e must beat Australia to have any chance of qualifying for the final at Anfie

NEW YORK -- Noah Syndergaard kept it close, manager Terry Collins won a pair of replay challenges and the New York Mets threw out three runners on the bases.They just didnt do quite enough to beat the St. Louis Cardinals.The Mets remained stuck in a recent holding pattern, falling to St. Louis 3-2 Tuesday in the opener of a doubleheader. New York has alternated wins and losses for the last 11 games.I dont know how many times I got to say it, this is crunch time, Collins said. Say whatever you want, this is the time where we got to win games, string them together, win eight out of 10.Jedd Gyorko homered for the sixth time in eight games, hitting a two-run drive off Syndergaard (9-5). Rene Rivera hit a two-run homer off Carlos Martinez (10-6).The Mets played at home for the first time since the All-Star break and lost in a matchup of NL wild-card contenders. Citi Field was nearly empty at the start, a day after a rainout forced the twinbill.Syndergaard has won only one of his last five starts. The All-Star had a tough sequence in the second -- he got hit in the lower right leg by Tommy Phams one-hop single to load the bases, then made a wild, off-balance throw home on Martinezs comebacker to let a run score.Gyorko homered the next inning.I just think the Cardinals did a really good job of getting my pitch count high in the first two innings, Syndergaard said.There was some series of unfortunate events that happened in the second inning that got my pitch count elevated. And from that point Im just trying to last as long as I can out there, knowing that its a doubleheader, trying to give the bullpen a break, he said.Syndergaard struck out eight in six innings.Martinez left after the fifth inning. Three relievers finished, with Seung Hwan Oh getting his fifth save in six chances.Curtis Granderson led off the Mets ninth with a single but was thrown out trying to tag up on Yoenis Cespedes drive that Pham caught in deep center field.Gyorko was hitless in his previous 10 at-bats when he connected in the third. St. Louis has homered in 16 straight games, its best streak since a team-record 19-game string in 2006.The Cardinals opened a 10-game trip that also takes them to Miami and Cincinnati. They arrived at their New York hotel around 8:30 a.m. Monday after plane trouble, and the rainout gave them some much-needed rest.TWO TIMINGThis was the first doubleheader between the Cardinals and Mets since 1999. ... The Cardinals swept a twinbill from San Diego last Wednesday.26TH MANThe Cardinals recalled RHP Sam Tuivailala as the 26th player for the second game. Hes made three relief appearances for St. Louis this year. The Mets brought up 27-year-old lefty Josh Smoker -- hes made 43 relief appearances for Triple-A Las Vegas, and has never been in the majors.UP NEXTCardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (7-6, 3.98) pitches Game 2. He is 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA in five career starts against the Mets. Thats his lowest ERA vs. any opponent.Mets: RHP Bartolo Colon (8-5, 3.48) faces the Cardinals in the second game. He went 0-2 with a 15.58 ERA against them last year.Yordan Alvarez Jersey . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Roger Clemens Astros Jersey . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. https://www.cheapastros.com/ . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Fake Astros Jerseys . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. Cheap Astros Jerseys . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side.Australia coach Mal Meninga has rewarded his Kangaroos players with three days off following their undefeated start to the Four Nations campaign.Fresh from beating New Zealand 14-8 at Coventry, the squad departed their Birmingham base for London on Sunday ahead of next weeks clash with England at the Olympic Stadium (0100 Monday, AEDT).Several of the squad have flown out to Barcelona for a short break with other players staying in the British capital to catch up with friends and family.The squad will reassemble at a training facility near Twickenham, used by Michael Cheika and his Wallabies last week, on Wednesday to prepare for whats shaping up as potential thriller against England.Wayne Bennetts side must beat Australia to have any chance of qualifying for the final at Anfield on November 20.But their job will become even harder if New Zealand chalk up a huge winning margin against Scotland on Friday in Workington.If that were to happen it could see the hosts still go out on points differential even with a naarrow success over the Kangaroos, who must also win to lock up their place in the decider.ddddddddddddMeninga lit the touch paper for a potentially explosive encounter with a withering attack on Bennett in his recent column in the Courier Mail newspaper.However, the former Queensland mentor played down the significance of the pair locking horns and wouldnt be trapped into writing off England despite their underwhelming 38-12 win over the Scots.I thought they knew they were going to win the footy game and Scotland took it to them early, Meninga said.I think halftime was a blessing for them. Wayne would have got them off their backsides and they started to compete a bit better.Its not about me and him. Its about the teams. Hell want to have his English side very well prepared and its the same here.At the end of the day it comes down to the players and what they do on the footy field. ' ' '