Mets vs Cardinals Series Preview 5/3-5/6

Hey all – Steve here. My heart rate hasn’t quite gone back to normal after last night’s up and down battle in Philly. The Mets ended up winning the game with Familia on the mound and took 2 of 3 from the Phillies in Philly. Next up? The Cardinals. The Cardinals are coming into this series having won 4 straight and 8 of 10 overall. They are sitting at 16-12 and are a game out of the Brewers in the NL Central. Let’s take a look at the standings for each of these teams’ divisions and then move it on to preview this 4 game set.

Mets (11-11) vs Cardinals (16-12)

Game 1

Joey Lucchesi (0-1 6.75 ERA) vs Adam Wainwright (0-3, 4.08 ERA)

Adam Wainwright has yet to win a start in 2021 and is coming off the COVID IL to make the start in the series opener against the Mets. Only a couple of Mets have more than 10 AB’s and it’s Villar (18) hitting .167 and Almora Jr. (10) hitting .000. For the Cards against Lucchesi, there are two as well from his days in the NL West. Arenado has 20 AB against him hitting .350 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. The other? Goldschmidt – in 15 AB, he is hitting .467 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. This is likely to be a bullpen/opener type of game so it will indeed be interesting to see if the Mets can continue to score runs as they did in Philly.

Game 2

Jacob deGrom (2-2 0.51 ERA) vs Kwang Hyun Kim (1-0, 3.29 ERA)

deGrom is getting an extra day of rest again – the last time the Mets did that, deGrom did what he does – he struck out 15 batters in a 2-hit shutout. The problem? YES! Run support! How can it be that someone has a 0.51 ERA and is 2-2? He should be 17-0 (even though he hasn’t started 17 games). He will be opposed by Kim who has yet to pitch through 6 fill innings since he returned from the injured list. For the Mets, their entire team has just 1 AB against Kim and it’s Almora who is 0-1. Here is how some of the Cardinals have done against deGrom:

Nolan Arenado – 14 AB .071 0 HR 0 RBI

Matt Carpenter – 14 AB .214 1 HR 2 RBI

Paul DeJong – 11 AB .364 2 HR 2 RBI

Paul Goldschmidt – 0 for 6

Game 3

Marcus Stroman (3-2 1.86 ERA) vs John Gant (2-2, 2.16 ERA)

Stroman rebounded nicely from the disaster that was caused (in part by) the horrible home plate rookie umpire. His problem last time out? He tweaked his hamstring – so Mets Nation was concerned at the time (even though many Mets fans give Stroman tons of shit). Stroman takes his 1.86 ERA to the mound against John Gant. Gant can be very wild as last time out he walked 5 (matching a season-high) in just 5 innings against the Pirates – despite being so wild, Gant got the victory. The Mets lineup has between 1 and 4 AB each against the Cardinal righty with just a single RBI and that came from the bat of Pete Alonso. On the opposite end, Arenado and Goldschmidt are a combined 2 for 9 (.222) with 0 HR and 1 RBI against Stroman.

Game 4

Taijuan Walker (1-1 3.00 ERA) vs Jack Flaherty (5-0, 3.41 ERA)

Walker regained his control last time out as he walked only one in 6 innings. Before that, he had issued 12 walks in 12 innings. That’s not exactly a recipe for success. He will oppose Jack Flaherty in the 1:15 pm getaway game on Thursday afternoon. Hey, deGrom – look away for just a moment. Ok, Jack Flaherty is 5-0????? With a 3.41 ERA???? deGrom is 2-2 with a 0.51 ERA!!! Are you kidding me?? Ok – things will get better. I guess the Cardinals love all of their pitchers and give them all run support. RUN SUPPORT! None of the regulars for the Mets have faced Flaherty more than a handful of times. Conforto is 1 for 3 with 1 HR and 2 RBI. Dom also has an RBI in 3 ABs.

Predictions for the series