Those Mets

SANTANA FALTERS EARLY, METS AMAZIN' LATE, BUT FALL IN 13TH TO PUJOLS AND CARDS

After watching their ace get battered in the first inning and slogging through another marathon game against the Cardinals in which a late rally gave them a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets faced a daunting choice: pitch to Albert Pujols or Matt Holliday with the go-ahead run on third in the 13th inning. They chose to pitch to Pujols with runners on first and third instead of intentionally walking him, which would have put another runner in scoring position with two out but also set up a force play at every base. Pujols singled through the left side of the infield off Pedro Feliciano to knock in the eventual winning run for the Cards in the Mets' 8-7 loss in front of the remnants of a crowd of 35,009 at Citi Field. "We thought that Holliday, at least tonight, was swinging the bat a little bit better than Albert," Jerry Manuel said. "It was a tough call. We were just going to try to leave the ball away and hopefully get him to hit the ball on the ground and we'd be able to get it. "We were playing with fire. We got burnt." The Mets were singed much earlier when Johan Santana had the worst first inning of his career, allowing six runs and eight hits. Santana (8-6) could not locate his fastball, and the first time he threw his vaunted changeup, Holliday pounded it over the wall in left-center. Later in the inning, Santana intentionally walked Brendan Ryan so he could pitch to his mound opponent, Jaime Garcia, but Garcia hit a two-run single. Santana brought a major-league best 0.71 ERA in July into the game, but it took him 12 batters to get out of the first inning. He delivered four scoreless innings after the first but was knocked out in the sixth and ended up allowing seven runs and a career-high 13 hits in 5-2/3 innings. It's the first time he has ever allowed more than five runs at Citi Field. "He was probably just over the middle of the plate a little bit more than he normally is," Manuel said. "He left a lot of balls out over the middle of the plate. That's lately uncharacteristic of him." "I tried to establish my fastball inside and I wasn't able to," Santana said. "I think that was the difference....I never had an inning like this before." Manuel praised Santana for lasting into the sixth inning and said he did not consider yanking the lefty as the hits mounted because "we'd have been in real trouble if we made that call that early. We have been strapped (in the bullpen) for days to come." The last time Santana matched up with Garcia - April 17 in St. Louis - the two teams ended up playing 20 innings, an eventual Met victory. Wednesday night, Manuel remembered that game, saying: "After they threw up six in the first, I said, 'This won't go 20.'" But the Mets surprised everyone who stuck around and tied the game and pushed it to the 13th, meaning the Cards and Mets have combined for 60innings of baseball in five games this season. The Santana-Garcia matchup has produced 33 innings. Mike Hessman, the callup starting at first to give Ike Davis a night off, doubled in two runs in the first inning, missing a grand slam by a few feet when his drive struck the left-field wall. Carlos Beltran hit his first homer of the season in the sixth, one batter after David Wright was thrown out trying to stretch his hit to left into a double. In the eighth, the Mets scored four times, tying the score at 7. Angel Pagan hit a two-run homer, his ninth, and pinch-hitter Davis slapped a two-run single through the right side of the infield. The Mets left the bases loaded in the inning and then got consecutive singles by Wright and Beltran in the ninth to threaten again. But Hessman struck out looking and Jeff Francoeur flew out. The Mets got one hit in extra innings, and Pujols, who started the series 0-for-8 but had three hits Wednesday night, blunted their comeback. "It's tough, but you always feel good when your team is down, 6-0, 7-2 and you come back and score that many runs late," Manuel said. "Hopefully, that indicates our offense is clicking." "It was a great comeback," added Beltran, "but at the same time, we didn't get the win." (NY Daily News)