St. Louis ? Matt Morris had no excuses for one of his earliest exits of the season.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ 17-game winner had two memorable duels with Arizona’s Curt Schilling in the 2001 postseason and then beat Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks in the NL division series this year for his first playoff victory. But he came up with a dud in a Game 1 of the NL championship series, a 9-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

“Obviously in these games, everything is on the line,” Morris said. “My ball was just up. Everything, every pitch that was hit was up in the zone, over the plate.

“Pitches that should be hit.”

Another huge game from Miguel Cairo, who is 7-for-8 in the postseason as the stand-in for injured third baseman Scott Rolen, and a two-run homer by Albert Pujols were wasted as the Cardinals were stuck in an unending game of catchup. Tino Martinez hurt the comeback effort, stranding five runners.

“It’s my fault,” Martinez said. “If I come through in a couple of those situations, it’s a different game.”

Morris has won 39 games the last two seasons, and in three postseason starts entering the game, he had allowed four runs in 22 innings. But he struggled during stretches of the regular season, and it became clear early on that this was going to be another day when the fastball lacked some zip and the curveball just wasn’t biting.

Morris was perhaps hardest-hit among the Cardinals by the death of Darryl Kile at age 33 on June 22, and soon fell into a funk. In his last two starts before the All-Star break he gave up 11 runs in 102â3 innings, then declined an opportunity to pitch in the All-Star game, citing mental fatigue.

St. Louis pitcher Matt Morris, left, sits dejectedly during Wednesday's Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against San Francisco. The Giants beat the Cardinals, 9-6.

As the Cardinals roared to the NL Central title with 21 victories in their last 25 games, Morris was saddled with ugly losses in consecutive starts against the Astros the Cardinals’ closest competition.

He righted himself in his final regular-season outing, giving up one run in seven innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, then settled down after a shaky start to beat the Diamondbacks in the opener of the division series with seven strong innings.

Morris would pitch again in Game 5 on Monday, if needed, and the Cardinals will need a lot better. Morris said he felt good warming up and felt good on the mound, but just didn’t get the results.

“His stuff was good, he just made a lot of location mistakes,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “They are a good club, and made him pay.”

Morris walked three in the first inning as the Giants took a 1-0 lead, then surrendered six straight hits the biggest blow a two-run triple by Barry Bonds off a hanging curve with two outs in the second as San Francisco made it 5-1. Home runs by Kenny Lofton in the third and David Bell in the fifth finished Morris, who allowed only two long balls in his last five starts but gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 41â3 innings.

Only two outings this season were shorter, a 32â3-inning appearance Sept. 15 at Houston when he allowed five runs and nine hits, and a four-inning appearance July 28 against the Cubs when he gave up six runs.

“Six hits in a row, something crazy like that, was just pathetic,” Morris said.

Third base was the bright spot for the Cardinals. Cairo, claimed on waivers in 2001, has five RBIs and a game-winning hit in the division series.