Kevin Kernan

Kevin Kernan

MLB

Mattingly’s questionable moves doom Dodgers

ST. LOUIS — Donnie Baseball may never get to the World Series and in this difficult loss he had only himself to blame.

If Don Mattingly doesn’t get to the Fall Classic this October he will look back at the decisions he made Friday night/Saturday morning at Busch Stadium that cost the Dodgers Game 1 of the NLCS.

The Cardinals won in the 13th inning when pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso singled with one out and the score tied, 2-2. Chris Withrow then walked Matt Carpenter. Mattingly switched to closer Kenley Jansen. Carlos Beltran, a one-man wrecking crew, lined a single to right to give the Cardinals the 3-2 victory, ending the four-hour, 47-minute classic.

Beltran drove in all three runs for the Cardinals and also threw out a runner at the plate.

As great a night as it was for Beltran, it was a dreadful night for Mattingly, who decided to pinch-run for his cleanup hitter Adrian Gonzalez in the eighth after a leadoff walk, with Dee Gordon, That move came back to haunt him twice as Michael Young, who replaced Gonzalez in the batting order, later failed in key situations.

Twice Hanley Ramirez was intentionally walked to get to Young, so that one move took the bat out of Ramirez’s hands.

Mattingly strongly defended his decision to lift Gonzalez for a pinch-runner.

“It’s one of those that you got to shoot your bullet when you get a chance,” he said. “If you don’t use him there and the next guy hits the ball in the gap and we don’t score there then you’re going to say why didn’t we use Dee?’’

The Dodgers were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position but one of their best hitters was out of the game.

The Cardinals had their big gun in Beltran. The switch-hitting Beltran wanted to be a Yankee when he signed that massive contract with the Mets. The Yankees didn’t want him then, but considering their present woes, the Bombers should want the free agent after this postseason.

Beltran is finishing up a two-year contract with the Cardinals for $26 million, and the Yankees, despite any self-imposed financial constraint, certainly can afford to give Beltran another two-year deal.

Beltran knocked in the Cardinals first two runs in the third and also made a gorgeous one-hop throw to home to keep the Dodgers from taking the lead in the 10th.

Young came to the plate in the 10th inning with Mark Ellis on third and one out with the score tied 2-2. Ellis had tripled to right center. Young hit a short fly to right-center. Beltran has the much better arm so center fielder Jon Jay gave way.

Beltran made a perfect one-hop throw to Yadier Molina, who stood his ground and tagged out Ellis for the double play to end the inning. After the tag, Molina stayed on his knees and pumped his fist in excitement.

The throw clearly beat Ellis and Ellis’ lead arm was tagged by the web of the catcher’s mitt. Though there was some griping in the Twitter world, home plate umpire Gerry Davis made the right call. No one from the Dodgers argued.

“That’s one of those that’s hard to even argue that he didn’t tag him,’’ Mattingly said.

It would have been nice for Mattingly to have Gordon to pinch-run in that 10th-inning spot, too, but it was one of those nights for the Dodgers’ manager.

In the 12th, Young came to the plate with one out and runners on first and second and promptly hit into an inning-ending double play.

Mattingly defended the Gordon move.

“That’s what we really brought Dee on the club for because he gives you a chance every night to steal a bag and win a game,” he said. “We’re trying to win a game. We can look back on every decision. If it doesn’t work, you can decide to go the other way. But we’re trying to win a game tonight and that’s why we used Dee.’’

The move backfired.