With yet another star player added to the disabled list, the injury depleted New York Mets were not intimidated as they held off the pesky Saint Louis Cardinals for a 6-4 victory last night at CitiField. Before the game, the team announced that Carlos Beltran was added to the 15-day disabled list with an aching bone bruise on his right knee. Beltran joins Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, John Maine and Oliver Perez, among others. It’s possible that Beltran may be out longer than 15 days and when asked if Beltran may be activated after the All-Star break, general manager Omar Minaya said, “That’s something that we have to consider.”Daniel Murphy looks on as he hits solo home run in 5th inning. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)(ESPN.com)
Tim Redding earned his first win of the season last night even though the Mets fielded a starting lineup that has hit 10 fewer home runs than Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols. Mets catcher Omir Santos went 4-for-4, driving in a run and scoring a run, and second baseman Luis Castillo went 3-for-3, driving in a run and scoring two himself.
Despite sticking to their plan of not letting Pujols step to the plate with runners in scoring position, the Cardinals managed to stay in the game. With the Mets ahead 4-1 in the top of the sixth inning, Pujols laced a two out double to left field which was followed by Ryan Ludwick’s two-run shot to left which cut the Mets lead to 4-3. Redding got out of the inning when Rick Ankiel grounded out to short.
The key to the game came at the top of the eighth inning, when Mets reliever Brian Stokes faced Pujols with two outs and a runner on first. After working the count to 2-and-2, Stokes delivered a slider that Pujols grounded into an inning ending double play and ended the St. Louis rally. Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan led off the inning with a solo shot to left field to pull the St. Louis within two runs of the Mets.
The Mets loaded the bases in the first inning off three straight singles from Daniel Murphy, David Wright and new cleanup hitter, Fernando Tatis. A sacrifice fly from Ryan Church and an RBI single from Omir Santos, gave the Mets an early 2-0 lead. Luis Castillo, a favorite among Mets fans, hit an RBI double in the fourth inning which preceded Murphy’s solo home run in the fifth and Alex Cora’s RBI single in the sixth.
"We won on points. We jabbed them to death," said Mets manager Jerry Manuel, using a boxing analogy. "That's the way we have to play. Something from everyone."
"It is the way we have to play," Ryan Church said. "Use this ballpark to our advantage. But we can't just hit a switch and say, 'Let's do it this way now 'cause Carlos is out.'”
Despite allowing four earned runs, Tim Redding pitched seven solid innings, striking out four and allowing one walk. Francisco Rodriguez earned his 19th save of the season by sending the Cardinals down in order in a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
From The Couch…Redding’s last win against the Cardinals came in 2004 when he was with the Houston Astros…The Mets earned their first win over the Cardinals this season…St. Louis is the only team in Major League Baseball not to use a left-handed starter this season…This was the Mets seventh victory in their last nineteen games.
Information and quotes from SNY and MLB.com was used in this story.
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