By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES(AP) -- A sinking line drive sailed through the chilly
evening air toward Matt Holliday. All he needed to do was make
the catch, and St. Louis would have a series-tying victory.

Instead, the ball smacked him in the gut and dropped to the
grass - and the Cardinals never recovered.

Holliday's crucial error with two outs in the ninth inning led
to a two-run rally that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2
victory Thursday and put the Cardinals on the brink of playoff
elimination.

"I didn't see the ball," Holliday said. "Obviously, I can catch
a ball that's hit right at me. It's very difficult to swallow.
We had a chance to win the game. It was unfortunate that it
happened when it did."

Ex-Cardinal Ronnie Belliard and pinch-hitter Mark Loretta came
through with RBI singles off All-Star closer Ryan Franklin,
giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. They
can close it out with a sweep in Game 3 on Saturday in St.
Louis.

Holliday, who homered in the second inning, was a huge reason
the Cardinals won the NL Central. Acquired from Oakland in a
July trade, his hitting tear helped them cruise to the division
title. Along the way, he committed one error in 63
regular-season games with his new team.

But his fielding gaffe Thursday cost the Cardinals dearly.

"It's about as tough a loss as you can have, except we still
have an opportunity to play Saturday," manager Tony La Russa
said. "Right now I think it's important to get upset about the
game that got away. We did a lot to win that one and didn't win
it. Turn the page too quickly means you don't care."

The Cardinals got a stellar performance from starter Adam
Wainwright, who left with a 2-1 lead after eight innings. Still,
St. Louis went home empty-handed after opening the series with
two Cy Young Award contenders on the mound: Chris Carpenter and
Wainwright.

With the bases empty in the ninth, Holliday charged in on James
Loney's shot to left field. But he couldn't make the play,
allowing Loney to reach second.

"That ball got lost in 50,000 white towels shaking in front of
Matt's face," Wainwright said. "It doesn't really seem fair that
an opposing team should be able to allow their fans to shake
white towels when there's a white baseball flying through the
air. How about Dodger Blue towels?"

Franklin walked Casey Blake before Belliard singled up the
middle, scoring pinch-runner Juan Pierre. A passed ball moved
runners up to second and third, and Franklin walked Russell
Martin on four pitches to load the bases.

Loretta, batting for reliever George Sherrill, was 0 for 15 in
his career against Franklin before fisting a soft single to
center that drove in Blake. That triggered a huge celebration,
with teammates jumping on Loretta in a pile between first and
second base.

"Unfortunately, I did know the numbers," said Loretta, who
signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in the offseason. "I
really didn't have a lot of nerves. I felt like all the pressure
was on them at that point. I was fortunate to find a little bit
of fairway out there."

The late rally was nothing new for the Dodgers. They won 23
regular-season games in their final at-bat, most in the National
League, according to STATS LLC.

"Until that last out, nobody ever gives up," Loretta said.
"That's sort of been our modus this year. We started off 13-0,
we had a bunch of these last-minute wins, so it obviously gives
us some confidence in that situation."

Andre Ethier homered and Sherrill got the win for the Dodgers,
in position for a sweep in the opening round for the second
consecutive season. Last year, they won the first two games at
Wrigley Field before closing out the Chicago Cubs at home in
Game 3.

Franklin took the loss, spoiling an outstanding effort by
Wainwright.

The NL leader with 19 victories, Wainwright allowed three hits,
struck out seven and walked one. That followed a subpar outing
by Carpenter, who lasted only five innings and took the loss in
Game 1.

Wainwright was 1-0 with four saves when the Cardinals won the
2006 World Series in their last playoff appearance, making him
the first pitcher since Bob Welch to save a World Series game
and then start a postseason game.

"The quality of that was so good it's almost impossible to
describe under the circumstances," La Russa said about
Wainwright. "He had very little to work with, and he was just
outstanding."

Trever Miller started the ninth and retired Ethier on a popup
before turning it over to Franklin.

Los Angeles' Clayton Kershaw, a 21-year-old left-hander starting
for the first time in the postseason, allowed nine hits and two
runs in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out four and walked two in a
game dominated by starting pitching, the opposite of the
Dodgers' 5-3 win in Wednesday night's opener.

Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez were non-factors for the second
consecutive game. Pujols went 1 for 3 with an intentional walk
for the Cardinals; Ramirez finished 0 for 4 with a strikeout.

The Cardinals snapped a 1-all tie in the seventh on Colby
Rasmus' RBI double off the center-field wall. Mark DeRosa, who
led off with a single, scored and Rasmus was out trying to
advance to third on the throw home.

Ethier tied it 1-all with a homer in the fourth - the Dodgers'
first hit off Wainwright, who retired his first 11 batters. The
right-hander set down another six in a row until Rafael Furcal's
two-out single in the sixth.

NOTES: St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina got hit in the head as
Ramirez's bat swung around in the seventh, but stayed in the
game.