The raggedy band of substitutes put their ace on the mound to try to win their first series in over a month and to do it they had to beat one of the best pitchers the major leagues have to offer.
Chris Carpenter has had to come all the way back from injuries that has kept him on the sidelines for the better part of two years.
Clearly, when healthy, Carpenters stuff is the kind of pitcher that allows managers to get at least one or maybe even, if it falls right, two good nights of sleep each week.
Tony LaRusso may have more than 2500 wins but boy does he look tired after the Mets had taken two out of three already from the Cards, including a vicious 11-0 thrashing by a team whose argueabbly three best hitters, sit on the DL with a fourth having knee problems and a rookie centerfielder whose batting a buck seventy five.
So if anything looked like a must win for each team, today was sure it.
With the largest crowd to ever attend a game at the New York Mets new home, CitiField 41,221, the atmosphere felt more like October than June.
Santana, who has struggled of late gave what some people call a "gritty" performance. He only struck out 3 batters in 7 innings of work while walking 3 and allowing 2 earned runs on 7 hits.
When he needed it, he got the big out. Nothing bigger than having Albert Pujols to fly out one foot short of the warning track with the bases loaded. Now you know why he gets paid the big bucks.
Carpenter was even more brilliant having only one poor inning where the Mets managed to score 3 runs including a 2 out double by Nick Evans to the opposite field to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.
K-Rod came in in the 9th to close his 20th save of the year.
This Mets team counts the days until they can get their regulars back in the line up. In the meantime the old cliche about stepping up during hard times never has been more than true in this case.
This weekend brings a close to the interleague play for the 2009 season. As a die hard Mets fan I am sorry to see it go. We have played ok in inter league match ups but our feared and closest rival, the Philadelphia Phillies have been abominable against the American League for the second year in a row and that I love.
We conclude our final 3 games with the first visit of the New York Skankees, ( did I say that?) to CitiField. The Bombers took two out of three at the Stadium a few weeks back in a series that will be immortalized by Luis Castillo's dropped pop up that allowed the Skanks to pluck a win out of a sure loss.
So expect to see some fireworks this weekend and hopefully the Mets can finish this homestand on a high note and send A-Holefraudroid and his cousins back to the bronx.
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