Tony La Russa was defiant. It was just one loss, nothing more.

The St. Louis Cardinals manager insisted his playoff-hopeful team wouldn’t be crushed after blowing a four-run cushion in the ninth inning and watching the New York Mets rally for an 8-6 win Thursday.

“Don’t make a mistake and say we’re heartbroken,” La Russa barked. “Our heart’s beating. We won the series, get ready for tomorrow.”

The loss dropped St. Louis two games behind idle Atlanta for the wild card, with each team having six games left. The Cardinals lost for only the third time in 16 games.

Shortstop Rafael Furcal misplayed a potential double-play grounder at the start of the Mets’ six-run burst, fueling the comeback with his fifth error in six games.

“I think he probably tried to hurry it,” La Russa said. “I think he’s just trying to do too much. He does a lot so it’s hard to fault him.”

Ahead 6-2, the Cardinals walked three batters in helping the Mets take the lead. Willie Harris drew a walk to begin the inning and capped it with a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs.

Harris, who played for the Braves in 2007, said Atlanta coach Terry Pendleton texted him, “Way to go.”

It was the Mets’ biggest ninth-inning comeback since they scored five to beat the Cubs 6-5 on May 17, 2007, in New York.

“When you go to work you should go to work hard,” Harris said. “I think today shows these guys in this locker room care about each other and we want to win.”

The Mets, who had lost nine of their previous 11, came back against three St. Louis relievers.

“To come back against that team, that bullpen, in the ninth inning is huge,” manager Terry Collins said.

After Harris drew a leadoff walk, Nick Evans hit a routine grounder to Furcal. But Furcal, acquired in late July to boost the Cardinals’ playoff push, fumbled the ball.

Jason Motte walked three of the five batters he faced, including pinch-hitter Justin Turner with the bases loaded. Marc Rzepczynski (0-3) allowed Jose Reyes’ RBI single.

“I felt fine going out there, the ball was just kind of moving all over the place,” Motte said. “One would sink, one would run, one would cut. I was doing everything I could, it just wasn’t going really anywhere I wanted it to go.”

Motte pitched for the third time in four games. He worked 1 1/3 innings while allowing a run to get the save in a 6-5 victory Wednesday night.

“He may be getting distracted by somebody thinking he’s the closer,” La Russa said. “He’s not the closer. He’s the closer a lot of times. He doesn’t need to be distracted by that nonsense.”

Left fielder Shane Robinson almost saved the Cardinals with a diving try, but Ruben Tejada’s drive glanced off the tip of his outstretched glove for a two-run double that made it 6-all. Fernando Salas, making his fifth appearance in seven games, gave up the hits to Tejada and Harris.

Salas said through an interpreter, fellow reliever Octavio Dotel, that fatigue was not a factor.

“Every one of those guys had a green light, they all had a green light to pitch,” La Russa said. “We’re trying to play our way into the playoffs and this is when you push.”

Albert Pujols and Allen Craig homered for the Cardinals. The game was delayed 2 hours and 19 minutes by rain before the first pitch.

Harris missed a two-run homer by inches in the fourth on a drive to right that curved just foul, waving his arms in triumph on the bases and then in disgust after the play was upheld after a video review.

Pujols reached base safely for the 38th straight game, breaking a tie with Andre Ethier for the longest streak in the league this season and leaving him one shy of matching Johnny Damon’s major league-best. His NL-leading 37th homer left him two RBIs shy of a solid slate of 11 career 100-RBI seasons.

Craig has been filling in for injured Matt Holliday, and putting up Holliday-style numbers with three homers, three doubles and seven RBIs in eight games. He hit a two-run homer off Chris Capuano in the first and he also doubled.

Pujols, who homered in the fifth, is a career .545 hitter (18 for 33) against Capuano with five homers, four doubles and 12 RBIs.

Jake Westbrook allowed a run on three hits in six innings, retiring 13 of the first 15 hitters before running into trouble in the fifth when he walked Reyes on four pitches to load the bases and Tejada on five pitches to force in a run.

Yadier Molina added an RBI double in the Cardinals’ two-run seventh, giving him a single-season best of 63 RBIs.

— Associated Press —

St. Louis Cardinals Sr. Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak announced today that the Cardinals have agreed to terms with outfielder/first baseman Lance Berkman on a one-year contract for the 2012 season.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Berkman, 35, has been a standout for the Cardinals this season, ranking among National League leaders in home runs (31), slugging pct. (.555), on-base pct. (.412) and batting average (.300), while playing a solid outfield.  Named an All-Star starter this year (his 6th selection), Berkman is batting .355 with runners in scoring position (ranking 2nd in the N.L.) and .394 during the Cardinals’ September charge.

