Mets 3 Cardinals 2

Who says the Mets are banged up, beaten down, and in bad shape? And what’s this nonsense about “treading water”?

The New York Mets took three games out of four from the mighty St. Louis Cardinals, culminating in a heart-stopping 3-2 victory over the seemingly unbeatable Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter held the Mets to only five hits, but they helped produce three runs, which were all Johan Santana needed to gain his ninth victory of the season.

The Mets scored all of their runs in the fourth frame, thanks once again to Nick Evans. After Luis Castillo scored on a Castillo-like single by Fernando Tatis, Evans rapped a double into the right field corner to send home Tatis and Ryan Church to give the Mets a lead they’d never relinquish.

Santana struggled but scattered seven St. Louis hits and three walks to limit the Redbirds to one earned run. Pedro Feliciano pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Francisco Rodriguez, as usual, made things interesting before nailing down his 20th save of the season.

Notes

Was this the first time Jerry Manuel ever limited himself to only two pitching changes in a one-run game? Probably not, but it feels that way. In contrast, Tony LaRussa made three changes in the eighth inning alone.

Dan Murphy — who was benched in place of the red-hot Evans — stroked a single for Santana in the bottom of the seventh. He is now hitting .333 as a pinch-hitter this year and .387 lifetime. Is he the next Gates Brown?

The first Redbird run was unearned and came in the initial inning when Skip Schumaker singled, moved to second on a catcher’s interference by Omir Santos, and scored on a single by Yadier Molina.

The Mets are now 5-3 in games without Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Jose Reyes.

Next Mets Game

The Mets begin a three-game weekend series against the crosstown New York Yankees on Friday night at 7:10 PM. Mike Pelfrey faces C.C. Sabathia. Plenty of tickets are available if you want to watch the game at Citi Field. Otherwise, you can catch it on SNY, WFAN, or XM 183.

Ben Shipgel finally caught up to what we suggested last week — that Fernando Nieve is this year’s Jorge Sosa. Though, so far I like Nieve’s confidence in his fastball … if he doesn’t fall in love with the slider the way Sosa did, he might just hang around beyond the All-Star break. Fingers crossed.

The Ropolitans provides us a colorful pie chart displaying Fernando Tatis’ prowess as a double play machine.

MetsPolice strolls down 126th street, and compares it to Wrigleyville.

Eli from Brooklyn nominates Fernando Nieve for an award, and shows us 5 of the worst “first” pitches ever recorded.

Speaking of, in case you missed the President throwing out the first ball in Baracklyn the other night, you can see the replay below:

Mets 11 Cardinals 0

An unexpected rout of the Redbirds.

The supposedly sickly and flaccid Mets lineup racked up 16 hits — 5 for extra bases — as the New Yorkers pounded Sir Albert and his St. Louis disciples.

David Wright led the way with a 4-for-4 day, but received plenty of help from Ryan Church (3-for-4, two doubles) and recently promoted Nick Evans, who mashed a two-run homer in the fourth frame.

Ace starter Fernando Nieve threw six shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out 5 to earn his third victory.

Notes

My apologies for the late post … my TV went out prior to the game last night and MLB.com wouldn’t let me watch the game due to blackout restrictions until a few hours ago. Thanks MLB !!!

As it was I didn’t watch the game, so please fill up the comments with richly vivid descriptions of the key points of the contest. Many thanks.

Next Mets Game

The series finale begins at 1:10 PM. Johan Santana goes to the hill against Chris Carpenter. Thankfully the game will be available on WFAN and XM 183. Tweet me if Keith says something silly.