S3F High-Heat Matchup: Mets vs Cardinals Opening Night (4/1, ESPN2, 8 PM EST)

[missionhockey21]

vs

Opening Night Action as the Mets challenge the defending champs, the Cardinals. It should be a good matchup that will only be made better by the more here to discuss it. Baseball is nearly here and it's great to know that.

		New York Mets			St. Louis Cardinals
#	Pos.	Name	...	Pos.	Name
1.	SS	Jose Reyes	...	SS	David Eckstein
2.	C	Paul Lo Duca	...	RF	Preston Wilson
3.	CF	Carlos Beltran	...	1B	Albert Pujols
4.	1B	Carlos Delgado	...	3B	Scott Rolen
5.	3B	David Wright	...	C	Yadier Molina
6.	LF	Moises Alou	...	CF	Jim Edmonds
7.	RF	Shawn Green	...	LF	So Taguchi
8.	2B	Jose Valentin	...	2B	Adam Kennedy
9.	P	Tom Glavine	...	P	Chris Carpenter

Let's hear any initial predictions anyone has.

[DravenX]

I can't stand the Mets but I will still be watching the game because it's Opening Day. Should be a good matchup with Glavine and Carpenter.

[browntown653]

6-3 Cardinals, Pujols homers off Glavine.

[redsrbetter]

I say the Cards win this one, but only because they have the better pitcher. I really do not think Glavine will have a strong season and we all know what to expect from Carpenter. He will be facing an incredible lineup, but this will be one win the Cards can take from the Mets.

Prediction: Cards win this one 4-2.

Love the graphic mission!

[browntown653]

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jeff Suppan pitched the game of his life, light-hitting Yadier Molina muscled up for a huge home run and rookie closer Adam Wainwright froze the New York Mets' best hitter.

Although the stakes will be considerably lower, memories of the St. Louis Cardinals' Game 7 win in last year's NL championship series will be fresh when the teams play the 2007 major league opener on Sunday night.

"We try not to make too big a deal of it because it is only the first week of the season," Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds said. "It's always nice to get out of Florida and get to the big league stadiums. Going home is going to be incredible."

Ceremonies will feature members of the Cardinals' World Series winners of 1967 and 1982, including Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Bruce Sutter.

Pitchers who got the final out of the Cardinals' last three championships will throw out ceremonial first pitches to their managers: Gibson to Red Schoendienst, Sutter to Whitey Herzog and Wainwright to Tony La Russa. Actor Billy Bob Thornton will be master of ceremonies for the pregame festivities, and REO Speedwagon will perform "The Star-Spangled Banner." As usual, the Cardinals will enter one at a time in a convertible motorcade snaking around the warning track.

"St. Louis makes it such a spectacle," La Russa said. "You can finish last, and you come back the next year, and you'll be totally excited and think you're going to conquer the world."

Molina's two-run homer in the ninth inning off Aaron Heilman sent the Cardinals to the World Series, where they beat Detroit in five games. The Mets missed a chance to rally in the bottom half when Carlos Beltran took a season-ending called third strike on Wainwright's curveball with the bases loaded.

While the Mets won 97 games during the regular season, matching the Yankees for the major league high, the Cardinals were 83-78, the second-worst record of any World Series team, trailing only the 82-79 mark of the 1973 Mets.

"I think it's good for us to be there when those guys get their rings, when those guys raise the banner, because they outplayed us for seven games," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "Also, I think it pushes us and motivates us because we know how close we came last year."

After more than six weeks of spring training, both teams were ready to get out of Florida.

"After a while, you get to the point that you're just ready to go," said Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who will oppose Tom Glavine in the opener. "You want it to start counting. It'll be a long season, and I'm looking forward to going out and competing every day, and hopefully we can get back to October baseball."

Both teams begin the year at less than full strength. Mets ace Pedro Martinez and the Cardinals' Mark Mulder are both coming off shoulder surgery and will miss the first half of the season. The Mets also are without setup man Duaner Sanchez, who has a broken bone in his right shoulder and is not expected back until August, and Guillermo Mota, suspended for 50 games following a positive steroids test.

Edmonds, who got a late start to spring training following operations on his right shoulder and left toe, expects to play in the opening series. Fellow outfielder Juan Encarnacion needs more time, though, to build strength in his surgically repaired left wrist, an injury that landed him on the bench for the last three games of the World Series.

"I'm all right," Edmonds said. "I'm doing well enough to play, and that's what I was looking to accomplish in spring training."

Carpenter has established himself as one of the major leagues' best pitchers, finishing second in NL Cy Young Award balloting last year after winning in 2005. The 15-game winner spent much of spring training refining a changeup to add to his repertoire.

Glavine, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, also won 15 games last year and needs 10 wins to reach 300. He's one of two 41-year-olds, along with Orlando Hernandez, in a suspect rotation that includes John Maine, Oliver Perez and rookie Mike Pelfrey.

