Francisco's homer lifts Phillies

ST. LOUIS -- Ben Francisco and closer Ryan Madson made manager Charlie Manuel's moves look smart, and the Philadelphia Phillies held off the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2. Tuesday night for a 2-1 lead in their NL Division Series.

Francisco batted for Cole Hamels and broke open a scoreless game with a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh inning.

Madson earned his first multi-inning save of the year. He came in and got Allen Craig to sharply ground into a double play with the bases loaded to escape in the eighth, then worked around Yadier Molina's RBI single in the ninth.

The Phillies, favored to win it all after a franchise-record 102-win season, can finish off the Cardinals in Game 4 Wednesday night, with Roy Oswalt opposing Edwin Jackson.

Francisco's shot off Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia was only his second hit in 19 at-bats in the postseason.

"I knew the way the game was going I was probably going to be in there to pinch hit off a lefty," Francisco said. "Got up there with a runner in scoring position, I was just trying to get a hit up the middle and he left one up and luckily it got out of here."

Albert Pujols and Ryan Theriot had four hits apiece for St. Louis, the heavy underdog wild-card winners who had runners in scoring position in six innings. They came up empty despite three hits in the eighth, including a pinch-hit single by Matt Holliday.

La Russa fined. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said he deserved to be fined for criticizing an umpire in a televised interview during a playoff game.

Major League Baseball agreed, fining La Russa an undisclosed amount for his remarks Sunday night. Early in the game, La Russa told TBS that plate umpire Jerry Meals had "two different strike zones," prefacing his remarks that he knew there might be disciplinary action. -- AP