“Lance proved to be everything we were looking for when we signed him last December,” stated Mozeliak.  “He’s an impact player who helped solidify our everyday lineup while also bringing a wealth of experience to our team.  We are excited to announce that he is going to remain a part of our team in 2012.”

The switch-hitting Berkman owns a career batting mark of .296 with 358 home runs and 1190 RBI in 1,767 games.  His career .409 on-base percentage is ranked 4th among active players and his .546 slugging mark is ranked 10th.    Berkman has placed among the N.L. top-10 in on-base pct. eight times and has finished among the league’s top-10 in batting on four occasions.  Berkman’s 358 career homers are 4th all-time among switch-hitters.

The six-time All-Star (2001-02, 2004, 2006, 2008 & 2011) holds the National League record for single-season RBI by a switch-hitter with 136 in 2006.  He’s had six seasons with 100 or more RBI and belted 25 or more home runs nine times, including a career best 45 in 2006.  His 31 home runs this season are just four shy of Rip Collins’ single-season (1934) club record of 35 by a switch-hitter.

The Cardinals announced a two-year contract extension thru 2013 for starting pitcher Chris Carpenter last week.

— Cardinals Public Relations —

David Freese and the St. Louis Cardinals are really enjoying the final stretch.

Freese drove in five runs with a go-ahead three-run homer and a triple, and the surging St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Mets 6-5 Wednesday night for their 12th win in 14 games.

With the win, the Cardinals moved within 1½ games of Atlanta in the National League wild-card race. St. Louis, a season-high 17 games over .500 (86-69), has seven games left and will go for a sweep of the Mets on Thursday.

“The real fun in this game is to play meaningful games this time of year and you have the most fun playing in October,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “The guys are having a lot of fun because we played ourselves back into this. You can feel it.”

Freese certainly enjoyed watching his homer, which gave the Cardinals a 6-4 advantage in the seventh.

“That was a good feeling,” Freese said. “Obviously, the biggest hit of my career and getting that win is huge.”

The Mets fell to 73-82, ensuring the third straight losing season for the big-spending ballclub that has been plagued by injuries and off-field financial woes this year.

Jaime Garcia (13-7), making his 30th start, pitched around four unearned runs in 7 2/3 innings. He gave up six hits and struck out five.

“What Jaime did, not getting frustrated and keeping us in the game, was classic,” La Russa said.

Jason Motte got four outs for his eighth save in 12 opportunities but allowed a solo home run to Willie Harris in the ninth.

Pujols went 2-for-4 with two runs scored to extend his hitting streak to six games and up his average to .305. Pujols has now reached base safely in 37 straight games. He is hitting .500 during his six-game streak (13-for-26).

Allen Craig drove in the Cardinals’ other run with an RBI single.

New York manager Terry Collins said the Cardinals might be a tough out if they can make the playoffs.

“They got a good team,” Collins said. “The lineup’s tough. I know Edwin Jackson will help them pitching-wise. He’s a good pitcher. They got a lot of weapons. Coming off the bench they got speed and defense.”

Mets shortstop Jose Reyes went 1-for-4, dropping his average to .330 and tying him with Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun for the National League batting lead.

The Mets led 4-3 after six and the Cardinals were going quietly in the seventh when Pujols singled to center off reliever Miguel Batista with two outs.

Collins brought in lefty Daniel Herrera (0-1) to make Lance Berkman bat right-handed, but Berkman foiled the strategy by singling to left.

Collins then went to righty Pedro Beato and Freese tagged him for a 389-foot, opposite-field homer to right to give the Cardinals a 6-4 advantage. The homer was the 10th for Freese, who has 54 RBIs.

“I tried to go fastball low and away,” Beato said. “I was behind in the count and trying not to walk him in that situation. I left the pitch right out over the middle of the plate and he took a good swing at it.”

With a 3-0 lead, Garcia struck out the first two batters to begin the third. But Mets starter Chris Schwinden kept the inning alive with a single to right and Reyes followed with a double down the left-field line. Both scored when Angel Pagan’s grounder went under shortstop Rafael Furcal’s glove for an error to make it 3-2.

David Wright followed Pagan with an infield single in the hole to shortstop. Pinch hitter Josh Satin then gave the Mets a 4-3 advantage with a double to the gap in left-center.

Schwinden retired the first two batters he faced to begin the game, but then gave up a double to right to Pujols. He then intentionally walked Berkman, and Freese made him pay for that with a triple down the right-field that scored Pujols and Berkman.

