New York @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Apr 17, 2010 ) NY Mets 2, St. Louis 1
The pressure is on the starting pitchers in the finale of the three-game series between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals.
Both teams exhausted their pitching staffs during Saturday’s 20-inning marathon won by New York 2-1.
The Mets used nine pitchers and the Cardinals used 10 (counting two position players) in the 6-hour, 53-minute affair. Neither team can afford a short outing by its starter tonight when the two teams strap it up again at Busch Stadium.
The matchup between the Cardinals’ Adam Wainright and the Mets’ John Maine would seem to favor St. Louis. Wainwright is one of the top pitchers in the National League while Maine has been struggling to rediscover his 2007 form, when he won 15 games for New York.
Also tilting things in Wainwright’s favor is that the Mets have been struggling offensively. New York has scored three or fewer runs in six of its 11 games.
Pricey cleanup hitter Jason Bay was supposed to be the power provider but he hasn’t paid any dividends yet. The Mets were last in the majors in homers (95) last season and Bay is fitting in the wrong way – he’s homerless with just two RBIs. Bay went 0-for-7 and struck out four times in Saturday’s marathon.
So expecting the Mets to break out tonight might be unrealistic with Wainwright on the mound for St. Louis.
Wainwright finished third in the 2009 National League Cy Young Award balloting after going 19-8 with a 2.63 ERA and he’s off to a terrific start this season.
Wainwright (2-0) allowed just two runs and nine hits in 15 innings in victories over Cincinnati and Houston. He gave up just three hits to the Reds in seven innings and he tossed eight shutout innings against the Astros.
The right-hander has struck out 13 and walked just three to go with a 1.20 ERA.
Maine nearly lost his starting role after getting hammered for eight runs in three innings against Colorado on April 13.
Maine was also roughed up by Florida in his first season of the campaign and has a 13.50 ERA.
The Mets decided to give Maine another shot but he’s been put on notice that his pitching has to improve. He has been plagued by shoulder issues over the past two seasons.
St. Louis stranded 22 runners on base in Saturday’s lengthy game and was only 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position. The one clutch hit was Yadier Molina’s two-out single in the 19th that tied the game at 1.
Molina will be one of the many tired players who show up to the ballpark today. He caught all 20 innings for the Cardinals.