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Reed it and weep Mets righty struggles against Cards' lefty-heavy lineup
Updated: Saturday October 14, 2000 8:50 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Finally, a right-hander for the St. Louis Cardinals to feast on. Just like in the regular season, the NL Central champions' lefty-dominated lineup struggled in the first two games of the NLCS. The Cardinals were 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position, stranded 19 in a pair of losses and put the leadoff hitter on only three times in 18 innings. "We're a left-handed team," No. 5 hitter Ray Lankford said. "The heart of our lineup is all left-handed hitters, so facing left-handed pitchers is going to be a little tougher. "But if we're on, it doesn't matter who's pitching." Against Rick Reed on Saturday, it was a completely different story. Left-handed hitters led the Cardinals to an 8-2 victory over the New York Mets, and revived the team's World Series hopes after it lost the first two in St. Louis. They're trying to become the first team in an LCS to come back after losing the first two at home. "The guys didn't back down," Will Clark said. "We kept the pressure on." Reed, following dominant performances by left-handers Mike Hampton and Al Leiter, gave up eight hits and five runs in only 3 1-3 innings. Mets manager Bobby Valentine had lefty Glendon Rusch warming up after the first four Cardinals reached base in the first against Reed, who allowed eight runs in nine regular-season innings against St. Louis. "It's a tough lineup to deal with," Reed said. "They really knock around the righties." All five of the lefties in the St. Louis lineup contributed to the 14-hit attack as the Cardinals went 7-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
The Cardinals get to see another right-hander, Bobby Jones, in Game 4 on Sunday before the lefties return. "That's even better," Lankford said. "But at the same time, we've got to go out there and make some things happen regardless." Jones may be tougher, considering he is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts against St. Louis, holding them to a .216 average, and is coming off a one-hitter that clinched the Mets' first-round series victory over the Giants. Manager Tony La Russa has downplayed his team's vulnerability against left-handers throughout the series. But the Cardinals, who were second in the NL with 95 victories, were only 17-23 against left-handed pitching. Their .255 average against lefties was 21 points lower than their numbers against right-handers. The Cardinals were 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the first inning alone, and 4-for-7 overall against Reed. After a brief interlude in the fourth against Rusch, who retired two of the three batters he faced and got Mark McGwire to fly out with the bases loaded, they were back at it. Against righty Rick White, the Cardinals added three runs in the fifth. The leadoff hitter reached base in four of the first six innings and they scored twice in the first, their biggest inning during the season. St. Louis outscored their opponents 147-90 in the first. That was more than enough support for Andy Benes, making his first appearance since the final day of the regular season. Benes was out of the rotation for five weeks starting in mid-August with a knee injury that will require surgery in the offseason, but finished the season with a pair of strong outings. Pitching for the first time in 13 days, Benes gave up two runs on six hits in eight innings. He struck out the side in his final inning and retired 12 in a row before Mike Piazza singled with two outs in the eighth. "He threw some big zeros out there, especially in the middle of the game," Clark said. Benes didn't pitch in the playoffs last year with Arizona, either. He was left off the postseason roster. "I can't tell you how excited I was," he said.
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