They came, they saw, they booed. But all of the harassment and negative vibes that Cardinals fans poured on Cincinnati's Brandon Phillips the last three days did nothing to sour his mood.

The Reds second baseman, who doubled and scored a run in his team's 4-2 loss Sunday at Busch Stadium, was roundly booed each time he approached the plate. So it went all three days. And after missing several starts with a bruised hand, Phillips went just two for 13 in the series against the team he recently called "whiners."

But the venom from the stands had nothing to do with it. "The booing didn't mean anything to me," Phillips said. "It's not like I've never been booed before. It was funny. They can do whatever they want, I don't care. I was laughing the whole time."

Laughing would be a bit too strong, but the Reds certainly weren't moping after dropping two of three to the Cardinals over the weekend. The series was a continuation of a lopsided matchup this season, as the Cardinals won 12 of the 18 games between the teams.

But the Reds, who beat Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals 6-1 on Saturday, are enjoying the best of the bigger matchup — the matchup that involves all of the National League Central. Cincinnati came to town with an eight-game lead over the second-place Cardinals. It avoided losing all three games in the set, the only outcome that might have dramatically changed things.

"We're in first place, enjoying it and having fun," said Phillips, a .287 hitter with 16 home runs and 51 RBIs overall. "That's it, that's all it really is. All we've got to do is worry about ourselves and win games. I don't care how many games we've lost or won (in one series), as long as we're in first place."

In the finale, Cincinnati had a leg up on Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals, leading 2-1 with two outs and no predicaments in the sixth. The Reds had won starter Homer Bailey's four previous starts, and the righthander appeared to be in command, limiting the Cardinals to two hits.

Then John Jay's sharp grounder deflected off the outstretched glove of Reds third baseman Scott Rolen and caromed away for a two-out double. With first base unoccupied, the Reds intentionally walked Albert Pujols — his one-for-23 skid notwithstanding — in favor of pitching to Matt Holliday. Bailey came within a fraction of striking out Holliday with a 1-2 pitch, but the Cardinals' cleanup man just nicked it and catcher Ryan Hanigan couldn't hold on.

Bailey then shook off Hanigan a couple of times before throwing a fastball that Holliday drove into the left-center bleachers for a three-run home run, his 25th homer of the season.

Bailey said the pitch to Holliday was supposed to be off the plate, but tailed back in. "I thought that was my only mistake of the whole day and it wound up costing us the game," said Bailey (3-3). "I have to execute better."

As for Holliday rather than Pujols, Bailey agreed with his manager's "pick your poison" decision. "It's definitely not a bad decision," Bailey said. "Both are hitting over .300, both have 25 to 30 home runs. What can you do in that situation? You just have to make a better pitch.

"I felt good, I was throwing the ball well. With the hits they had (to that point), there was nothing really solid. That was my only mistake of the day. I wanted it on the black or off the plate and I kind of missed the spot. I didn't get it there."

The Reds are finished with the Cardinals and their potent pitching trio of Carpenter, Wainwright and Jaime Garcia, but they're not done seeing superior pitching. They closed up the equipment bags and headed for Colorado, where they are scheduled to face Rockies ace Ubaldo Jiminez (17-6) today.

"That's what it's going to be like down the stretch," manager Dusty Baker said. "We're going to Colorado, (and) hopefully we forget about this one and start another streak. We had Carpenter 2-1 and they bailed him out there. He's a good pitcher, a very good pitcher.

"We knew we were going to need some more runs. In this ballpark, you're rarely going to beat him 2-1. We threatened a couple of times after that, but he made some quality pitches and their bullpen came in and did the rest."

Outfielder Drew Stubbs added: "You can see on paper the Cardinals have kind of had our number this year. They played well against us. But by coming and taking one game, we only lose one game in the standings. That's huge vs. playing poorly and losing all three."