Mets' Floyd limps off with Achilles' injury

NEW YORK -- Mets left fielder Cliff Floyd tried to play on his inflamed Achilles' tendon last night. That lasted two innings, Floyd coming out of the game after limping to first base while flying to left field to end the second inning.

Endy Chavez replaced Floyd at the start of the third, and wound up making the night's best defensive play, a diving catch of Ronnie Belliard's sinking liner in the fifth after getting a late break on the ball.

``Endy has been unbelievable all year long," said winning pitcher Tom Glavine, the beneficiary of Chavez's play, as well as two unconventional double plays, one in the third inning when David Eckstein lined to third baseman David Wright with two runners on, one in the fourth when Albert Pujols unaccountably strayed too far from first base on Juan Encarnacion's routine fly and was doubled off.

``He's certainly been one of our unsung heroes all year long," said Glavine. ``It just seems like every time that guy gets in the game, he's doing something to help us win."

Floyd said he would not play in tonight's Game 2, and planned to see Mets doctor David Altchek in the morning.

Pujols grew up 20 minutes from where David Ortiz lived in the Dominican Republic, and has been watching him since Ortiz was still David Arias and playing in the Seattle Mariners' system. Pujols hasn't talked with Ortiz in a while, he said, but customarily speaks with him a couple of times a week during the season. ``We are very close," Pujols said. ``David is a good friend of mine."

Granted, friendship may color his perspective, but Pujols believes Ortiz is deserving of the American League's Most Valuable Player Award. Penalize Ortiz because he is a designated hitter and does not play in the field? Pujols said he found DHing much more challenging on the occasions he was called to do it in interleague play.

``I think it's harder," Pujols said. ``You're sitting there on the bench, waiting for your time. That's tough. The first time I did it, I felt like I wasn't in the game. I like to make plays. I like to help my team in other ways than just hitting the ball out of the park. I want to play defense. In Boston [on the visitors' side], you don't have a batting cage to get loose. That's even worse. I'm just glad I'm a first baseman."

Pujols, incidentally, does not believe Ortiz's world would suddenly come crashing down if he no longer had Manny Ramírez protecting him in the Sox' lineup.

``I think David can make the adjustment," Pujols said. ``He's a great player, I've followed his career. He can make his own adjustments. I think he can be patient and continue to do the things that nobody else can do. He is the guy you want to have at the plate every time you need a clutch hit."

Pujols acknowledged knowing Ramírez ``just a little."

``People talk about how one player can carry a whole team, but I don't think that's right," said Pujols . ``You have to look at the guys around you. And David still has some hitters around him. Even if they trade Manny, he'll probably keep putting up the numbers he's been putting up."

In the last three seasons, batting almost exclusively in the No. 3 spot in the Cardinals' lineup, Pujols has batted .331 while averaging 45 home runs and 125 RBIs. The Cardinals have had some good hitters batting behind him, but none approaching the superstar status of Ramírez. Scott Rolen, who battled a shoulder injury this season, had the most at-bats behind Pujols and hit 14 home runs in 339 at-bats. The next most productive batter behind Pujols was Jim Edmonds, who had six home runs and 32 RBIs. In 2005, Edmonds had 14 home runs and 43 RBIs in the No. 4 hole, while Rolen had a big year in the cleanup spot in 2004, hitting 27 home runs and driving in 92.

``If you don't have protection, you're going to have a bigger zone to deal with, but we have protection," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. ``But he's still Albert. The guys who are going to hit behind him [Juan Encarnacion and Rolen] have a lot of hits off Tom Glavine. That's not chopped liver."

General manager Walt Jocketty was asked about the importance of protection for players such as Pujols and Ortiz.

``Obviously, it helps to have protection, but guys like David are going to put up numbers," Jocketty said. ``They might put up better numbers with better protection, but they're going to put up the numbers."

A week after undergoing rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder, Pedro Martínez, his arm in a sling, strolled onto the field for pregame introductions and received a huge ovation, which he acknowledged with a wave of his left hand. ``I'm very, very optimistic and very happy about the results," Martínez told the New York Daily News. ``Right now, the doctor just told me today that I looked like [I should] a month after surgery -- and it's only been a week -- because of the way everything is moving around and the way that I'm feeling and the way my flexibility is reacting to the surgery. That's more than good news."

Martínez is expected back after the All-Star break in 2007 .

Jocketty was asked if trading deadline talks with the Red Sox for second baseman Mark Loretta got hot: ``Not really," Jocketty said. ``We were focused on [Ronnie ] Belliard. I think we liked the whole package, his defense, his offense. The Loretta thing came late, so we were pretty far down the road with Belliard."

Belliard came over from the Indians for Hector Luna in a deadline deal. He hit .237 in 54 games for the Cardinals, just .219 in 27 games in September, but came up big in the Division Series against the Padres, batting .462 (6 for 13) while making several outstanding defensive plays. ``He's lit it up defensively," said Jocketty .

There's an odd postscript to the story of how the Sox planned to draft Pujols on the recommendation of scout Ernie Jacobs, then backed off at the last moment. David Karaff, the scout who recommended Pujols to the Cardinals, was fired in 2003, four years after the Cardinals drafted Pujols, and wound up taking a job at a Wal-Mart in Hot Springs, Ark.

La Russa changed his pitching rotation, opting to go with ace Chris Carpenter in tonight's rescheduled Game 2 -- 8:05 start -- with Jeff Suppan pitching Game 3 tomorrow in St. Louis. Mets manager Willie Randolph left his rotation intact -- Glavine last night, John Maine tonight, Steve Trachsel in Game 3 . . . Aaron Neville sang the national anthem. Darryl Strawberry, who was a member of the '86 Mets world championship team that beat the Red Sox, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Strawberry is 44, four years younger than Mets reserve Julio Franco . . . Shea Stadium observed a moment of silence honoring Negro Leagues legend Buck O'Neil, and in remembrance of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. How do the Red Sox deal with players who want to become pilots, like Lidle, the Yankee pitcher who died when his single-engine plane crashed into a Manhattan condominium Wednesday? Piloting an aircraft is prohibited in the guaranteed language in Red Sox player contracts. So is being a passenger in a single-engine plane or a private plane with an unlicensed pilot. Players have the choice of performing the prohibited activity, but they risk losing their guaranteed salary if something goes awry.