St. Louis, MO (AP) - Albert Pujols and Brian Roberts get 3 hits a piece, and Adam Wainwright shuts down the Phillies lineup, as the Cardinals stay alive to play another day in the NLCS.

It's really not that much of a surprise, but the Phillies had a bit of a let down in Game 4 of their championship series with St. Louis.  Their offense had been so explosive, their bullpen absolutely dominant, and after a draining Game 2 victory and a blowout to take a 3-0 series lead, tonight's performance was almost expected.  But, that doesn't make Phils Manager Charlie Manuel any more forgiving.

"We had a chance to put this series away," said a visibly frustrated Manuel.  "I don't care how big our lead is, you can't let up.  I'd be less upset if we played better tonight.  We just didn't have our heads in it, at least at the plate, and that concerns me."

The Phils struggled offensively, but showed off plenty of glove, including this nice pickoff play by Cole Hamels.

The Fightins struggled mightily against Wainwright.  After knocking him around for 7 runs in Game 1, they couldn't even get a hit off him until there were two outs in the fourth inning.

"He had really good stuff tonight," said Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins.  "We knew he'd come out firing after the way the first game went, we knew he'd want to redeem himself.  We just didn't put together a lot of good at bats.  We were behind a lot, and swung at some bad pitches.  But, give him credit, he really flipped the script on us."

This time around, Wainwright looked a lot more comfortable on the mound, and it showed.  He ultimately gave up just 4 hits over 6.1 innings of work.  The Cardinals bullpen was also solid, not giving up a hit over the final 2.2 innings.

On the other side, Cole Hamels was pitching pretty well, also.  He was cruising through the first three innings, giving up just one hit.  But then in the fourth inning, St. Louis finally got to him. 

Chase Utley provided the only pop for Philly, hitting his 6th HR of the postseason.

Jon Jay lead off the inning with a single.  Albert Pujols then took some of his frustration on a pitch from Hamels, sending it 435 feet to center field.  Pujols' third homer of the post season gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.  Still apparently shell shocked, Hamels gave up another round tripper right after that to Matt Holliday.

"I made two bad mistakes - and they took advantage of both of them," said Hamels.  "Making one mistake, that happens.  But, I can't give up two homers like that back-to-back.  That was a killer, and we never could recover from that."

Despite the lack of offense in this game, Chase Utley managed to stay hot.  He smacked his fourth home run of this series (6th overall for the postseason) with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.  Utley's solo blast cut the deficit to two runs. 

Utley also with a web gem, making a diving catch.

But, the offense just couldn't get anything going from there.  Philadelphia only had 2 at bats with runners in scoring position all night.  Unless you're hitting a bunch of solo homers, you're just not going to score many runs when that's the case.

The Cardinals did tack on a couple of insurance runs in the seventh inning that really put this one out of reach.  Brian Roberts started off the inning with a screaming liner that hit off Contreras, who couldn't recover in time to throw Roberts out at first.  Colby Rasmus then collected a single.

After two flyouts, LaRussa brought in Skip Schumaker as a pinch hitter, and he came through, delivering an RBI double with two outs.  Chone Figgins followed up with his own double to center field, swelling the lead to four runs.

That, as they say, is all she wrote.

Polanco made a nice diving stop, then throw from his knees to get a force out at second base.

So now, the Phils get another shot to clinch the pennant and move on to the World Series in Game 5 tomorrow night.  Reports from the clubhouse indicate Phils Manager Charlie Manuel will go with Roy Halladay to start the game.  There had been talk he may put Joe Blanton on the mound to try and keep Halladay as the game one starter for the World Series.  St. Louis has already announced it will give the ball to Chris Carpenter, who did a good job holding the Phillies offense down in Game 2. 

"We would've liked to have finished it off tonight," said Manuel.  "But, we'll go back at it tomorrow night.  Hopefully, we'll play a little better.  You can't let up in these kinds of situations and let them get any momentum back.  We're going to try to end this thing tomorrow, period."