Friday, October 13, 2006 |
Friday The 13th For Number 13: Cardinals 9, Mets 6
It didn't start well for the Cards, as Carlos Delgado ripped a three-run blast to give the Metropolitans an early 3-0 lead, but the Cards came right back for two of those runs on an RBI double by Yadier Molina. After Jose Reyes singled to make the score 4-2 in the bottom of the second, Jim Edmonds came up in the top of the third to deliver a two-run homer to center to tie things up.
The Mets came back with single runs in the fifth and sixth in more shaky innings by Chris Carpenter, including a solo homer by Delgado, and an RBI double by Paul LoDuca that scored Endy Chavez from first.
But the Cards rallied in the top of the seventh, with the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes. With Pujols on second and Jim Edmonds on first following a single and a walk off reliever Guillermo Mota, Scott Spiezio came up. After a couple terrible hacks on two consecutive changeups got him down 0-2 in the count, he fouled off a fastball, and then drilled the next pitch — also a changeup, but this time fading inside, where Speez likes 'em. Sure enough, this one, like his 2002 World Series Game 6 blast, went deep to right, almost leaving the yard except for Shawn Green's well-placed glove, which merely deflected the blast back into the yard. Spiezio made it to third, where the Cardinals third base coach was signaling a home run, and Tony LaRussa came out to ask the umpires to huddle. But right field umpire Tim Welke got the call right the first time, and so it stayed.
But ties aren't enough, and the Cards came up big in the top of the ninth against the Mets' fireballing closer, Billy Wagner — whose uniform happened to be be number 13 on Friday the 13th. Was the ensuing collapse a coincidence? Of course, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Called in as a substitute in left field for the slumping Chris Duncan, So Taguchi blasted one of Wagner's heaters over the left field fence. That sparked a three-run rally, as Pujols' bat then awoke from its slumber, picking up a double that Scott Spiezio — again the hero — cashed in with an RBI double of his own. Juan Encarnacion in turn sent Spiezio home, and eventually the Mets pulled Wagner after Ronnie Belliard's groundout moved Encarnacion into scoring position with two out. Roberto Hernandez made the final out, but by that time, the air was out of the stadium, and a number of Mets fans had bailed on the game.
Tyler Johnson and Adam Wainwright combined to finish off the Mets, and take home a split to the Cards, who now get home-field advantage the rest of the way. It's hard for me not to root for the Cards in this scenario, full of ex-Angels as they are, but I'm not optimistic they'll get out of this round.
For that matter, too, several Cardinals had some great at-bats in the 8th and 9th innings, and it paid off in a big way (Eckstein in the 8th comes to mind with his 12 pitch at bat and Taguchi's 9 pitch at bat in the 9th), especially with the Mets bullpen throwing over 100 pitches.
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