The Cardinals loaded the bases in the second with one out on an infield single by Yadier Molina, a double by Skip Schumaker and a hit-by-pitch to Furcal. Craig singled to center to make it 3-0, but Schwinden got Pujols to pop out to first and Berkman to fly to left to end the threat.

— Associated Press —

The celebration in the St. Louis clubhouse showed just how excited the surging Cardinals are to be in the thick of the playoff chase.

Kyle Lohse outpitched Roy Halladay, and St. Louis held off the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Monday night to gain ground on Atlanta in the NL wild-card race.

Lance Berkman homered and had an RBI single for the Cardinals, who moved within 2½ games of the wild card-leading Braves.

Moments after Octavio Dotel closed out the Cardinals’ victory, Atlanta lost 6-5 at Florida on Omar Infante’s two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cardinals, who were watching the game on television, burst into loud cheers that reverberated around the clubhouse.

“To win our game we’re already pretty happy, and to see that, that was big,” Lohse said.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who was tuned to the Rams-Giants NFL game in his office, smiled when he heard the news.

“This is what the pennant race is all about,” La Russa said. “This is what you try to sell in spring training. This is the fun of it. It’s part of the fun of being in contention in September.”

St. Louis, which took three of four in the series, has won 10 of 12 overall.

Despite the loss, the NL East champion Phillies clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason when Milwaukee lost to the Chicago Cubs 5-2.

Lohse (14-8) tossed 7 1/3 strong innings, allowing an unearned run and seven hits while striking out five and walking one.

“I thought Lohse was outstanding,” La Russa said. “You just can’t give him enough credit. We had our best defensive team out there and we kicked it around. He picked everybody up all day.”

The Cardinals, who made a pair of errors, have nine games remaining and return to St. Louis for a six-game homestand that begins Tuesday against the Mets.

Atlanta has eight games left, including the final three against the Phillies in Atlanta.

“We’ve had our backs up against the wall for a long time now,” Lohse said. “Every series has been tough. We knew coming in here was going to be really tough. To take three out of four was huge. We’ve just got to keep it going.”

The Phillies scored a pair of runs in the ninth off reliever Jason Motte. Carlos Ruiz doubled with one out and scored on Jimmy Rollins’ triple. Rollins scored on Shane Victorino’s groundout.

Arthur Rhodes relieved Motte and gave up a two-out single to Chase Utley. Dotel followed and retired Hunter Pence to earn his second save with the Cardinals. He also had one for Toronto this year.

The Phillies lost their second straight since clinching their fifth consecutive NL East title on Saturday. Philadelphia played most of its regulars, with only Ryan Howard getting the day off after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection in his left ankle. Howard is expected to miss a couple of days.

The Phillies (98-54) remained four victories shy of setting a franchise record for wins in a season.

“We came out a little flat, but that’s not going to last,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We’ll be ready.”

Phillies hitters have been in a bit of a lull lately. Philadelphia has scored three runs or fewer in 10 of its last 11 games, averaging 2.5 runs while going 5-6.

“I’m looking for our offense to pick up,” Manuel said. “We’ve got to start scoring some runs before we go into the playoffs.”

Halladay (18-6) had won seven straight September decisions and was 9-0 with a 1.97 ERA in his last 10 September starts dating to 2009. But he failed in his bid for his 19th victory and 40th over the last two seasons, which would’ve marked the first time a Philadelphia pitcher accomplished that since Steve Carlton won 42 games combined in 1979-80.

Halladay tossed eight innings and allowed four runs on six hits with six strikeouts and a season-high four walks (two intentional).

“Hopefully we’ll get things going and finish on the right foot,” Halladay said. “We’ve won all year and there’s no doubt we’ll continue that. There’s no cause for concern. Naturally there’s a little lull after you clinch.”

Berkman’s solo homer and Nick Punto’s RBI groundout in the first helped the Cardinals take a 2-0 lead. It was Berkman’s 31st homer, but first since Aug. 26.

The Phillies got a run back in the second on Ruiz’s single.

St. Louis regained a two-run lead in the third when Lohse, after hitting his second double of the season to lead off the inning, scored on Berkman’s two-out single.

Philadelphia had a chance for a big inning in the bottom half, loading the bases with one out on a pair of singles and an error, but Lohse struck out Raul Ibanez and Placido Polanco to end the threat.

Albert Pujols’ two-out double to left in the seventh drove in Punto and gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. The slugger, who had been 1 for 10 against Halladay, has reached safely in 35 straight games.

Philadelphia lost a four-game series for the first time this season after winning its previous eight. The Phillies have scored three runs or fewer in 10 of their last 11 games, averaging 2.5 runs while going 5-6.

Rafael Furcal went 3 for 4 with two doubles for St. Louis.

— Associated Press —