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		MLB playoff report By Joseph Hawkes-Beamon October 14, 2011

	Cardinals push Brewers to the brink St. Louis – In front of 46,904 members of Redbird Nation at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals capitalized on four Brewers errors to take Game 5 of the NL Championship Series 7-1 Friday night. Starter Jaime Garcia (ND) cruised through four innings before getting into trouble in the fifth. In a reversal from the series' first game in Milwaukee, manager Tony La Russa moved aggressively to get his young starter out of the game. The St. Louis bullpen then did what it's been doing for the better part of 2 1/2 months, shutting down the dangerous Milwaukee offense to finish off the win. "We've been aggressive in the strike zone," catcher Yadier Molina said of the bullpen. "The strike one has been the key for us. We're having a good series right now, and hopefully we can do it for one more game." With the Cardinals leading 4-1 in the top of the fifth, the Brewers had runners at first and second with two outs, manager Tony La Russa turned to reliever Octavio Dotel to handle Ryan Braun, who represented the tying run. Braun struck out swinging, falling to 2-for-10 with eight strikeouts in his career at-bats -- regular season and postseason -- against Dotel. As a team, the Brewers went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Relievers Lance Lynn, Marc Rzepczynski and Jason Motte all pitched shutout relief over the second half of the game, and the Cardinals' improbable run took one step forward. "We're just trying to win," said Matt Holliday who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the game. "Tony's trying to do whatever he can to win if the spot calls for it ... our bullpen's been incredible. They've really fit into roles and it's been fun to watch. You like your starters to go deep, but when you have a bullpen that's as deep as ours, you've got that option." The Cardinals will send Edwin Jackson (0-0, 4.15 ERA) up against Shawn Marcum (0-1, 11.25 ERA) as the series heads back to Milwaukee for Game 6 on Sunday and, if necessary, a seventh game on Monday with ace Chris Carpenter slated to get the start. If the Cardinals win either of those games, they'll be World Series-bound with the 18th pennant in franchise history.