Allen Craig doesn't really have a home with the Cardinals right now, so, manager Tony La Russa acknowledged before the game, he's got to look for places and chances to play him.

Especially, it seems, against the Pirates.

Craig went two for four Thursday night in the Cards' 8-4 win, his 12th multi-hit game of the season (in 51 games). He has hits in six of his last nine at-bats against the Pirates, with two doubles and two home runs. Against them this season, he's hitting .526.

"The Pirates shouldn't take it personally," La Russa said after the game. "He's hitting against anybody."

Which is also true. While Craig's numbers against the Pirates may have resulted from being hot when the Pirates are in the opposing dugout, Craig has five hits in his past nine at-bats, upping his average to .326, best on the team, though in significantly fewer at-bats than many of his teammates because of time lost to his broken knee cap.

"He does a good job with his approach," La Russa said. "He has a nice stroke and a hitter's mentality. He's hungry every at-bat."

"It feels good to be hitting the ball hard," Craig said. "When I broke my knee and went down to Memphis to rehab for a couple weeks, I worked on a lot of things with my swing and my stance. I had some time to look back and work on some things, and I got my swing feeling pretty good down there. When I got back up here, I was feeling good. I'm just looking forward to getting in the games, getting in the lineup and hitting the ball hard. Showing what I can do."

Craig's problem, of course, is that the Cardinals are well represented - very well represented - at the positions that would be the most likely for him, left or right field, first or third base. That's why he's started eight games at second base and why Thursday he was making his third start of the season in center field.

"Everybody wants to be in the lineup every day, but we've got a lot of really great players at positions I'm good at, so there's nothing they can really do about that. They've been around a long time and they're doing an awesome job. I know my role as a young guy is to get in whenever I can and show them what I can do, whether it's center field or second base, or wherever it is, trust my athleticism in the field and do it with the stick in the lineup.

"I feel all right (in center). It's an adjustment but it's the outfield. When the ball goes up, I just try to catch it. I try to keep it simple."

Craig had a ground-rule double in the first and came around to score on a double by Albert Pujols to put the Cards up 1-0. He led off the fifth with a single, stole second, and eventually scored on David Freese's single to right.

Craig just missed coming up with a big play in the field. With the bases loaded and two out in the third, he came up just short on a try for a diving catch in center. He caught the ball on a short hop and raised his glove after the catch, trying to sell it, but the umpire didn't buy it as the Pirates scored two runs to tie the game. Craig said he felt he had as good a break as he could on the ball and that no center fielder would have made the play but that he should have been playing a step further in at the start of the play.