Carpenter passes Musial on Cards' doubles list

MILWAUKEE -- The base was nestled into Matt Carpenter's locker in the visitors' clubhouse at Miller Park. A baseball was in there, too. Carpenter will carry both home as a reminder of the night he passed Stan Musial.

Carpenter added another accolade to his career season when, with a fifth-inning double, he set a franchise record for most doubles by a left-handed hitter. Carpenter now has 54 on the season, one more than Musial hit in 1953.

"It's hard to fathom, really, when you start to think about it," Carpenter said after the Cardinals' 7-2 win. "You hear the name Stan Musial, and to know that you've done something to break a record that he held, I can't really put into words. It's really amazing."

After the game, Carpenter was presented with second base and the ball he hit into the right-field corner for his only hit of the night.

"Someone had mentioned to me last night that I had tied it, so when I hit it, I knew," Carpenter said. "It's definitely something that's a pretty cool feat and something I'm extremely proud of."

Carpenter likely won't catch Joe Medwick -- who has the overall franchise mark for single-season doubles with 64 in 1936 -- but the Cardinals second baseman is closing in on another meaningful benchmark. Carpenter leads the league with 194 hits, putting him only six away from being the first Cardinals player with a 200-hit season since Albert Pujols in 2003.

On Saturday, Carpenter also became just the second Cards player to tally 61 extra-base hits as a leadoff hitter. Only Lou Brock had more, collecting 65 in 1967 and 66 the year after. Carpenter's 67 RBIs from atop the lineup trail only Brock's 76 (1967) and Taylor Douthit's 84 (1930) in the franchise record books.

None of it, though, supersedes Carpenter's greater team goal.

"The only thing I'm eyeing is that division championship," Carpenter said. "If I can do my job to help us win, then all of those individual accomplishments will take care of themselves."