The New York Mets (62-62) will enter a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals (66-57) on Tuesday that will wrap up their ten-game road trip. The Mets, coming off a series split with the San Francisco Giants, are 3-4 on their current road trip and are 4.5 games behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card in the National League.
The defending NL champions, who have tried to tread water with mounting injuries and underachieving performances, have a major opportunity to cut into the Cardinals’ lead. Here’s what to expect from this series.
Series Preview
Tuesday is a direct reflection of how bad the Mets’ injury woes have gotten, which now include left-hander Steven Matz (9-8, 3.40 ERA) heading to the disabled list for a shoulder strain. Matz was already pitching with bone spurs in his elbow in the midst of a breakout season. Instead of Matz, “Fan favorite” Jon Niese (8-7, 5.32 ERA) gets the start for New York. Jaime Garcia (10-8, 4.11 ERA) gets the nod for the Cardinals, who are attempting to hold off the Miami Marlins (1.5 GB) and surging Pittsburgh Pirates (3 GB) as well.
The second game features Jacob deGrom (7-6, 2.73 ERA) for the Mets and Carlos Martinez (11-7, 3.24 ERA) for the Cardinals. Martinez is coming off his best start of 2016, an 8-2 victory against the Houston Astros last Wednesday; he was roughed up in an Aug. 7 start against the Atlanta Braves in which he gave up six earned runs in just five innings. It was Martinez’s worst start of the season, and he subsequently showed up late to Busch Stadium the following day, which violated a team rule and resulted in a fine.
Thursday features Seth Lugo (0-2, 3.40 ERA) for the Mets and Adam Wainwright (9-7, 4.71 ERA) for the Cardinals. Wainwright has had an uncharacteristically terrible season – his ERA is almost one complete run more than his career-high (3.94, 2012) since he became a full-time starting pitcher in 2007. Over Wainwright’s last three starts, he has given up 16 earned runs and is 1-2. Lugo, in his first start of the season in San Francisco last Friday, gave up three runs in 6.2 innings; in what was an eventually 8-1 loss for the Mets after the bullpen imploded, giving up five runs in the eighth inning. Lugo already has one quality start under his belt, and he’ll look to repeat that performance in the series finale.
Mets Quotes:
Kelly Johnson – “The Cardinals have dealt with some stuff themselves. They’ve had some injuries and hard luck and all that and they have battled, and always seem to do what they do. The Cardinals always seem to find a way to win games. I think that is something every team is trying to figure out, is how to be as consistent and persevere as much as they do. They definitely set a standard, them and the Giants the last few years.”
Terry Collins – “When we left spring training we liked our rotation. OK, we’ve had some dings in it, but Jake, Noah, Bart, this is the time of year they’ve got to step up and give us the innings.”
Final Thoughts
As the dog days of August are coming to a close, the Mets miraculously find themselves still within striking distance despite being at .500 and an injury-ridden mess. Patchwork lineups, which now thankfully include slugger Yoenis Cespedes hitting home runs again (three in his last two games) and spot starts have hampered the Mets’ 2016 potential.
A fortunate split against the Giants gives hope that maybe a hot (more appropriately, warm) end-of-summer run can put them in position to play in the Wild Card Game again. A series win against St. Louis – which is totally possible given the up-and-down nature of this beast this season – would go a long way to making that goal a reality.
