By BART HUBBUCH
Last updated: 9:26 am
July 3, 2008
Posted: 3:12 am
July 3, 2008
ST. LOUIS - Yadier Molina didn't know it, but he had the crucial swing in the Cardinals' 8-7 comeback win over the Mets last night.
That critical liner by Molina actually came the night before, when the St. Louis catcher drilled the left knee of Mets reliever Duaner Sanchez and left Sanchez unavailable to pitch yesterday.
PHOTO GALLERY: Cards Beat Mets
Sanchez's absence from his usual eighth-inning setup role proved pivotal when the Mets had to use Aaron Heilman and overworked left-hander Pedro Feliciano in that role last night. The two relievers promptly gave back a two-run lead, setting the stage for Troy Glaus' game-winning homer with two out in the ninth.
Glaus' deciding shot just over the outstretched glove of a leaping Endy Chavez in left - Glaus' second of the game - came off the newly recalled Carlos Muniz, who was sent back to Triple-A New Orleans afterward.
But Glaus' homer wasn't much bigger than Chris Duncan's pinch-hit, two-run blast off Feliciano on the first pitch he saw in the eighth that erased a 7-5 Mets lead. Duncan's homer with none out also scored Ryan Ludwick, whom Heilman had hit with a pitch to start the inning.
Molina's liner the night before "was big, because no question we would have gone with Sanchez [in the eighth last night]," Jerry Manuel said. "We checked in with him during BP and after BP, and the knee was just very sore."
And to think, things were looking so promising for the Mets leading up to the final two nightmarish frames.
Jose Reyes, David Wright and backup second baseman Damion Easley had three hits apiece as part of a 15-hit eruption, and Ryan Church - settling in nicely as the Mets' new No. 5 hitter in place of Carlos Delgado - added two hits.
Until the eighth, all of that lumber and a three-run flexing of muscle in the seventh was looking like it would take Pedro Martinez off the hook after an up-and-down night by the three-time Cy Young winner that included coping with a 47-minute rain delay.
Martinez, coming off two consecutive awful starts, had gotten into trouble right away by allowing three of the first four Cardinals to reach in the first. That was followed by a three-run Glaus blast to center that put St. Louis up 4-0 before many at Busch Stadium had settled in their seats.
Martinez ended up laboring through 32 pitches in the first, giving up five hits overall, and appeared headed for a very short night.
But Martinez settled down just as quickly after the first while his teammates rallied with three runs in the top of the third to make a game of it again.
Few expected Martinez to return after the rains came in the middle of the third, especially after the delay stretched to almost an hour. But back he came. Martinez held up well, too, retiring eight of the next nine hitters as the Mets fought back to tie.
"I felt good," Martinez said. "I told them that, even if it took two hours, I was going to go back out there. I'm a veteran, I know my body, and I just wanted to go out there and give it another try to see if I could get better results. I thought I did that."
But that 10th batter proved to be Martinez's undoing. Rick Ankiel blasted his second homer against the Mets in as many nights, sending a laser 422 feet into the stands in right to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead.
"I like the way Pedro came back and competed," Manuel said. "We just came up short."
bhubbuch@nypost.com
Cardinals 8 Mets 7
