"Three times Monday evening, head groundskeeper Bill Finley ran onto the field between half innings to notify crew chief Dale Scott of an approaching storm. The tarp was uncovered, a cloudburst approached, yet Busch Stadium stayed dry while a classic pitching duel continued without interruption.

Nothing stopped Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter - not some stray cumulo nimbus, not a tedious 27-pitch first inning, not two difficult fly balls driven over right fielder Jon Jay, not the uncertain run support that has tracked him for much of this season.

Instead, two weeks after heavy gloom settled over an injury-depleted clubhouse, the clouds separated with a 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds and nemesis righthander Johnny Cueto.

Offering his third straight win in as many starts, Carpenter (4-7) stifled the Reds for eight innings until rookie pinch-hitter Mark Hamilton outran third baseman Scott Rolen's near-miraculous fielding play in the bottom of the frame for a two-out, RBI infield hit that scored Colby Rasmus.

"I was just flat-out safe," declared Hamilton, referring to his belly-flop slide that beat Rolen's throw.

The Cardinals make no such pronouncement in a season that forced them to use the disabled list 14 times in the season's first 12 weeks. However, two weeks after believing they'd lost first baseman Albert Pujols for four to six weeks with a fractured left wrist, the Cardinals learned the three-time National League MVP could return as quickly as today with them somehow alone in first place.

"You lose Albert when he's on a tear, and that's tough," manager Tony La Russa said. "But the games count. Everybody goes through it to some degree. You play the games and see what happens. Those are certainties.""