Mets waste strong effort by Perez

The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals this evening by the score of 4-3. Oliver Perez pitched brilliantly for 6 1/3 innings. He gave up 4 hits and 1 run with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. He had a 1-0 lead in the 7th and the bullpen gave it up. Raul Valdez gave up a grandslam in the 7th to give the Cardinals the 4-1 lead. The Mets did comeback in the 9th with a couple of runs but that was it. They wasted a strong effort out of Oliver Perez, the hitting once again just couldn't get it going. Jeff Francoeur was the only player to have multiple hits. I don't think the Mets offense is going to be a problem but so far on this young season it has been especially with runners in scoring position. The pitching has to be better but it was there tonight and they still lost the game. They will play game 2 of the 3 game series tomorrow afternoon. The game is at 4:10 with Johan Santana looking to bounce back from a rough outing last time out.