After last night's 20-inning marathon that saw the Mets use a starting pitcher in relief and the Cardinals use two position players to pitch three innings, the teams played a nine-inning game tonight. Adam Wainwright gave his bullpen a night off. John Maine was over 100 pitches in the fifth inning.
Wainwright allowed three runs in the second inning and nothing more, not allowing a hit after the fifth inning, scoring the go-ahead run after doubling in the eighth and going the distance in a 5-3 Cardinals win. That's the way to pick up your teammates after yesterday's game. He threw just 107 pitches in striking out nine and improving his personal record to 3-0. The Cardinals bullpen will now have a full day of rest heading into their series in Arizona, beginning tomorrow night.
Maine, meanwhile, threw a whopping 115 pitches in five innings of work, forcing in-over-his-head manager Jerry Manuel to use Tobi Stoner for 2 1/3 innings of relif. Stoner, recalled after the bullpen was used up yesterday, actually pitched reasonably well despite getting charged with the loss. The Mets bullpen should be ready to go when they return home tomorrow night for a series with the Cubs.
Well, other than Francisco Rodriguez, who after throwing over 100 pitches in the bullpen yesterday, blew the save in the last of the 19th and may need a full rotation cycle to recover.
Also, if yesterday's game dropped my baseball IQ 50 points, listening to Joe Morgan on ESPN for three hours tonight dropped it by at least another 25.
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