth.
Morris, pitching for the second time since Sept. 20, gave up four runs and six hits seven innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter. He walked two and struck out five and threw 106 pitches.
Notes
When Green hit a one-out single in the second, it snapped a string of 18 straight Los Angeles batters retired by Morris, who set down the final 14 in a two-hit, 3-0 victory over the Dodgers on Sept. 3. ... Green is the first Los Angeles player to homer in consecutive postseason games since Kirk Gibson accomplished the feat in the fourth and fifth games of the 1988 NL championship series.
ST. LOUISLOS ANGELES
abrhbiabrhbi
Wmack 2b4020Izturis ss4000
LWalkr rf4000Werth lf4000
Pujols 1b4000SFinley cf4012
Rolen 3b4000Beltre 3b4010
Edmnd cf4020ShGren 1b4232
Rnteria ss2000Brdley rf3000
RSndrs lf3000Cora 2b3110
Mtheny c3010Mayne c2110
Morris p2000Lima p2000
MAndn ph1000
Eldred p0000
Kline p0000
Totals31050Totals30474
St. Louis000000000--0
Los Angeles00210100x--4
DP--St. Louis 1, Los Angeles 1. LOB--St. Louis 5, Los Angeles 6. 2B--SFinley (1). HR--ShGreen 2 (3). SB--Womack (1). S--Lima.
IPHRERBBSO
St. Louis
Morris L,0-1764425
Eldred010000
Kline100000
Los Angeles
Lima W,1-0950014
Eldred pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. HBP--by Morris (Cora). Umpires--Home, Chuck Meriwether; First, Bruce Dreckman; Second, Gerry Davis; Third, Brian O'Nora; Left, Dale Scott; Right, Greg Gibson. T--2:23. A--55,992.
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