NEW YORK METS (47-42, second place/NL East) at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (56-33, first place/NL Central)
Friday: RHP Noah Syndergaard (4-4, 3.11) vs. RHP Lance Lynn (6-5, 2.90), 8:15 p.m. ET
Saturday: RHP Bartolo Colon (9-7, 4.46) vs. RHP John Lackey (7-5, 2.99), 7:15 p.m. ET
Sunday: LHP Jonathon Niese (5-8, 3.61) vs. TBA, 2:15 p.m. ET
CARDINALS SHORT HOPS
Matt Holliday appears poised to return from the disabled list for Friday’s series opener. Holliday, who last appeared in a major league game on June 8, is returning from a quadriceps strain. Officially on the DL, he nonetheless took part in batting practice at the All-Star Game after getting voted as a starter by fans.
Closer Trevor Rosenthal did not pitch in the All-Star Game because he was dealing with right-arm soreness. Rosenthal had tossed a combined 55 pitches in the final two games of the first half as the Cardinals lost back-to-back extra-inning games to the Pirates. Aside from this past weekend, he has been reliable (1.49 ERA, 26 saves). He also has cut down on his walk rate. Rosenthal walked 5.4 batters per nine innings in 2014. This season, the rate is down to 3.2.
The Cardinals had six players attend Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Cincinnati, but only Yadier Molina and Jhonny Peralta saw action. Carlos Martinez and Michael Wacha went unused, while Rosenthal and Holliday were unavailable. With Martinez (2.52 ERA) and Wacha (2.93) not seeing action Tuesday, that may be bad news for the Mets. One of the All-Stars may now face the Amazin’s in the series finale. Entering the break, St. Louis officials had indicated the Sunday start could go to Jaime Garcia coming off the disabled list or rookie Tim Cooney. For now, Garcia remains on the DL with a left groin strain.
John Lackey is making $507,500 this season. A provision in his original five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Boston Red Sox called for a team option to be established at the major league minimum for this year if Lackey missed a full season during the deal. Lackey, in fact, sat out 2012 after undergoing elbow surgery. He has produced six straight quality starts and leads the team by logging 117 1/3 innings.
Molina, who lost roughly 20 pounds during the offseason, has thrown out 44 percent of would-be base stealers. That is within one point of his career average.
Peralta, who started the All-Star Game at shortstop, settled into the cleanup spot once Matt Adams suffered a season-ending quadriceps tear in late May. More recently, Peralta (.298, 13 HR, 46 RBIs) has batted third with Holliday also on the DL. Meanwhile, Mark Reynolds and Xavier Scruggs mostly handled first base since Adams suffered the injury, until Scruggs was demoted on Saturday. Dan Johnson has started two of the past five games at first base.
Lance Lynn has made four starts since returning from a DL stint, which was caused by a forearm injury. He allowed only two runs (one earned) in 19 innings over the first three outings. Then Lynn surrendered five runs on nine hits and a walk in four innings against the Pirates on Friday.
By winning the final three games of a four-game series to close the first half against the Cardinals, the Pirates have moved to within 2½ games of St. Louis in the NL Central. The Cardinals, who continue to have the best record in MLB, owned a nine-game lead over second-place Pittsburgh on June 28. Since then, St. Louis is 5-9, while the Pirates have gone 11-2.
St. Louis boasts the best ERA in the majors at 2.71. The Mets rank third at 3.23.
Third baseman Matt Carpenter is hitting .190 (24-for-126) with one homer since June 1.
The FBI continues to investigate alleged hacking into computers belonging to the Houston Astros. The hacking reportedly was perpetrated by at least one Cardinals front-office official. Scouting director Chris Correa recently was fired by the club.
Adam Wainwright is lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, which he suffered as a hitter leaving the batter’s box. The Cardinals also have been without setup man Jordan Walden for the past 68 games with a biceps strain.
