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 "Even when we were down, the guys never quit and kept working
hard," he said. "We're starting to see the results."
Burnett scattered seven hits in his first complete game of the year
Friday night, as Philadelphia extended its season-best winning
streak to five games with a 5-1 dumping of the St. Louis Cardinals
at sold-out Busch Stadium.
Shortstop Jimmy Rollins stretched his hitting streak to 14 games
with a tie-breaking ground-rule double in the top of the fifth and
finished with two RBIs, while center fielder John Mayberry went
2-for-4 with a pair of runs and an RBI.
But it was Burnett (5-6) who set the tone by getting early outs,
inducing a spate of harmless grounders from the suddenly-slumping
St. Louis attack. He got his first 12 outs via ground balls and
finished with 17.
Although he fanned only three, Burnett walked just one and was
content to pitch to contact. He even showcased a rarely-seen
changeup, employing it more often at the urging of catcher Carlos
Ruiz.
 "I felt like I was within myself more," Burnett said. "The
changeup's a good pitch when it's on. I was down in the zone,
pounding strikes."
Burnett retired 13 of the last 14 men he faced and obtained nine
outs on first or second pitches. Manager Ryne Sandberg never had to
warm up the bullpen in the ninth as Burnett worked a 1-2-3 inning on
just 10 pitches.
"He held his stuff good at the end," Sandberg said. "With a lead, he
really attacked the hitters. It was his best job of staying down in
the zone this year. Other than a couple of hit batters, he had real
good command."
Jaime Garcia (3-1) matched Burnett for four innings, taking a 1-0
lead to the fifth, thanks to a two-out RBI single by left fielder
Matt Holliday in the third.
But Garcia seemed to lose it all at once in the fifth, giving up
three doubles to the first four batters. That included Burnett's RBI
double that short-hopped the center field wall, and Rollins' double,
which got under the glove of third baseman Matt Carpenter and was
touched by a fan reaching over the rail, allowing Burnett to trot
home.
Garcia went back out for the sixth, but was pulled after allowing a
leadoff homer to right fielder Marlon Byrd and another ground-rule
double to left fielder Domonic Brown.
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"I wasn't able to execute pitches," Garcia said of the fifth and
sixth innings. "Things changed a bit."
Reliever Seth Maness came in and coughed up a run-producing single
to Mayberry, then gave up a sacrifice fly to Rollins later in the
inning to wrap up the scoring. That was more than St. Louis (39-35)
could overcome with an offense that's tallied just four runs in a
three-game losing streak, rapping into seven double plays.
In five-plus innings, Garcia permitted seven hits and four runs with
two walks and seven strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Burnett notched the 24th complete game of his career and
kept the Phillies within 3 1/2 games of first-place Atlanta in the
National League East.
"We are 100 percent feeding off each other," he said.
NOTES: St. Louis LHP Kevin Siegrist was able to throw off flat
ground Friday from distances as far as 120 feet. On the disabled
list since May 24 with a left forearm strain, Siegrist is unsure
when he would throw off a mound again. ... Philadelphia activated 3B
Cory Asche (left hamstring strain) off the DL and put Reid Brignac
(left ankle sprain) there. Asche got the start at third, batting
eighth. ... Cardinals third-round pick Trevor Megill, a right-handed
pitcher from Loyola Marymount, told the organization that he will
return to school for his senior season. Megill, who missed his
junior year while recovering from Tommy John surgery, felt the team
wasn't offering him a big enough signing bonus.
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