Colby Rasmus hit a pair of homers, Albert Pujols and Skip Schumaker also connected, and Adam Wainwright bounced back from a shaky first inning to lead the Cardinals past the slumping Atlanta Braves 11-4 on Thursday night.

Matt Holliday hit a go-ahead, three-run homer to back Chris Carpenter's latest dominant effort against Cincinnati, helping the St. Louis Cardinals take two of three from the NL Central-leading Reds with a 4-2 victory Sunday.

Even their opponents are surprised by the St. Louis Cardinals' slide.

Losing teams are bringing out the worst in the St. Louis Cardinals at a most inopportune time.

Albert Pujols has hit his 400th home run, becoming the 47th major league player to reach the milestone. The St. Louis slugger led off the fourth inning of Thursday night's game against Washington by sending an 0-1 fastball from starter Jordan Zimmermann into the right-center seats.

Albert Pujols has hit his 400th home run, becoming the 47th major league player to reach the milestone.

Charlie Manuel scoffed at the notion of second place. So did Phillies stars Jimmy Rollins and Roy Oswalt.

Derrek Lee homered his first two at-bats, helping the Chicago Cubs pummel Kyle Lohse and knock the St. Louis Cardinals out of first place in the NL Central with a 9-7 victory on Sunday.

With an emphatic sweep, the St. Louis Cardinals gave second baseman Brandon Phillips a different description to use.

Adam Wainwright matched a career best with a two-hitter for his 16th victory, helping St. Louis beat the reeling Florida Marlins 7-0 on Friday night.

Albert Pujols drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the 13th inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals survived a frantic comeback to beat the New York Mets 8-7 on Wednesday night.

Although the Chicago Cubs might be too far gone to be big winners this season, rookies Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin and Andrew Cashner have the team excited about their future.