Amazin'

Mets and Cards Play Endless Game

Teams finish a shade under seven hours.

The New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals could have played over two games yesterday in the time it took them to finish one. After 20 innings that lasted six hours and 53 minutes, the Mets, who did not get their second hit until the 12th inning, came out on top in a 2-1 victory at Busch Stadium. Both teams had to look outside of their bullpens for pitching help as their entire staff had been exhausted, but the Mets have been in this situation before, having gone through a 23-1/2 inning debacle with the Houston Astros in 1968 before eventually losing 1-0 at the Astrodome. This time, Mets’ Jose Reyes’ sacrifice fly brought in Angel Pagan, the go-ahead run, and Mike Pelfrey hit the mound for the final three outs of what was a marathon of a game. Nobody felt it more, though, than Jason Bay, who struck out four times in a 0-7 showing at the plate.