The New York Mets are having a very tough National League Championship Series.
Already without injured starters Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, the Mets found themselves without enough hotel rooms Monday night in St. Louis.
With some quick maneuvering, officials split the team into different hotels.
Now the Mets head back home to their own beds for some more restless sleep after a 4-2 loss Tuesday at Busch Stadium, one game away from elimination in the best-of-seven series after winning 97 games this season.
Game 6 and a possible Game 7 are in New York on Wednesday and Thursday night. Of course, that comes with the caveat of “weather permitting” because two games in this series already have been rained out.
The Cardinals have to feel good about their chances Wednesday with their most reliable starter–some say their only reliable starter–Chris Carpenter going against Mets rookie John Maine.
The Cardinals got six surprisingly strong innings Tuesday night–two runs on six hits–from starter Jeff Weaver, who has bounced around the majors without much success.
“When Jeff came over (from the Angels in a midseason trade), he was pretty beat up,” Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “You know, he really had a tough season. I think he had lost a lot of confidence. And that was the main thing that we had to do–help him regain some confidence.
“He started getting some results. His confidence grew as he threw the ball better and he is what he is right now, a very confident pitcher who believes he can pitch competitively against anybody.”
The Mets hit the board first with a pair of fourth-inning runs, perhaps aided by a long delay while workers replaced a faulty first-base bag. Weaver walked the first batter, Carlos Delgado. After a flyout, back-to-back doubles from Shawn Green and Jose Valentin accounted for the scoring.
But Tom Glavine wasn’t able to hold the lead, going through uncharacteristic wildness in the bottom of the fourth.
Albert Pujols got the first run back with his first homer, and only his second extra-base hit, of the series. Then a walk to Scott Rolen and back-to-back singles from Jim Edmonds and Ronnie Belliard brought in the second run before Yadier Molina walked. Glavine went to 2-0 on Weaver before getting him out to end the inning with the bases loaded.
For Pujols, the homer was revenge for his comments after Glavine shut out the Cardinals in the first game. He said he didn’t believe Glavine pitched all that well, despite the results.
The comment didn’t offend Glavine, who said, “I don’t know Albert well enough to know where that came from.
“And I know that a lot of things that we as athletes say in the heat of the moment either isn’t what we meant or doesn’t come out the way we meant it.”
When Pujols came up in the fifth inning, Glavine walked him intentionally for his last official duty of the night.
Glavine left down 3-2 and with two runners on base, the third run scoring when Preston Wilson doubled home David Eckstein. Chad Bradford relieved and loaded the bases before striking out Rolen and giving way to Pedro Feliciano, who left the bases loaded with Cardinals for the second straight inning.
The Cardinals took a 4-2 lead in the sixth when Chris Duncan, pinch-hitting for Weaver, put a 3-2 pitch past the right-field foul pole.
The Mets made a run in the eighth when Delgado singled and David Wright–who was 1-for-16 in the series–doubled with one out against reliever Josh Kinney. But Randy Flores and Adam Wainwright came on to retire Green and Valentin, respectively.
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dvandyck@tribune.com
