IGT 07/18 - STL at NYM

[Guest d'Kong76]

St. Louis at NY Mets
When: 7:10 PM ET, Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
By Gracenote

The St. Louis Cardinals are attempting to climb back into the National League Central race at the expense of the New York Mets. Winners of four of their last six contests, the visiting Cardinals vie for their fourth straight victory over the Mets on Tuesday when they play the second outing of a four-game series at Citi Field.

Tommy Pham belted a three-run homer to highlight a six-run sixth inning in Monday's 6-3 series-opening win to improve to 11-for-21 with two homers, six RBIs and six runs scored in his last six games. The 29-year-old is 6-for-10 with two homers and five RBIs and four runs scored versus the Mets this season. New York's Lucas Duda pushed his hitting streak to four games with his second homer in as many days, providing a spark after a disastrous 0-for-9 effort in the teams' previous series at Busch Stadium. Jose Reyes has recorded three multi-hit performances versus St. Louis this season and six in his last nine games overall.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), SNY (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (6-3, 4.10 ERA) vs. Mets RH Rafael Montero (1-5, 5.77)

Wacha won his third straight start on July 6 after allowing two runs on six hits while striking out a season high-tying nine in 5 2/3 innings of a 4-3 victory over Miami. The 26-year-old has permitted three runs on 15 hits with 23 strikeouts during his winning streak (3-0, 1.53 ERA), and has kept the ball in the park in four straight starts. Jay Bruce carries an eight-game hitting streak into a tilt with Wacha, against whom he is 1-for-24 with 11 strikeouts.

Montero is slated to make his fifth start of the season on Tuesday after surrendering one run in two-thirds of an inning of relief against St. Louis in his last outing. The 26-year-old Dominican has struggled mightily with his control, issuing 5 1/2 walks per nine innings. Montero has limited experience versus the Cardinals, although Dexter Fowler is 2-for-4 while Paul DeJong had an RBI double in his lone encounter.

WALK-OFFS:
1. DeJong has launched four homers in as many games this season versus New York.
2. Mets LF Yoenis Cespedes is 1-for-17 in four games versus the Cardinals in 2017.
3. St. Louis 1B Matt Carpenter is 10-for-26 during his seven-game hitting streak and has reached base in 20 consecutive contests.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Tuesday Night Lunch Club meets up in the cheap seats tonight.

[ashie62]

The Mets trade audition tonight is Addison Reed.

[Guest d'Kong76]

[tweet:6otijt27]

[/tweet:6otijt27]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I told Terry to flip Doodoo and Ces. Does he listen to me? No.

[Frayed Knot]

Plays. Not. Made.

[Frayed Knot]

Plays. Not. Made. x4

[Frayed Knot]

Hey Matheny, if Molina's "baseball IQ" is so high why do you insist on calling every move from the bench?

[Edgy MD]

Early holes every night.

Only winners can run from behind.

[Edgy MD]

And as I've tried to say over the last few days, Rivera isn't giving us any strides in the modest goal of improving on Flores' glove.

[ashie62]

In Vegas this game was virtually a pick'em.

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket's brother posting on Facebook from CitiField:

Chris Christie just caught a foul ball and was mercilessly booed.

So, I tuned in to Lunchie's Twitter feed:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Springer66/status/887463093734866948[/tweet]

[ashie62]

Is that body shaming?

[Edgy MD]

[tweet:i3jr97co]

[/tweet:i3jr97co]

[Frayed Knot]

Y'know I heard some boos following a foul ball but couldn't figure out what was going on and the booth left it unmentioned.
I thought maybe some adult grabbed one from a kid or something.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, "adult."

I'm not into this one-hit-into-the-sixth inning bidness.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Scoring a run or two would add some game interest here.

[MFS62]

Y'know, Montero is pitching a decent game. But, OY, those errors (sigh). He has to learn not to let things like that bother him and keep the score close.
Now lets get some runs.

Later

[MFS62]

Oh, waitaminnit.
This just in..
Fuck Yadier Molina.

Later

[Guest 41Forever]

They're making it a challenge to keep the "We should be buyers" argument alive.

[ashie62]

Two hits off Micheal Wacha.

Get out the rolodex Sandy.

[Edgy MD]

The tough thing is that, though I have little doubt the second string all around the diamond can do just as well or likely better, they've got to stick with this lineup as they're all on the block and so they have to be showcased. The exception is perhaps at third, where they could be trotting out Flores.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Absolute dud of a game. Truly nothing exciting happened even though it was the kind of summer night that could have provided the perfect setting for a good game, were the Mets inclined to give one.

We were behind 3rd base and I could tell it was Christie.

[Benjamin Grimm]