Cardinals-Mets Series Preview
May 16, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter (13) receives the throw before tagging out New York Mets left fielder Lucas Duda (21) for a double play at Busch Stadium. The Mets defeated the Cardinals 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
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The St. Louis Cardinals will continue their 9 game road trip tonight in Flushing, New York to face off against the New York Mets. Today we will breakdown the series to see who has the advantage coming into the series.
Probable Starting Pitchers (Cardinals pitcher listed first):
Tuesday: Michael Wacha (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Jeremy Hefner (1-5, 4.36 ERA)
Wednesday: Shelby Miller (7-3, 1.91 ERA) vs. Dillon Gee (4-6, 5.20 ERA)
Thursday: Adam Wainwright (9-3, 2.34 ERA) vs. Matt Harvey (5-0, 2.10 ERA).
What to watch for?
Complacency
To win the season series against the Mets, all the Cardinals have to do is win a game in this series. The Cardinals are playing the next 10 games against teams that are below .500 before they welcome back the Texas Rangers to Busch Stadium. This is an important stretch to take advantage of playing weaker teams to build toward the postseason. It would be important for the Cardinals to take advantage of playing weaker team and to not be complacent and take these teams for granted.
Pitching matchups
You would think the Cardinals would have the advantage in all 3 starting pitching matchups. That’s not the case in this series. While Shelby Miller’s matchup on Wednesday looks to favor the Cardinals, tonight’s matchup is a tossup. On Wednesday, Wainwright will go against Matt Harvey who hasn’t lost a game this season. Wainwright’s last loss came against the Mets in May when he gave up 3 earned runs in 6 innings. Citi Field is a pitcher friendly ballpark so it’s important for the Cardinals to get great pitching in this series.
Prediction
I think the Cardinals win tonight and tomorrow night but lose the Wednesday matchup against Matt Harvey.