'Unit', Astros Stop Mac, Cards

Mark McGwire couldn't answer Sammy Sosa's two-homer salvo.

Facing Randy Johnson, the NL's dominant pitcher since he arrived in Houston last month, the St. Louis Cardinals' slugger drew two walks, singled and hit his third warning-track fly ball in two nights in a 7-1 loss Wednesday night.

McGwire and Sosa have homered on the same day 20 times. Not this day, as the NL Central champion Astros won for the 100th time and the home-run kings headed into the homestretch tied for the major-league record with 65 apiece. McGwire has four games left at home against the Montreal Expos and Sosa has three games to go on the road against Houston.

McGwire is 7-for-29 in his career against Johnson with two homers, including a 538-foot blast in 1997. In two meetings this month, he's 1-for-4 with three walks, and with Johnson pitching him carefully for the most part, there were no fireworks in this clash of the titans.

Johnson (10-1) scattered eight hits in seven spotty innings to end the Cardinals' six-game winning streak. He handled McGwire with a heavy dose of off-speed pitches and rarely challenged him.

McGwire walked on five pitches in the first, then extended his NL record to 159 walks on a full count in the third. He singled through short on a 1-2 pitch leading off the fifth, then hit a towering fly ball to the warning track leading off the seventh. McGwire flied out to center feld off left-hander Billy Wagner in the ninth.

McGwire

Randy Johnson didn't serve up any home-run pitches to Mark McGwire, but did walk him twice. (AP)

Johnson beat the Cardinals 3-2 in Houston on Sept. 12 despite suffering from flu symptons. This time around, he didn't have his best stuff even though he was healthy. In his final tuneup for the playoffs he threw 136 pitches, striking out eight and walking six, and he gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, light-hitting Pat Kelly.

The Cardinals stranded 10 runners the first five innings. They left two on in the first when Brian Jordan over-ran second on Eli Marrero's two-out single after McGwire had been stopped at third. They left the bases loaded in the third and fifth.

With the win, Houston clinched home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. San Diego can also finish with 100 wins, but the Astros hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series from the Padres.

Richard Hidalgo had three hits and two RBI for the Astros, who knocked out Cardinals starter Darren Oliver (4-4) by taking a 6-1 lead in the third. Moises Alou also had three hits and an RBI.

Craig Biggio became only the second player this century to have 50 steals and 50 doubles in a season, joining Hall of Famer Tris Speaker. The Astros' leadoff man has 51 doubles, 50 steals, 20 homers and 87 RBI. Speaker had 53 doubles and 52 steals for Boston in 1912.

Astros right fielder Derek Bell removed himself from the game with a strained neck after just missing a diving catch in the third. Bell ran to the line and snared Jordan's blooper, but the ball popped out for a single as he crashed into the turf with a whiplash effect to his neck.

He tried to collect himself the next few at-bats, kneeling at times, but raised his hand to the bench after the next three hitters.

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