Cards stay positive after painful loss

The St. Louis Cardinals have come from way too far back in the standings this season to let 1 loss get to them.

But after falling 2-1 to the Cubs on Friday in front of a packed house at Wrigley Field, they had to admit that -- despite the brave face they put on afterward -- this one stung a little bit.

It stung Cardinals starter Braden Looper, whose only bad pitch resulted in a game-winning 2-run homer by Jacque Jones.

"Any time you lose it's tough," Looper said. "It almost makes it more frustrating because I thought I was in control of the game.

"You've got to tip your hat to Jacque. I need to make a better pitch there."

It also stung Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, whose solo shot in the sixth landed in the first few rows of the bleachers and looked like it might hold up until Jones' theatrics in the bottom of the inning.

"I hit that ball really good and it barely went out," Pujols said. "When Jacque hit his and flipped his bat, I was like 'What's he doing?' I didn't think it had a chance.

"When I saw (center fielder) Jimmy (Edmonds) stop running I was like, 'What?'æ"

Pujols had a chance to do some serious damage in the eighth inning with two on base and two outs, but he popped out to second to end the threat.

"I had an opportunity to put our team on top or tie it and I got a good pitch to hit, I just missed it," he said. "I got under it."

Though Friday's loss had to sting Tony La Russa as well, the veteran manager, whose team came into this series red-hot after sweeping National League Central-leading Milwaukee, chose to accentuate the good over the bad.

"The positive sign was that we played really well and really hard," La Russa said. "Braden was a big part of that. Sometimes you have to give (the other team) credit.

"They played just as hard and just as well and their big hit was bigger than our big hit."

And it was all done in front of another high-octane crowd at Wrigley, one that featured plenty of Cardinal red mixed in a sea of blue.

"That's the same way it feels every time we play here or play in St. Louis," Pujols said.

"That's why our rivalry is always interesting. That's what is so beautiful about this game."

Another beautiful part of the game, as far as the Cardinals are concerned, is that there's always tomorrow.

"We're playing good baseball," Looper said. "Obviously we didn't score as many runs today as we have the last few days, but the guys were up there battling.

"We've been battling all season. We've had a lot of things go wrong and we just continue to (battle). We put ourselves here, in both senses of the word, good and bad."