The Cardinlas' offense was backed by solid pitching from Tyler Lyons yesterday, but were unable to get anything going against Mets starter Jenrry Mejia. Will they allow Waino to suffer the same fate tonight?
Obligatory:
How's it look?
Lineup is out for @Cardinals 4/22 pic.twitter.com/jAHM2u4Sz6
— FOX Sports Midwest (@FSMidwest) April 22, 2014Jon Jay gets another start in centerfield tonight, despite the expansive Citi Field outfield. With a groundball pitcher, Adam Wainwright, on the mound, and facing the right-handed Dillion Gee, combined with how well Jay has been hitting (or conversely, how poorly Peter Bourjos has been hitting), this seems like a good move. Kolten Wong is back in at second base. I only hope that being in the line-up tonight won't shatter his confidence any.
Terry Collins has elected to start Omar Quintanilla at shortstop instead of yesterday's starter Ruben Tejada, who made some stellar plays. This start had been planed in advance by the Mets' Skipper.
I completely missed Matt Carpenter's at bat, which was a rare one pitch out for Marp. Allen Craig worked a six pitch at bat, but grounded out reaching for a pitch. To end the top of the first, Matt Holliday would be thrown out (barely) at second trying to stretch a single into a double.
Adam Wainwright looks to be hitting his spots, getting groundouts from Eric Young, Jr. and David Wright and a flyout from Curtis Granderson. The curveball and cutter look like vintage Wainwright. Ho, hum.
Wainwright looks like Wainwright, but you need to score to win. Hopefully the offense will be able to bounce back after being shutout last night.
***
The bats get rolling in the top of the fourth when Matt Holliday works a leadoff walk, followed by two straight singles from Matt Adams and Yadier Molina, who extended his hit streak to 13 games. As the rain begins to pick up, Jay gets a key base hit after fighting off a few pitches with an 0 - 2 count, driving in two Matts and plating two runs. Jhonny Peralta works a walk after a 0-2 count to load the bases with no outs for Kolten Wong. Wong, followed by Wainwright would ground out, each resulting in a force out at home. Jay would take out the catcher, Travis d'Arnaud, on Waino's groundout with a hard slide over the plate, which would draw a small argument from Mets manager Terry Collins, to avoid the double play. Matt Carpenter would strike out to end the threat with only two runs scored, however, Dillion Gee would pay the price, having thrown over 30 pitches to escape the jam.
Hearts would be stopped in the fifth inning when Matt Holliday would make a fantastic defensive play, possibly robbing Chris Young of a game tying homerun with Daniel Murphy on first base after a bunt single. Holliday would not only track the ball back to the wall, but would leap above it, snagging the ball before it could soar over the wall. This would turn out to be a major point in the game, and earned Holliday a hug from Wainwright. Things would get a little sticky for Wainwright after a single up the middle, but he would escape unscathed with a double play off the bat of d'Arnaud.
VEB held its collective breath in the bottom of the seventh, as Waino had a little oopsie going after a popup in the infield. Matt Adams would collect the pesky ball and run down Chris Young for the third out of the inning, but Adam would limp off the field and his day would be done.
He appears to be alright, but some VEBers are worried.
The official word is a hyper-extended right knee. He would be pulled after only 79 pitches. In his postgame interview, Matt Holliday did not seem concerned, and actually laughed a little bit about it. Matheny echos this, stating there was no apparent ligament damage and that he "didn't think they [the trainers] saw anything in their assessment that necessitated any further evaluation." Wainwright himself stated that after the initial scare, he felt fine and should be ready for his next start.
The Cardinals would tack on another run in the top of ninth when Matt Holliday lined a single into right field, scoring Daniel Descalso, who had batted for Wainwright, walked and stole second base. The 'pen would shut down the Mets, with Trevor Rosenthal again pitching around danger after issuing two walks in the bottom of the ninth. Rosie would look like his old self, striking out David Wright and getting Daniel Murphy to ground out to shortstop to end the game.
The final line:
| St. Louis Cardinals | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| New York Mets | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Source: FanGraphs
Al Hrabosky teaching moment of the game:
On Ice Cream at the ballpark:
"You didn't abuse any of those kids in the line for ice cream, Dan?"***
On working with pitchers:
"You gotta figure out which players you have to treat with kid gloves. Some pitchers you have to be their mom, dad, priest, rabbi... You have to figure out who you have to cuddle*."
*I think he meant coddle.
LIL SCOOTER'S PLAYER OF THE GAME:
Adam Wainwright receives this honor yet again, going 1-3 at the plate and pitching seven shutout innings with three strikeouts, four hits, zero walks and .384 WPA.
TWEET/GAMETHREAD COMMENT OF THE GAME:
Wainwright passes strength tests, insists he'll be good to go for next start. Not favoring knee at all after game. #stlcards#cardinals
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) April 23, 2014MBI: Holliday (1), Adams (1)
RMI: Holliday (1)
I just want to extend congratulations to Albert Pujols (not the he will see this, but you know...), who hit homerun number 499 and 500 tonight and leads the league with 8. It has been a wonderful journey, and I am happy to have been able to witness so much of it so closely.
The Cards will play game three of the series tomorrow with Michael Wacha taking on Jon Niese at 6:10pm CST. The game will be broadcast on television on Fox Sports Midwest and on radio on KMOX 1120.