Path: utzoo!telly!ddsw1!lll-winken!uunet!looking!clarinews From: clarinews@clarinet.com (JOE ILLUZZI, UPI Sports Writer) Newsgroups: clari.sports.baseball,biz.clarinet.sample Subject: National League Roundup Keywords: baseball, men's professional Message-ID: <15Rbbn-nlrup:22@clarinet.com> Date: 20 Sep 89 12:01:31 GMT Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample Lines: 71 Approved: clarinews@clarinet.com ACategory: sports Slugword: bbn-nlrup Priority: regular Format: summary X-Supersedes: <14Rbbn-nlrup:21@clarinet.com> ANPA: Wc: 755; Id: s0594; Sel: ns--s; Adate: 9-20-8aed; Ver: sked Codes: ysbpmxx. Note: (repeat--fixing slugline) Teams prefer playing another contender down the stretch. It's the teams with nothing to lose they fear the most. The Mets and the Cardinals know their jobs. They face each other twice in the next two days in St. Louis and neither is looking for anything less than a split. ``We're not going in there with the idea of knocking each other off,'' Mets Manager Davey Johnson said Tuesday after New York knocked off Chicago 5-2 at Wrigley Field. ``You can make book on that. We still need to win about all of them and we need some help, it's true. But we're still in this thing.'' The Cubs spend the next five days against the Phillies and the Pirates, two teams long gone from the pennant picture. With a four-game lead over St. Louis and a 5 1-2 game lead over New York, Chicago must guard against complacency over the remainder of the week if it is to win the National League East. ``The pressure's off them,'' Cubs pitcher Steve Wilson said of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. ``They're playing pretty good ball and they're really pretty good teams.'' While Chicago certainly has the edge as the season winds down, the Cardinals are positioning themselves well. By beating Montreal 5-0, St. Louis picked up a valuable game in the standings. All the Cardinals must do is gain at least one more game over the next 10 days. If they do, they'll be in position to tackle Chicago on the final weekend of the season and win the pennant. ``We like our chances better day by day,'' said St. Louis outfielder Tom Brunansky, who drove in two runs with a single and his 20th homer. ``We could be two games behind at the end of the season and the Cubs have to come and play us in St Louis.'' In other games, San Diego downed Cincinnati 5-1, Atlanta blanked Houston 3-0, Pittsburgh topped Philadelphia 4-2 and San Francisco nipped Los Angeles 3-2. In the American League, it was: Oakland 5, Cleveland 1; Baltimore 6, Detroit 2; California 7, Minnesota 3; Kansas City 5, Chicago 3; Texas 5, Seattle 3; and Toronto 6, Boston 5, 13 innings. Milwaukee at New York was rained out. _M_e_t_s_ _5_,_ _C_u_b_s_ _2 At Chicago, Gary Carter belted a three-run homer and Dwight Gooden earned his first major-league save. The victory ended the Mets' three-game losing streak. Bob Ojeda, 13-10, picked up his eighth win in his last nine decisions. Gooden pitched four innings. Steve Wilson, 5-4, took the loss. _C_a_r_d_i_n_a_l_s_ _5_,_ _E_x_p_o_s_ _0 At Montreal, Tom Brunansky drove in two runs with a single and his 20th homer and Bob Tewksbury pitched a four-hitter to win his first decision in four appearances since St. Louis recalled him Sept. 2 from the minors. Mark Gardner, 0-2, was the loser. Pedro Guerrero also homered for the Cardinals. _P_a_d_r_e_s_ _5_,_ _R_e_d_s_ _1 At Cincinnati, rookie Andy Benes allowed five hits over 6 2-3 innings and Mark Davis earned his 40th save to send the Reds to their eighth straight loss.Benes, 5-2, struck out nine and did not walk a batter. He also collected two hits before giving way to Davis, who leads the majors in saves. _B_r_a_v_e_s_ _3_,_ _A_s_t_r_o_s_ _0 At Atlanta, Gary Eave combined with two relievers on a four-hitter to outduel Mike Scott. Eave, 1-0, posted his first major league victory in his first major league start. Ron Gant and Dave Justice homered off Scott, 20-9, in the seventh. _P_i_r_a_t_e_s_ _4_,_ _P_h_i_l_l_i_e_s_ _2 At Pittsburgh, Gary Redus went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a tie-breaking single to lead the Pirates to their 10th victory in the last 12 games. Jeff Robinson, 7-11, posted his first victory since Aug. 25. Bill Landrum hurled the ninth for his 24th save. Bruce Ruffin, 5-10, was the loser. _G_i_a_n_t_s_ _3_,_ _D_o_d_g_e_r_s_ _2 At San Francisco, Mike Laga lashed a three-run, pinch-hit double with two out in the fifth to rally the Giants, who remained five games ahead of the Padres in the NL West. Mike LaCoss, 8-10, won despite allowing 11 hits over five innings. Steve Bedrosian notched his 22nd save. Orel Hershiser, 14-14, allowed eight hits in five innings.