Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals sure looked like the best team in baseball.
St. Louis advanced to the National League championship series for the third time in five years, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 Sunday night to win their first-round playoff 3-1.
Jeff Suppan settled down after a shaky start, Pujols hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer off loser Wilson Alvarez in the fourth inning and the Cardinals kept the Dodgers searching for their first postseason series victory since they won the 1988 World Series.
After Jason Isringhausen struck out Alex Cora to end the game, members of both teams met in the middle of the field and shook hands, and the fans stood and applauded.
While common at the end of playoff series in the NHL, teams shaking hands on the field after a series is a rarity in baseball -- it happened after Minnesota's 10-inning win over Atlanta in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.
"I think it was a professional show of class between two very classy organizations," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "To play this series the way it was played with the intensity it was played, it said a lot."
St. Louis, a major league-best 105-57 during the regular season, starts the NLCS at home Wednesday against the winner of Monday night's fifth game between Atlanta and Houston. The Cardinals are trying to become the first team with the top regular-season record to win the World Series since the 1998 New York Yankees.
"We showed a lot of heart, just like they did," said Cardinals' outfielder Larry Walker, who had two hits, walked twice and scored three runs in the finale. ``We have an opportunity, but we want to stay at an even keel -- except for this half hour here when we can act like a bunch of fools.''
Pujols had two hits, a walk and four RBIs drove in four runs. He went 5-of-15 with two homers in the series.
"Albert is a tremendous player, he does amazing things out there," Suppan said. "With him and everyone else, it's the best team I've been on."
As Pujols' towering fly ball sailed just over left fielder Jayson Werth into the lower left-field stands, the raucous crowd of 56,268 -- the largest in Dodger Stadium history -- went silent. Pujols, one of baseball's best hitters, delivered on a 3-1 pitch for his second homer of the series.
Suppan, who went 10-1 with a 3.55 ERA in 14 road starts this season, allowed two hits in seven innings,
Werth, the second batter Suppan faced, homered to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals tied it in the second off Odalis Perez on a homer by Reggie Sanders one pitch after Jim Edmonds was thrown out stealing.
St. Louis got another run in the third, when Perez was chased after two walks a one-out, RBI single by Edgar Renteria. Alvarez relieved and struck out Edmonds and Sanders.
Adrian Beltre's sacrifice fly tied it 2-all in the fourth, but the Dodgers had only two more runners -- Cesar Izturis got a one-out infield single in the eighth, and Milton Bradley drew a two-out walk in the ninth.
Pujols added a run for the Cardinals with an RBI single in the seventh.
Braves 6, Astros 5
In Houston, Adam LaRoche hit a tying, three-run homer in the sixth inning and J.D. Drew singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth Sunday as the Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros 6-5 to tie the best-of-five NL series at two games apiece.
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