ST. LOUIS -- Tino Martinez had another quiet night in the postseason. His teammates didn't fare much better.

	Martinez

Everybody in the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup had a tough time against Jason Schmidt, who took a shutout into the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants won 4-1 Thursday night for a 2-0 lead in the NL championship series.

"I'm trying to think of anybody that had the birds on the bat that didn't look like they were struggling at the plate today,'' Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Schmidt was just working us over.''

Martinez and the rest of the Cardinals were generous with compliments for the 13-game winner, who lost both of his starts against St. Louis in the regular season but dominated Game 2.

"I never give credit to the pitchers, ever,'' Martinez said. "But tonight he pitched a great game. He had all his stuff working and threw whatever pitch he wanted at any time.''

Miguel Cairo, who entered 7-for-8 in the postseason, was 0-for-3 against Schmidt. So was Jim Edmonds, and Albert Pujols was held to an infield hit with two strikeouts.

Fernando Vina, who is 1-for-9 in the NLCS after batting .600 in the division series, said Schmidt deserves all the credit.

"He was nasty,'' Vina said.

Schmidt was so dominant that the Cardinals felt compelled to gamble. J.D. Drew tried to score on Vina's shallow fly to center in the third, but was thrown out at the plate by Kenny Lofton for an inning-ending double play.

"I got a good jump but it was just one of those things,'' Drew said. "It was a real shallow fly ball, nothing you can do about it.

La Russa had no problem with third base coach Jose Oquendo sending Drew on the play.

"We were all yelling, including myself, 'Send him, send him!''' La Russa said. "The way Schmidt is pitching, you have a chance to make a dent and tie the game.

"You had a great runner and he had to make a perfect throw.''

Still, the Cardinals are waiting for Martinez to live up to his billing as an October star. Mark McGwire's replacement at first base is a feeble 1-for-18 in the postseason, with the lone hit a single in Game 1 of the NLCS.

He stranded five runners in a 9-6 loss Wednesday night, leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, and was 0-for-3 with a walk in Game 2.

St. Louis fans, who embraced Martinez during a slow start, are now showing their impatience. The last two days, he began to hear some boos.

That's a big change from earlier in the year, when he heard a constant chant of "Tino! Tino!'' whether he came through or not.

"The fans are great here,'' Martinez said. "They're not afraid to boo me, though, when I make outs, either.''

Martinez, who signed a $21 million, three-year deal with the Cardinals as a free agent, had 100 RBI in six of his last seven seasons with the New York Yankees. It took a strong finish to get him to 21 homers and 75 RBI in his first season in St. Louis.

Martinez usually is at his best in the postseason.

Last year he gave Yankees fans a magical moment with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning off Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim that tied a World Series game the Yankees wound up winning.

Martinez led the Yankees with a .364 average in the 2000 postseason, and in 1999 he tied Bernie Williams for the team lead with eight playoff RBI.

In the '98 World Series, Martinez hit a grand slam off San Diego's Mark Langston to cap a seven-run seventh inning in the Yankees' Game 1 victory.

Martinez knows the postseason isn't over yet, and he still thinks his luck can change.

"I knew I swung the bat well in the Arizona series and didn't get any hits, but I just put it behind me from day to day now and game to game,'' Martinez said. "My focus is on the Game 3 pitcher and trying to help our team win the game, and not really worry about what I haven't done in previous games.''