St. Louis @ New York preview
Citi Field
Last Meeting ( Mar 27, 2011 ) NY Mets 1, St. Louis 3
THE STORY: The major league batting leader, All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes, is scheduled to return to the lineup Tuesday when the struggling Mets welcome the Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series. Reyes, out since July 3 with a strained left hamstring, is batting .354 with an MLB-best 15 triples. St. Louis, in the thick of the crazy NL Central race, dropped two of three in Cincinnati over the weekend to start its nine-game trip. These teams haven’t met this season. They’ll play six times, with New York visiting Busch Stadium in September.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, SNY, FS-M
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Kyle Lohse (8-6, 3.32 ERA) vs. Mets RH Dillon Gee (8-3, 3.76 ERA).
Gee, who has never faced the Cardinals, is holding opponents to a .222 average. But lately he’s been eminently hittable, giving up 16 earned runs over his last 22 2/3 innings. He has dropped three of his last four decisions. Lohse has been roughed up for four or more earned runs in five of his last eight outings, including giving up seven to Arizona in a 7-6 loss right before the All-Star break. In eight career starts against New York, Lohse is 2-3 with a 5.85 ERA. Carlos Beltran is 20-for-37 (.541) with four homers, 12 RBIs and nine walks against Lohse.
ABOUT THE METS (47-48): Infielder Daniel Murphy went 0-for-4 in Monday's 4-1 loss to Florida, but he had been sizzling in the 20 games before that, batting .410 with 10 doubles and 16 RBIs. The Mets have lost five of six to dip below .500. In Reyes' one-game minor league rehab assignment, he went 1-for-3 with a double and a run, then pronounced himself ready to return to a desparate Mets offense.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS (50-45): St. Louis is coming off a frustrating series in Cincinnati in which it lost two of three despite the starters allowing four earned runs over 20 innings. In Sunday’s rubber game, the top three spots in the lineup combined to go 0-for-12. Right fielder Lance Berkman, who leads the NL with 25 homers, has hit 19 of those on the road, including a 438-foot blast Sunday.
FINAL PITCH: Pujols is the third player in MLB history to hit at least 20 homers in his first 11 seasons. The others were Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Eddie Mathews.