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NEW YORK -- With a 360-foot relay in the ninth inning, the New York Mets prevented a hard-fought victory from vanishing in the wind. Lucas Duda hit a long home run and New York threw out the potential tying run at the plate to hold off the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Wednesday on a blustery night at Citi Field. Jonathon Niese earned his first win of the season, and shortstop Ruben Tejada cut down Matt Carpenter for the second out of the ninth on a strong relay from centre fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis. "My hearts still racing," Mets catcher Travis dArnaud said. "A 180-spin throw like that -- a perfect throw. I still cant believe I witnessed that." St. Louis manager Mike Matheny challenged the call by plate umpire Marty Foster, which was confirmed following a replay review of 1 minute, 20 seconds that showed dArnaud nicked Carpenter with a sweep tag behind his armpit. "I didnt feel the tag and I initially thought that I was safe," Carpenter said. "But I got a chance to look at it and it was a good call." With a runner on second, Kyle Farnsworth sealed it by retiring Matt Holliday on a tricky fly to right. Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha (2-2) set career highs with 10 strikeouts and five walks in the shortest of his 14 regular-season starts in the majors. A bizarre outing if ever there was one -- but it was that sort of night. Curtis Granderson snapped his career-worst hitless skid at 22 at-bats with a first-inning single, and the Mets got 6 2-3 effective innings from Niese (1-2) with wind gusting up to 41 mph on a 51-degree night. "Kind of throwing cue balls out there," Niese said. "It kind of felt like I was throwing with an ice pack on. Its tough to keep warm." Carlos Torres and Scott Rice escaped an eighth-inning jam before Farnsworth worked the ninth for his second save. He gave up consecutive singles and an RBI double to pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso that one-hopped the wall in left-centre, but New Yorks defence saved Farnsworth. "Two great throws," Carpenter said. "Thats a tough play thats not made a whole lot, especially with the game on the line." Carpenter had four hits and Yadier Molina added three for the Cardinals, but Jhonny Peraltas hitless streak reached 21 at-bats. Peralta popped out with runners at second and third in the eighth before pinch-hitter Matt Adams flied out to end the inning. Niese improved to 4-1 with a 1.87 ERA in six career starts against St. Louis. "I dont know what it is with Jon and cold weather, but he gets the call," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He pitched absolutely great tonight in the conditions." The game began in a 31 mph wind at a mostly empty stadium. Workers hustled between innings to clean up all the flying napkins and hot dog wrappers that littered the outfield -- even bundled-up second base umpire Rob Drake helped out during a stoppage in play. "It was terrible. The worst. Not fun," Carpenter said. High popups and flyballs were an adventure. Tejada dropped one after retreating into the outfield, then scampering back to the infield. New York still got an easy forceout on the play. Wachas red cap blew right off his head as he was waiting for a new ball and rolled, like tumbleweed, to second baseman Mark Ellis. Duda homered against Seth Maness leading off the sixth, a laser beam of a line drive that cut under the wind and nearly reached the Shea Bridge walkway above the bullpens in right-centre. It was the first home run for the Mets in their past seven home games, ending their longest such drought since May 2012. Early on, it appeared the 22-year-old Wacha was headed to a record-setting performance. Last years NL championship series MVP overpowered the Mets with nine strikeouts in the first three innings but soon lost his control. He walked three in the fourth, including No. 8 batter Tejada and Nieuwenhuis with the bases loaded, forcing in two runs. Wacha was pulled for a pinch hitter in the fifth after throwing 93 pitches. Coming in, he had issued only three free passes in 26 innings this season. The Mets said Wacha joined Smoky Joe Wood (1909), Felix Hernandez (2013) and Danny Salazar (2014) as the only pitchers since 1900 to have at least 10 strikeouts in an outing that lasted no more than four innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Molina doubled home a run with two outs in the first, extending his hitting streak to 14 games, after Tejada and the Mets botched a rundown that should have resulted in an inning-ending double play. NOTES: Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright (knee) expects to make his next scheduled start Sunday against Pittsburgh, Matheny said. ... Mets leadoff hitter Eric Young Jr. was rested. Air Max 97 Sale Uk . -- Jimmie Johnson has a sixth NASCAR championship in hand and two legends within reach. Air Max 97 Cheap Uk . It was the start of one nice night for the goalie and the Minnesota Wild. Backstrom made 33 saves in his first win of the season and the Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Saturday in a rematch of their first-round playoff series. http://www.airmax97discountuk.com/ . "That was a great lift for the staff," Padres manager Bud Black said. Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal homered, and Chase Headley drove in three runs, as the Padres beat the Chicago Cubs 11-1 on Friday night. Air Max 97 Cheap Sale . Gaborik was acquired in a trade with Columbus on Wednesday and skated on the top line with centre Anze Kopitar and right-winger Justin Williams. "We created some things," said Gaborik, who logged 16:38 of ice time. Air Max 97 For Sale Cheap .C. -- After turning Tobacco Road into "Raleigh Top," Tennessee is headed to the round of 16.Every football coach will tell you that in order to make a difference in the game, you have to take full advantage of your opportunities. Now, on the field that could mean scoring after your defense creates a turnover or moving the football offensively when you have the wind at your back. On Thursday, the CFL Board of Governors will have their opportunity to make a difference when they vote on the proposal to make pass interference a reviewable call. A "yes" vote means that for the first time since video review was implemented, the system will be used on a judgment call by the refs. Coaches will not get extra challenges but if the rule change is passed, they will be able to challenge a called pass interference or challenge a missed called PI. Critics call it a drastic shift in philosophy which turns the on-field refs into robots, while proponents call it a small expansion of the current video review system that will help the on-field officials make the toughest and most controversial call in the game. The rules committee, which is made up of football people, passed the rule change proposal over a month ago but while it was a strong majority, it wasnt a unanimous "yes" vote. Sources contacted on Tuesday were divided on whether or not the fact that it wasnt unanimous will influence the Governors. While they couldnt come up with actual numbers, one source felt that rule change proposals that did not get a unanimous vote from the rules committee were almost always voted down by the Governors. A separate source didnt think that the fact that it wasnt a unanimous vote would make any difference at all to the Board. One thing both sources agreed on was that this is one of the most important rule change votes in recent memory and if passed, will be a rule change that will be watched closely by the National Football League. The NFL rules committee decided to put a much more drastic proposal to a vote this year when they tabled the idea of giving coaches the chance to challenge all personal foul penalties. That is a drastic change in philosophy with regards to video replay and it was, not surprisingly, voted down. However, if the CFL Governors vote "yes" to this PI rule change, you ccan bet the NFL will be paying close attention.dddddddddddd In fact, a source close to the process said that there are many coaches in the NFL that are pushing for a chance to review pass interference, so if it is voted in by the CFL board and runs smoothly in year one, then it is safe to say it wont be long before the NFL tables the idea again. There is also a sense of urgency with this decision in that, when a rule change proposal gets defeated by the Governors it typically cant be reintroduced for two years. Which means, if you are a fan that gets frustrated with the inconsistency of the PI call, you are going to get two more years of a whole lot of the same. The CFL head office was contacted Tuesday and refused to comment, but football fans should not read into that. With the current CBA negotiations on going, the "no comment" response may becoming automatic. There has been interesting debate on this topic, however, the question football fans have to ask is; what is the downside and the upside of a "yes" vote? Without debating all aspects of this rule change proposal again, it is still tough to find a real downside. Even if this change is a one year experiment and the league finds out that it has created more questions than answers when it comes to pass interference, nothing is really lost. If it doesnt work, it was at least attempted, all teams in 2014 will have played by the same rules, and the idea is dropped in 2015. However, if it works; if it does help refs get the game changing penalty right more often and if it does improve the game, then the CFL will be looked upon as innovators. On May 13, a new crop of young football players will be drafted into the league and will be looking to take full advantage of their opportunity to play the game they love for a living. On the field, a defensive back can make a difference with an interception if he takes advantage of an opportunity when the quarterback throws and errant pass. On Thursday, an opportunity will present itself to the Board of Governors. If they vote "yes," they have a chance to make a difference. If they vote "no," it will be two more frustrating years and an opportunity lost. ' ' '