St. Louis Cardinals superstar 1b Albert Pujols drove in 2 runs while starter Joel Pineiro went 8 strong innings for the victory, helping them defeat the New York Mets, 5-2 Wednesday night at Busch Stadium. The Loss is the third in a row for NY and they have been outscored 15-8 in those contests. After another rough outing by John Maine, The struggles of the rotation is a major concern right now , ”Our starting pitching has to be something we can depend on and count on,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “Right now, other than Johan [Santana], for the most part it’s been a struggle.”
Pineiro was key and went 8 strong to give the Cardinals another strong effort, the team has won 9 0f 12 and 6 in a row at home. His stat sheet over 8, 6 hits , 2 runs allowed with no Ks and 2 walks. At one point, Pineiro retired for the 13 Mets on 35 pitches. The red hot St Louis offense plated 5 runs or more for the 7th straight game.
Maine continues to have a rough start after coming back from last seasons late season arm injury.(0-2,7.47 era, 9 walks in 15 2/3 innings). He was removed with the Mets down 5-1 in the 6th. Over 5 2/3rd innings, the righty allowed 7 hits and 5 runs, while walking 5 and striking out 2. Maine tried to stay positive post game,”I know I’m a better pitcher than this,” Maine said. “I’m working hard between starts and I’m just not getting the results right now.A lot of times I’m making the pitches I want to make, I’m just a hair off.”
Offensively, The Cardinals got 2 hits apiece from RF Colby Rasmus and Pujols. LF Chris Duncan, INF Joe Thurston and 2b Skip Schumaker added rbis for St. Louis. Mets CF Carlos Beltran led the Mets with 3 hits and added an rbi. LF Daniel Murphy recovered from a rough Tuesday night with a solid at bat that produced an rbi single. 3b David Wright had a double for the Mets as well.
Star of the Game: Pineiro- Winner of 4 straight and is 8-2 at Busch Stadium. Solid, underrated veteran who knows what he is and does not try to be Nolan Ryan.
Game Notes: Maine is now 0-3 in his last 5 starts…LH Casey Fossum and RH Brian Stokes did not allowed in runs in 2 1/3rd innings… Manuel plans to switch the lineup spots of Beltan(3rd from 5th) and Wright(5th to 3rd) in an attempt to jumpstart the offense
Next Game:
Thursday,Series finale at St. Louis, 1:40 pm
Mets Livian Hernandez(1-0,4.63) vs. Cardinals Kyle Lohse(2-0,2.57)
