It was understandable to expect a slight hangover. After all, the Mets played the Yankees into the early Monday morning hours in a four hour plus thriller won by the Mets to take the Subway Series. Both teams had to get right back on the horse and play, the Yankees with an afternoon make-up game against the Minnesota Twins, and the Mets against the St. Louis Cardinals at night.

The Yankees slept walked through the first part of their game falling behind 5-0 before coming back to win in extras, 6-5. Of course they were playing their personal doormats in the Twins, but credit still goes to the Yanks. The Mets also fell behind early in their game, and although they has their chances, fell to the Red Birds 7-0 to fall two games behind their mid-west foes in the wild card race. With the Atlanta Braves idle on Monday, the Mets fell five and a half games behind them in the NL East.

The Mets faced a battery that has haunted them before with Adam Wainwright the starting pitcher and Yadier Molina the catcher. Both had a hand in the Cardinals’ victory on Monday. With the victory, Wainwright has a lifetime mark of 7-6 against the Mets. And of course who can forget the 2006 NLCS? Molina has a .309 lifetime batting average against New York with some clutch hits that Mets fans still have nightmares over.

The Mets countered with 41 year-old Rich Hill on the mound. He worked five innings and allowed three runs on six hits. He now carries a 3.88 ERA. Heath Hembree and Miguel Castro each pitched a scoreless inning. The game imploded in the ninth as the Cards scored four off of Yennsy Diaz to put the game out of reach. Seven consecutive Cardinals reached base in the ninth. The Birds laced 15 hits in the game. The Mets were shut out for the 12th time this year, the eighth at home. They were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The scoring started in the top of the second as Molina and Dylan Carlson roped back-to-back doubles to give the Cards a 1-0 lead. Paul Goldschmidt then got the next two RBIs as a single in the third and his 25th homer of the year in the fifth gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead.

It stayed that way until the merry-go-round of baserunners in the ninth for the Cardinals who tacked on four runs to make the game a laugher. Tyler O’Neill, Nolan Arenado, Edmundo Sosa and Harrison Bader (who had a three hit game) each drove in a run in the final frame. Arenado has 97 RBIs on the season.

Wainwright for his part went six innings allowing no runs and only four hits. His ERA is now 2.88 and has a 1.70 ERA since the All-Star break. He is now 16-7 on the year as he makes a late season push for the Cy Young.

The two teams will get together Tuesday night for game two of this three game set. The Mets need to bounce back with Marcus Stroman (9-12, 2.87 ERA) on the mound to get this series tied. Jake Woodford (2-3, 4.28 ERA) goes for the Red Birds.

Player of the Game

Hard to choose one on the offensive side has the Mets had just six hits from six different players. Let’s give the middle relievers some recognition for keeping the Mets in the game until the fateful ninth inning. Heath Hembree and Miguel Castro who pitched well in this game will be the player(s) of the game.