The Cardinals Are Coming! The Cardinals Are Coming!

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism; the way you play it is free will." -- Jawaharlal Nehru

Fresh off taking three of four from the NL West front-running Dodgers, the St Louis Cardinals make a visit to Shea Stadium for a three game series.

What we should know about the Cardinals in anticipation:

At least two former Mets, neither doing particularly well this season, are on the Cardinals roster: Roger Cedeno and Bill Pulsipher.

Scott Rolen was recently placed on the DL after running into Choi Hee-seop, who if I recall correctly, was run over by Kerry Wood once when Clemens was pitching in Wrigley for the Yankees a few years back. In any case, Rolen won't be playing against us which is a pity since he was only hitting around .200 the last week before he was injured. In his place is a probable platoon between Scott Seabol, (who was called up from AAA Memphis where he was hitting .325 with 8 homers and 24 RBIs) and John Mabry.

Also missing will be Cardinal closer Jason Isringhausen, another former Met, who is still on the DL.

The Cardinals bullpen has a collective 4.67 ERA as of yesterday compared to the Mets bullpen collective ERA of 4.07. The Cardinal closers (Izzy and his replacements) have saved 14 of 17 chances. The Mets have saved only 9 out of 13 chances.

Cardinal starters have a combined 19-7 record with a 3.38 ERA.
Met starters have a combined 11-14 record with a 4.67 ERA.

The Cards are hitting .276 with an OBA of .349 and a .453 slugging percentage. They have scored 175 runs in 33 games and have 11 stolen bases. They have walked 118 times and struck out 160 times.

The Mets are hitting .257 with an OBA of .331 and a .416 slugging percentage. They have scored 162 runs in 35 games and have 19 stolen bases. They have walked 124 times and struck out a whopping 253 times.

The Cardinals are hitting .293 with runners in scoring postion, 4th in the Major Leagues. The Mets are hitting .233 with runners in scoring position, 24th in the league.

We know all about Albert Pujols but did we know that he is hitting .375 on the road this season with 3 homers and 8 RBIs in 13 road games?

Jason Marquis, the first starter to face the Mets, has a 2-0 record in 3 road starts and a 1.23 ERA.

The Cards are pretty formidable starters on the road. Mark Mulder is 3-0 in 3 starts with a 1.64 ERA and Morris is 1-0 in 2 starts with a 1.50 ERA.

Who's Hot Last Seven Games:

Reggie Sanders .421/.500/1.105, 4 homers, 7 RBIs
Larry Walker .455/.520/.864 - 2 homers, 6 RBIs
Mark Grudzielanek (try that on for size yea who love typing Mientkiewicz over and over) - .393/.452/.679, 11 hits and 5 runs.
David Eckstein .481/.548/.556, 13 hits and 6 runs
Albert Pujols 3 homers, 9 RBIs

Geez, that's only 5 out of the 8 hitters in the lineup...somebody hose these boys down.

Who's Not Last Seven Games:

Cliff Floyd hitting .091
Kaz Matsui hitting .120
Jose Reyes hitting .133
David Wright hitting .190

Geez, four out of eight hitters in a tailspin. Can this series seem any more unbalanced? Is the home versus road hitting factor at work?

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In Game One Staten Islander Jason Marquis (5-1 3.26 ERA) versus Tom Glavine (unmentionable season stats). Glavine hasn't beaten the Cardinals since 2002. Hmmm. Sounds like another delicious blowout. Keep your eyes closed during this one kiddies.

Game Two will feature a great showdown between Mark Mulder (5-1 2.70) against Pedro (4-1 3.06). One of the novelties of having a legitimate ace is all the great pitching matchups over the course of the season. Christ how I've missed that with the Mets!

Game Three will feature the infamous "To be announced" taking the mound against Aaron Heilman (3-2 4.08) During Heilman's career he has a 4.54 ERA at home and a 7.09 ERA away from Shea. So better we use him here.

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In other news, KooKooKachoog is on the ropes. Face lefties, walk lefties. A quick and simple story. Meanwhile, in AAA, The Bullpen Is Beautiful...really, how long before we can call up some lefty relief help?

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