Mac's Back In Cardinals Win

Hours after Mark McGwire said he would never duplicate his 70-homer season, he put on another long-ball show.

McGwire homered for the third straight game, and Kent Bottenfield tied for the NL lead with his 11th win in the St. Louis Cardinals' 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night.

McGwire, who began the night a month behind the pace he set in his record season last year, hit his 22nd of the season in the third inning off Sean Bergman (4-4). He's on a pace for 52 home runs.

The ball, which put the Cardinals ahead 4-0, cleared Big Mac Land in the upper deck and landed in the second tier, a drive estimated at 473 feet, It was his second-longest homer of the season, behind only a 484-footer that left Dodger Stadium in May.

"I just hit the ball and run; that's what I do," McGwire said. "You guys can talk about (distance). If I hit a ball and it goes over the fence, it's a home run. It doesn't matter if it's 331 or 552 feet."

Bergman didn't think much of his fastball, which went down the middle.

"It was a terrible pitch," he said. "You can't make pitches like that to him. It was an impressive home run."

Bottenfield (11-3), who never before won more than five games in a season, won for the third time in four starts and tied the Astros' Jose Lima for the league lead. After entering the season with an 18-27 career mark, he's starting to think about making the All-Star team.

"I realize there's a chance, but I also realize there's guys with bigger names right there with me," Bottenfield said. "My parents are trying to get vacation time just in case it happens."

If the Astros' Carl Everett had a vote, he wouldn't give it to Bottenfield.

"Everything he throws looks like you can hit it, so you're swinging at it," Everett said. "I have no idea why we're not hitting him, or anyone's not hitting him because everyting looks hittable."

Bottenfield allowed three runs one earned and four hits in seven innings. He helped himself with a two-run double in the second for his first RBIs of the season.

"I was much happier about the pitching," Bottenfield said. "This is such a solid team we're playing, and they give you no room for error."

Ricky Bottalico completed the five-hitter for his 10th save.

Bergman gave up five runs and nine hits in four innings. He's lost three of four starts, allowing 15 earned runs in 20 2-3 innings.

"The only way I can explain it is I pitched terrible," Bergman said.

Cardinals rookie Joe McEwing was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He's 20-for-55 during that stretch, and leads NL rookies with a .321 average and 26 multihit games.

McGwire made his second error of the season, and second in five days, throwing wildly to second after Everett was picked off in the fourth,

Everett, who reached on an RBI single, scored on Richard Hidalgo's sacrifice fly. Bottenfield picked off Everett again in the sixth, and McGwire made the tag on that one.

Another error helped the Astros score in the sixth. Bill Spiers doubled and went to third on right fielder Thomas Howard's fielding error, and scored on Jeff Bagwell's sacrifice fly.

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