Pujols HR puts Cards 1 win from World Series

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| Wednesday, October 18, 2006 12:47 AM CDT | () comments

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds congratulates his teammates on Tuesday after they defeated the New York Mets.

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — A big swing by Albert Pujols and another playoff gem from Jeff Weaver put the St. Louis Cardinals on the cusp of the World Series.

Pujols’ homer helped the Cardinals get to Tom Glavine at last, and Weaver shut down the New York Mets for a 4-2 victory Tuesday night and a 3-2 lead in the NL Championship Series.

“The biggest key to our win was the way he pitched,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “The more you think about what he did, the more impressive he was.”

Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter can close it out tonight in Game 6 at Shea Stadium, which would give St. Louis its second pennant in three years and a date with the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Rookie right-hander John Maine is on the mound for the Mets, who hope to force a Game 7 at home.

The Cardinals got timely hits from Preston Wilson and Ronnie Belliard, and an insurance homer by pinch-hitter Chris Duncan. With the red-clad crowd of 46,496 twirling white towels, St. Louis’ young bullpen held on in the late innings after getting roughed up during New York’s 12-5 victory in Game 4.

“We didn’t have too many opportunities,” Mets manager Willie Randolph said. “They did pitch well. The bullpen did a great job.”

The second rainout of the series Monday night gave Glavine and Weaver a chance to pitch on regular rest instead of only a three-day break. Now, for the second time in the series, the clubs will travel without a day off.

Making his 35th postseason start, the most in major league history, Glavine got only 12 outs. Weaver, on the other hand, earned his second playoff victory.

“I think one advantage of playing a team in a long series like this is getting the opportunity to pitch twice,” Weaver said. “I knew what they had hit before, and more than anything I just tried to get ahead of ’em.”

Pujols’ homer put St. Louis on the scoreboard and snapped Glavine’s 22-inning scoreless streak that dated to his final regular-season start at Washington.

“He doesn’t give in too much,” said Pujols, who insisted last week that Glavine wasn’t very good during Game 1. “I’m just glad it went out of the park.”

The 40-year-old Glavine threw four-hit ball for seven innings in Game 1, beating Weaver 2-0 on Carlos Beltran’s two-run homer.

But Weaver got the best of this matchup. Cast off by the Los Angeles Angels this summer to make roster room for his little brother, Jered, the St. Louis right-hander kept Beltran and Carlos Delgado in check, yielding only two runs and six hits in six strong innings.

“I don’t even remember the first half of the season,” Weaver said. “I just continued to believe in myself that things would turn around.”

The Mets put runners at second and third with one out in the eighth, but Randy Flores retired Shawn Green on a shallow fly and rookie Adam Wainwright struck out Jose Valentin looking to preserve a two-run lead. Wainwright struck out Jose Reyes to end the game for his second save of the postseason.

“He’s got so much composure in the toughest situations,” La Russa said. “We’ve gotten such a huge lift from those guys.”

In this postseason, Cardinals relievers have held opponents to 0-for-31 with two outs and runners in scoring position.

Weaver is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA in three playoff starts. He tossed five innings of two-hit ball to beat San Diego 2-0 in Game 2 of the first round.

“By him being able to finish the sixth it really set up the last three innings for our bullpen,” La Russa said.

The game was delayed for a few minutes before the fourth while the grounds crew replaced first base, and Weaver walked his next batter, pitching carefully to Delgado. Green’s one-out double kicked up chalk on the right-field line, and Valentin hit the next pitch just over a leaping Pujols at first base for a two-run double that put New York ahead.

The Mets have scored in 10 innings during the series, and seven times St. Louis has responded with at least one run in its next at-bat.

Sure enough, Glavine couldn’t hold the lead. Pujols pulled a 2-2 pitch barely over the left-field fence in the bottom half of the fourth, his first home run since Game 1 against the Padres and his 12th overall in the postseason.

“Albert just got enough of it,” La Russa said. “That got us going, perked us up.”

With two outs, Scott Rolen walked, Jim Edmonds singled and Belliard bounced a tying single through the right side as Delgado broke for first base instead of toward the ball.

Glavine retired Weaver with the bases loaded to end the inning, but the Cardinals chased Glavine in the fifth and took a 3-2 lead. David Eckstein blooped a leadoff single and scored from first on a double to right-center by Wilson, who began his career with the Mets in 1998 and is the stepson of former New York outfielder Mookie Wilson.

Glavine was lifted after an intentional walk to Pujols. The left-hander allowed three runs and seven hits in four-plus innings, failing to tie former Atlanta teammate John Smoltz for the most wins in postseason history at 15. Glavine threw only 40 of his 80 pitches for strikes.

“He had the one tough inning obviously in the fourth, but other than that I thought Tommy pitched pretty well,” Randolph said.

Left-hander Pedro Feliciano escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, keeping the score 3-2. But La Russa sent the left-handed hitting Duncan up for Weaver in the sixth against Feliciano, and Duncan drove a 3-2 delivery down the right-field line to make it 4-2.

“Once I got him to 3-2, I knew in a close game he doesn’t want to walk me,” said Duncan, the son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan. “He happened to leave a breaking ball up.”