Martinez lifts Cards out of road skid amid NYC boos

NEW YORK -- Tino Martinez loved hearing the boos at Shea Stadium.

"I know the Mets fans respect what we've done," he said.

While he still thinks of the Yankees as "we," on Wednesday night he sparked his new team, the St. Louis Cardinals, to a 4-2 victory over the New York Mets that ended a five-game losing streak.

Martinez, batting just .161 with seven RBIs coming in, had three hits, doubling in the Cardinals' first run and singling ahead of pinch-hitter Eduardo Perez's tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth.

At first, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn't sure about starting the lefty-hitting Martinez against Al Leiter (2-1). During the regular season, Martinez was just 3-for-20 against the left-hander with one extra-base hit and hadn't had a multihit game all season.

"When a guy is working really hard to get hits, Leiter is not a guy to get well against," La Russa said.

Martinez spoke with his manager, then asked Cardinals starter Darryl Kile (1-0) whether he wanted him in the lineup. Kile said sure, and Martinez gave the go-ahead.

He shortened his swing, doubling to left in the second on a slider he flicked into short left. Roger Cedeno looked like a flopping seal, stumbling as the ball dropped in front on him and bounced by.

With the score 1-all in the eighth, Martinez sent a 1-1 curveball into short center, ending Leiter's streak of 16 straight batters retired. Booed even more loudly in the ninth by the crowd of 22,938, Martinez singled off David Weathers.

"I'm enjoying it," Martinez said. "I love playing here. It's a great atmosphere.. The fans are really intense."

The three hits raised his average to .197, its highest level since April 6. La Russa sensed in recent days that Martinez had started to relax and take more pitches.

"When you're hitting .150, you don't want to take a walk," he said. "You want to move your average up." He said it was hard for him in recent weeks not to chase bad pitches "because you want to drive your average up all in one day."

Leiter, who took a two-hitter into the eighth, followed Martinez's hit by pouncing on Mike Matheny's bunt and forcing Martinez at second. Perez batted for Kile and connected on the next pitch for the first home run of the season off Leiter, who entered with a major league-best 0.38 ERA.

Perez had been 0-for-7 this year as a pinch-hitter and just 18-for-94 (.191) with three homers. It was his first pinch homer since May 6, 1997, for Cincinnati against Los Angeles.

"You just want to be aggressive," he said.

In the seventh, New York had a chance to go ahead when Jay Payton's sacrifice put runners on second and third with one out. Vance Wilson -- starting because of Mike Piazza's injured hamstring -- struck out and Mets manager Bobby Valentine pulled Mark Johnson back from the on-deck circle let Leiter bat. He struck out, too.

"It seemed like a logical thing at the time," Valentine said. "Not so logical now."

Leiter gave up all three runs and three hits in eight innings, his ERA rising to 1.13. He was happy Valentine didn't hit for him in the seventh.

"It's an honor to know I have the confidence of my manager to leave me in in that situation to come up and hit," Leiter said.

Jason Isringhausen got five straight outs for his third save.

Notes: Kile became the first Cardinals starter to win this year other than Matt Morris (4-1), allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. ... New York went ahead in the first on an RBI single by John Valentin, batting cleanup despite a .192 average coming in, and got a run-scoring single by Mo Vaughn off Steve Kline in the eighth. ... Albert Pujols homered in the ninth off Weathers, a ball that hit the screen attached to the right-field foul pole. ... Payton was called out on an unusual play in the second. On first base with one out, he was running on the pitch as Wilson flied out to right field. Payton, who had rounded second, failed to retouch second on his way back to first and Martinez relayed RF Eli Marrero's throw to SS Edgar Renteria, completing a double play. "That's one of those things that everybody knows what to do there," Valentine said, "everyone in the stands and everyone on the field except the one guy."