ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The noise Josh Hamiltons bat made when it connected with Edward Mujicas changeup was music to his ears, and those of his Los Angeles Angels teammates. Hamilton hit a tying two-run homer in Los Angeles three-run ninth inning, and the Angels rallied for a 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night. "It was just a good feeling to hear that sound come off your bat," Hamilton said. "... It couldnt happen on a better day for the crowd on the Fourth of July. They got a little more fireworks and a little more bang for their buck than they thought they were going to get. It was cool. "Anytime you can contribute like that, especially in the late innings and have a comeback like that, its a pretty special feeling." Mark Trumbo belted his 19th homer and Mike Trout had two RBIs for Los Angeles, which took two of three in the series. Scott Downs (2-2) got three outs for the victory. "Whether we won that game or not, this team never gives up," Albert Pujols said. "I mean, weve got 12 or 13 position players that really compete every day. Our bullpen threw the ball well to keep us in the game." St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright, the NL pitcher of the month for June, took a 5-3 lead into the ninth before giving up a leadoff single by Pujols, who was 1 for 11 in his first series against his former team. Manager Mike Matheny then brought in Mujica, who had converted 21 of 21 save opportunities this season. But Hamilton drove the right-handers second pitch into the centre field trees for his 11th homer, extending his hitting streak to nine games and raising his average to .226. "Players Ive talked to about him said hes not afraid to throw his split five or six times in a row because thats his go-to pitch. So hes going to stick to what has been working for him," Hamilton said. "I didnt try to do too much with it. I didnt try to yank it or anything like that -- just hit it back up the middle." Howie Kendrick and Trumbo followed with singles, and Mujica (0-1) retired his next two batters before Erick Aybar drove in the winning run with an opposite-field single to left. Aybar had three hits and scored a run for Los Angeles. Mujica acknowledged that he shook off batterymate Yadier Molina on the ill-fated pitches to Hamilton and Aybar. "I made two big mistakes. I didnt follow Yadier on a couple of pitches, and that was the ball game," Mujica said. "He called for a fastball on Hamilton and I threw the changeup. On Aybar, he called for a fastball again and I decided to throw my changeup. I threw a couple good changeups and got two popups so I figured Id go with my best pitch." Wainwright, the only Cardinals pitcher averaging at least seven innings per start, defended Mathenys decision to take him out after 104 pitches. His season high is 120, on May 11 in a two-hit shutout against Colorado. "Weve always liked that situation. Hes the right guy in that situation," Wainwright said of Mujica. "Hes been great all year. Thats what happens when you let a leadoff guy on in the last inning. Thats on me, right there. I have to go out and get that guy out." Angels starter Joe Blanton gave up five runs, four earned, and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander, who signed a $15 million, two-year contract with Los Angeles over the winter, is 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA in nine starts this season at Anaheim Stadium. Blanton averaged 13 pitches through the first three innings while retiring nine of his first 10 batters. But just three batters into the fourth, the Cardinals pulled ahead 3-2 on a single by Carlos Beltran, a walk to Matt Holliday and Allen Craigs homer. Craig leads the majors with a .469 average with runners in scoring position. It was the seventh straight start in which Blanton gave up a home run. The Angels tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Trumbos drive to centre. But the Cardinals got the run back in the fifth on Matt Carpenters sacrifice fly, and then made it 5-3 in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Daniel Descalso that chased Blanton, who has given up a major league-worst 135 hits. The Angels opened the scoring in the third on a two-out, two-run single by Trout, after Wainwright gave up singles to Alberto Callaspo and Aybar, and J.B. Shuck advanced them with a sacrifice bunt. NOTES: Hamilton, the only player in the Angels starting lineup who had faced Wainwright previously, was 0 for 2 against him after coming in 3 for 7. ... St. Louis Jon Jay played his 227th consecutive game in centre field without an error, breaking Curt Floods franchise record for any outfield position. ... Holliday was back in the Cardinals lineup as the designated hitter, going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a walk after missing two games because of a pinched nerve in his neck. ... Trout leads the Angels with 55 RBIs, just two fewer than he had through his first 84 games last season, when he finished with 83 and was named AL rookie of the year after spending the first month of the season at Triple-A. ... RHP Lance Lynns next start for the Cardinals will be Sunday at home against the Miami Marlins. He has two chances left to become the sixth pitcher in Cardinals history to post at least 11 wins before the All-Star break in consecutive seasons, and the first since Joaquin Andujar (1984-85). The others were Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Mort Cooper and Gerry Staley. Swell Bottles Wholesale . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Swell Bottles On Sale .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. http://www.swellbottlesale.com/ . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Swell Bottle Cheap . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. Cheap Swell Bottles .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. ATHENS, Ga. - Three members of the Auburn volleyball team reached new career highs Sunday afternoon as the Tigers defeated Georgia, 3-1 (25-13, 25-19, 16-25, 25-20), in the Ramsey Center. The win moved Auburn to 8-9 on the season and 2-2 in SEC play.We did a good job getting Georgia out of system with our serving, head coach Rick Nold said. We saw some good passing from our back row and I think Alexa (Filley) did good job spreading offense for us.Sophomore Brenna McIlroy finished with a career-best 21 kills and had a .417 hitting percentage for the Tigers. Freshman Gwyn Jones chipped in a career-high 15 kills, while senior Breanna Barksdale had eight. Junior Courtney Crable finished with seven kills.Junior libero Jesse Earl led all student-athletes with 21 digs and picked up a career-best five service aces. Classmate Kelly Stewart had eight digs and three aces and Alexa Filley finished with 46 assists and nine digs. Barksdale led the Auburn defense up front with five blocks.Georgia (12-5, 0-4 SEC) had two players with nine kills in Maddie Lobenstein and Desiree McCray. Libero Cassidy Anderson finished with 12 digs and setter Meghan Donovan finished with 30 assists.After opening set one with a 4-0 lead, Auburn later pushed an 8-1 run to go ahead 16-7. A kill by Crable made it 20-10 and one from Jones put Auburn up 22-12. A pair of kills by McIlroy and a service acee from Earl lifted the Tigers to a 25-13 win.ddddddddddddhe second stanza kicked off like the first with Auburn establishing a lead right away. A kill from Filley made it 5-1 and a Filley/Barksdale block put the Tigers up 7-3. The Bulldogs battled back to tie it up at 9-all before a kill from Jones stalled the UGA run and sent Auburn on a 5-1 rally, 14-10. The teams exchanged points the rest of the way until a kill from Barksdale sealed the 25-19 victory.Georgia took the early lead in the third, but Auburn responded with a four-point run to go up 8-6. The Bulldogs werent through and used a pair of 2-0 runs to take a 10-9 advantage. Locked at 12, UGA pushed a 9-2 run for a 21-14 lead and the home team took the set, 25-16.Tied at four in the fourth, Auburn used a handful of small runs to go up 9-6 and then pushed a 5-0 rally to take a 13-8 lead. Kills from Crable and Jones put Auburn up 19-13, forcing a Georgia timeout. Earl recorded her fifth ace of the day to give the Tigers a 22-15 advantage and Auburn held off a late Georgia run to take the match, 25-20.Auburn returns to Auburn Arena, hosting Missouri and Alabama. The two Tiger teams face off at 7 p.m. CT, Oct. 7, while the Crimson Tide comes to town for a 1:30 p.m. CT match, Oct. 9. ' ' '