Starting Lineup
- Jordany Valdespin – RF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Lucas Duda – LF
- John Buck – C
- Rick Ankiel – CF
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Jonathon Niese – LHP
Game Notes
The Mets (14-23) now have a season-high six-game losing streak for the second time in 2013. They have lost 14 of 18 to drop nine games under .500 this early in a season for the first time since May 13, 2001, under Bobby Valentine (also 14-23).
Terry Collins is frustrated, but remains hopeful. “It’s no secret. I mean, I don’t have a lot to say. We beat this horse to death here all week. Outside of a few innings, we’ve been in every game in the last week. We just can’t finish them. We cannot get a big hit. We cannot get a big out. We cannot make a big play when we need to. It’s a combination of things that has just happened. And that’s what happens when you’re going bad. And we’re going bad. And we’re going to get out of it.”
Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy has eight hits in his last 13 at-bats, quickly putting behind him a dreadful 0-for-17 slump. “It’s tough to explain,” Murphy said. “Once you start feeling good and then you have some success for it, it just lends to more peace and less anxiety.” Murphy is hitting .280 on the year, with two homers and 16 RBIs. He is batting .358 on the road this season, the fourth- best mark in the National League.
Game Preview
The Mets and Cardinals play the final game of the series this afternoon where the Mets try to avoid losing 7 games in a row, a 4 game sweep and try to break out of this terrible offense funk. Last night Marcum wasn’t bad. He allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.2 innings but the only run support the Mets had came from a 2 run homer by Ankiel. Besides that the Mets were completely flat again. Niese will try to play stopper as he goes up against Wainwright.
Jon Niese is 2-4 over 8 games this season with a 5.93 ERA over 41.0 innings of work. His last two starts have been some of the worse in his career as he allowed 7 ER over 4.1 innings and followed that by 4.0 innings 8 ER in his last outing. Last year he had one start against the Cardinals and it was quite good as he pitched 6.0 innings of shutout ball striking out 10 batters. The Cards have the following numbers against Jon:
Wigginton 4-10, 2 2B
Holliday 2-10
Molina 2-8
Jon Jay 3-7, 2B
Freese 0-6
Beltran 1-3
The Mets will finish off this series against one of the figures of lore in Mets nemesis history: Adam Wainwright. Wainwright is 5-2 this season over 8 games with a 2.30 ERA while pitching 58.2 innings and a Major League leading 2 complete game shutouts, including his last outing. That last stunning performance was the follow up to a weak 5.1 innings, 5 ER outing. Last season he was not effective against the Mets going 0-2 in as many games allowing 12 ER over 11.1 innings the Mets have the following numbers against Adam:
Wright 1-9, 2B
Byrd 3-11, 2B
Buck 1-8, HR
Davis 2-7, HR
Baxter 2-6
Duda 2-4, 2B, HR
Murphy 3-6, 3B
Let’s Go Mets!
