August 5, 2009, St. Louis Cardinals-New York Mets game story for Metro NY Newspaper
Mets get Carded
Pujols caps off St. Louis rally with grand slam in the 10th
MLB.The 40,354 quality control specialists immediately voiced their assessment of the latest farce they bore witness to.
It was the top of the ninth and the Mets had a lead. There was one out and a runner on second before Skip Schumaker turned on a Francisco Rodriguez fastball. The ball hung in the air for a moment before dropping in front of Jeff Francoeur. Almost instantly, a chorus of catcalls poured onto a team that has heard enough to last a lifetime.
One inning later, disgust was marked with derisive laughter following Albert Pujols’ fifth grand slam of the season.
The Mets’ 12-7 loss to the Cardinals at Citi Field Tuesday night was another debacle in a fiasco of a campaign. Rodriguez, the $9.16 million closer, blew his fourth save of the season in spectacular fashion, giving up two runs on three hits in the ninth. Set-up man Pedro Feliciano (4-4) took the loss, despite Sean Green allowing Pujols’ grand slam, the 11th in his Hall-of-Fame career. Kyle McClellan (3-2) did not give up a run, allowing a hit and walk in the ninth to earn the win.
“The reality is that we lost the game. At the end, we lost and that’s all that counts,” said Johan Santana after watching another opportunity to win a game fall by the wayside. Against one of the game’s premier offensive teams, Santana allowed five runs on nine hits in eight innings and struck out six. The lefty also drove in two runs with a RBI double in the second. “I have to be positive about the things we are capable (of). We still have a long way to go. We cannot afford to lose that many games because every time we lose a game, it’s against us. We definitely have to win more games and catch up to the guys that are ahead of us. It’s not over until it’s over. We still have a long way to go.”
KRod entered the game with a 7-5 lead. The closer, who had not pitched since Saturday, had trouble locating, throwing 41 pitches in the inning. He allowed consecutive doubles to Rick Ankiel and Julio Lugo (Lugo’s plated Ankiel to cut the lead to 7-6). Rodriguez struck out pinch hitter Colby Rasmus to set the stage for Schumaker.
“I was really wild. I was really embarrassed out there. I was unable to make pitches. When you do that, you’re going to get hurt,” said Rodriguez.
The wearisome aspect for the Mets is that they wasted consecutive sterling offensive performances by an offense whose season can best be characterized as oft-punchless. The Mets lost 6-5 to Arizona on Monday night.
After being held in relative check by the Diamondbacks during last weekend’s four game series, the Mets (50-56) took out their frustration out on St. Louis (59-50) starter Joel Pineiro.
The last time Pineiro started against the Mets, he induced 22 groundball outs in a 3-0 complete game win on June 23. Pineiro did not come close to replicating that effort last night, leaving after five innings having given up seven runs on 11 hits.
Jerry Manuel said before the game that the Mets tinkered with the curveball machine so that it would throw sinkers to the hitters, in an attempt to better prepare them for sinkerball pitchers. In the Mets’ four games against noted sinkerballers Bronson Arroyo, Jon Garland and Pineiro, the trio combined to go 3-0 with a 1.90 ERA, 12 strikeouts and one home run allowed in 33 innings.
Once Pineiro left, the Mets bats went silent as they have so often this season. The Cardinals’ bullpen only allowed four hits in the final five innings.
The news got worse for the Mets as Jose Reyes may be done for the season and second baseman Luis Castillo left the game in the top of the ninth with a sprained left ankle after falling down the dugout steps while trying to avoid stepping on a glove. The shortstop reportedly flew to New York yesterday to have specialists examine pain in his leg. Reyes has been out since May 20. The possibility exists that the organization could shut down the 26 year old for the final two months.
Pujols went 4-for-5 with two homers, five RBI and scored three times. The NL MVP front-runner now has 36 home runs this season. When told that Pujols had been struggling, Manuel said, “I don’t believe those things when I hear them about Pujols. He’s a good player.”
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 3:38 PM
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