Just like the Cardinals' rotation in some ways. Carpenter is the lone holdover from opening day last year, backed by a foursome of Kip Wells, Anthony Reyes, Wainwright and Braden Looper that combined for just 18 major league wins.

"It's a long, long season," Mets outfielder Shawn Green said. "People like to get caught up in the first couple of games, but in reality there's 162 games, and it's the teams that can endure that are going to be on top."

[McKain]

Tom Glavine gets what should be a fun season for any bitter Braves fan to watch off to a great start, by going 3+ innings and giving up 6 earned. Cards win 8-3.

[missionhockey21]

Alright, we have lineups now. And it's damn strange to see Molina hitting 5th no matter what he did in the playoffs.

[McKain]

The Cardinals lineup has two biiig mistakes.

Preston Wilson, already on the decline and not nearly worth batting in the 2-hole, coming off of a terrible spring.
Molina ahead of Edmonds, when he's a terrible hitting catcher. The playoffs don't deserve to make him the protection for Rolen. Maybe this is because of the lefty-lefty factor but it's still a mistake in my view.

[redsrbetter]

Well I can't figure out how to make the table charts correctly, so I will post the links to how the opposing batters fair against each pitcher.

Cards vs Glavine:

ESPN.com - MLB - Tom Glavine - New York Mets - Player Card

Mets vs Carpenter:

ESPN.com - MLB - Chris Carpenter - St. Louis Cardinals - Player Card

[browntown653]

The Cardinals lineup has two biiig mistakes.

Preston Wilson, already on the decline and not nearly worth batting in the 2-hole, coming off of a terrible spring.
Molina ahead of Edmonds, when he's a terrible hitting catcher. The playoffs don't deserve to make him the protection for Rolen. Maybe this is because of the lefty-lefty factor but it's still a mistake in my view.

Wilson should certainly not be hitting in the 2-hole when he's a strikeout machine. I have a feeling Molina's going to have a nice season, but I can't imagine he should be batting ahead of Edmonds. I know Edmonds is declining and not nearly the hitter he used to be but still, IMO Molina hasn't done enough to justify being in the 5 spot for now anyways.

[McKain]

And the numbers only further my point - Preston even stinks against Glavine in his career.

[redsrbetter]

Looks like the Cards have had plenty of success against Glavine and only Alou has had any success against Carpenter for the Mets.

Alou could show that he was a good pickup right away.

[browntown653]

Green is 0-for-8 against Carpenter in his career. After a brutal spring, with Mets fans calling for Lastings Milledge, this may not be a very good way for him to open the season.

[browntown653]

Wilson: 9 for 44 lifetime off Glavine, .556 OPS
Taguchi: 1 for 9, .222 OPS

Juan Encarnacion: 13 for 36, .856 OPS

Small sample size, but still, shouldn't Encarnacion be starting this game ahead of one of these two?

[redsrbetter]

A little explanation turned in by Matthew Leach:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Yadier Molina, a lifetime .238 batter in the Major Leagues, turns into a different hitter when there's a chance to drive in a run. He's also looked like a different hitter since the 2006 playoffs started.

That combination has earned Molina a different spot in the batting order. Molina hit fifth for the Cardinals on Saturday night in the Civil Rights Game presented by AutoZone, and he'll likely be in the same spot on Sunday night in the Cards' season opener against the Mets.
"I just watched all spring, and right now, he's having as good at-bats as anybody," manager Tony La Russa said. "I think there's an excellent chance that's where he'll hit [Sunday], too."
Molina put up a dismal line of .216/.274/.321 (average/on-base/slugging) in the 2006 regular season before coming on strong in the playoffs. But even when he was struggling in '06, Molina turned in some good at-bats in RBI situations. His line with runners in scoring position was a more respectable .267/.342/.333.
That, combined with Molina's history of a significant platoon split, led La Russa to give his catcher a look in the No. 5 spot against left-handed pitchers -- such as the Mets' Sunday starter, Tom Glavine.
In fact, most of Saturday's Civil Rights Game lineup will likely be reprised on Sunday. Some of the choices are obvious, with David Eckstein (first), Albert Pujols (third), Scott Rolen (fourth) and Adam Kennedy (eighth) batting where they have for much of the spring. Others are less so.
Preston Wilson started in right field against lefty Jeremy Sowers on Saturday, and will do so again on Sunday against Glavine. Jim Edmonds hit sixth and will be in the same spot on Sunday. The one question comes in left field, and either the No. 2 or 7 spot in the batting order.
That job will probably go to either So Taguchi or Chris Duncan, with Scott Spiezio a long shot. If Duncan gets the start, he'll probably hit second, with Wilson moving down. If it's Taguchi, he will probably hit seventh. "They've got right-handers the next two days, so it's not like it's Chris's only chance to play," La Russa said. "But it probably comes down to Taguchi or Chris."

The Official Site of The St. Louis Cardinals: News: St. Louis Cardinals News