NY Sports Day's Official Magazine

Rookie's 11th Inning Homer Lifts Cards Over Mets, 5-3
by: Michael Avallone | Staff Columnist - NY Sports Day | Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Omar Minaya has made few wrong choices since taking over as Mets GM in 2004.

But the three-year deal he inked with reliever Scott Schoeneweis is turning into a complete disaster.

Already a target of the Shea boo-birds, the left-hander invited even more venom, yielding a tie-breaking home run to recently recalled Brendan Ryan as the Cardinals avenged their extra inning loss on Monday with an 11-inning victory on Tuesday night at Shea.

The loss snapped New York’s four-game winning streak and dropped Schoeneweis’ record to 0-2 while his ERA jumped to 5.86 over 34 appearances.

With the game tied, 3-3, in the top of the 11th, Mets skipper Willie Randolph decided to go with his southpaw instead of rookie Joe Smith for a second straight night. Schoeneweis got ahead of Ryan (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) 1-2 before the 27-year-old worked the count full.

One fastball later, the Cardinals were enjoying a 4-3 lead and 40,053 frustrated New Yorkers were unleashing their rage towards Schoeneweis.

It was the first career longball for Ryan, who had hit only six home runs in four minor league seasons before being called up to the big club last week.

St. Louis tacked on another run on Jose Valentin’s fielding error to go up, 5-3.

New York forced the game into extras with some ninth inning magic off Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen.

The former Met retired David Wright and Carlos Delgado to start the ninth, but Monday’s hero, Shawn Green, battled ‘Izzy’ before walking. Valentin followed with a double down the right field line with Green on the move, tying the game, 3-3.

Valentin took third on Juan Encarnacion’s throwing error and pinch-hitter Rickey Ledee walked, but Julio Franco grounded out on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.

There was not much in the way of offense for a majority of the game as Oliver Perez and Todd Wellemeyer matched each other through six innings.

Scott Spiezio doubled with one out in the first and came home two batters later on Juan Encarnacion’s two-bagger for a 1-0 lead.

New York answered back in the bottom half when Jose Reyes singled, moved to second on Paul Lo Duca’s groundout and scored on Carlos Beltran’s double to right.

The Mets would notch just one more hit off Wellemeyer, who allowed just one run and three hits while walking three and fanning five over six innings.

Perez was equally up for the challenge before getting into trouble in the seventh when Ryan singled and Chris Duncan walked with one out, putting an end to his evening.

Aaron Heilman relieved and got So Taguchi, who would single in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, to fly out to right with Ryan tagging and taking third.

Spiezio (2-for-6, 2B, RBI) then lined a shot off Heilman’s glove which deflected to Valentin, who had plenty of time to get the runner for the final out, but he could not transfer the ball from his glove to his hand, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

Perez was charged with two runs on five hits and three walks while fanning six over 6 1/3 frames and has won just once over his last six starts (1-3).

Ryan singled home what appeared to be an insurance run off Heilman in the eighth for a 3-1 lead.

Paul Lo Duca set the stage for New York’s comeback, bringing his club to within one on his fourth home run in the eighth off Monday night’s losing pitcher, Russ Springer.

Brad Thompson picked up his sixth win against three losses with 1 1/3 scoreless innings before Randy Flores retired Green and Valentin with a runner at second to end the game for his first save.

After failing yet again to win a fifth straight contest, the Mets (42-33) will try and bounce back from a tough loss when they face St. Louis on Wednesday. Tom Glavine (6-5, 4.38) will go for his second straight win following a five-start winless drought from May 19-June 22. The 41-year-old surrendered just one run over eight-plus innings to win his 296th career game in a 9-1 victory over the A’s last Friday. Glavine defeated the Redbirds on Opening Day, holding the defending World Series champions to one run over six innings in his club’s 6-1 win.

The Cardinals (34-40) will look to start a winning streak after stopping their losing skid at three games on Tuesday night. Anthony Reyes (0-9, 6.64) will take the hill looking for his first victory since Game 1 of the 2006 World Series and his first regular season win since last Sep. 3, a span of 15 starts. The 25-year-old has surrendered five runs or more in four consecutive starts for a 9.58 ERA. Reyes has never faced the Mets in the regular season but started Game 4 of last year’s NLCS, yielding two runs on three hits and four walks in four innings.






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