Mets Defeated Cardinals 2-1 in the 20th Inning at Busch Stadium Saturday Afternoon into Night

I don’t know how I could have kept a scorecard with all the double switches that Tony La Russa had done in the 7 hour Met win over the Cardinals yesterday. This is a game the Mets needed. It’s good that they’ll play a night game tonight. Met reliever Pedro Feliciano made his 373rd appearance Saturday that moved him into 4th on the club’s career list. Johan Santana started for the Mets and was excellent in the no decision, giving up no earned runs, only 4 hits, 9 strikeouts with 1 walk in 7.0 innings. As reported on mlb.com:

Santana ran down the list of absurdities: a closer won the game, a starting pitcher saved it and a position player lost it. Two position players took the mound for the Cardinals; a pitcher played left field. And the Mets won despite allowing a run in the 19th, despite producing a total of nine hits in 20 innings.

Jose Reyes finally pushed the winning run across, with a sacrifice fly off outfielder Joe Mather in the 20th. Then starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey recorded three outs in the bottom of the inning to seal it.

"We needed to win this game," manager Jerry Manuel said.

Entering with his job performance under increasing scrutiny, Manuel most certainly did everything in his power to win it. For one afternoon (and evening and night), the Mets' manager seemed invincible.