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Cardinals-Mets Preview

Jun 21, 2009 - 11:38 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (38-31) at New York (34-32), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Against the New York Mets in April, Albert Pujols had one of his many outstanding series this season. None of those performances, however, came close to matching his effort this past weekend.

After a stellar finish to a three-day interleague matchup, Pujols looks to continue his success against the Mets as the St. Louis Cardinals travel to Citi Field to open a four-game set Monday night.

Pujols is making a strong case to land his second straight NL MVP award and third overall, and results like those on Sunday can only help. He had two homers and six RBIs to lead St. Louis (39-31) to a 12-5 win at Kansas City, finishing off a dominating series in his return to the town where he went to high school.

The first baseman had three homers and drove in 10 during the set, including a club-record tying third grand slam of the season in the finale. It was Pujols' ninth career slam, tying Stan Musial's team record and matched the single-season mark shared by Jim Bottomley (1925), Keith Hernandez (1977) and current Met Fernando Tatis (1999).

"It's nothing special. I'm just seeing good pitches and hitting them," Pujols said.

Pujols' fifth multihomer game this season also helped give Tony LaRussa his 2,500th win, joining Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) as the only managers to reach that mark.

Pujols had two homers in St. Louis' 12-8 win over New York (34-33) on April 23, leading a three-game sweep for the Cardinals. He finished that series 6 for 11 (.545) with two homers, seven RBIs and five runs, and is batting .565 (13 for 23) with four homers and 11 RBIs in his last five games versus the Mets.

Against Tim Redding (0-2, 6.27 ERA), Pujols is hitting .407 (11 for 27) with one homer and five doubles.

Redding has struggled as the Mets' fifth starter, surrendering 23 runs and 16 walks in 33 innings. He's been forced into the rotation with Oliver Perez (knee) and John Maine (shoulder) on the disabled list.

New York has a 5.48 ERA in its last 16 games, losing 10. The Mets used seven pitchers against Tampa Bay on Sunday, giving up 17 hits in a 10-6 loss.

Redding struggled in his last outing, allowing four runs and seven hits while walking four in 5 1-3 innings of a 6-4 loss to Baltimore on Wednesday. The right-hander is 2-5 with a 5.69 ERA in 12 career starts against the Cardinals, and hasn't beaten them since May 2004 while with Houston.

St. Louis will counter with Todd Wellemeyer (6-6, 5.36), who earned the victory in his last appearance, giving up two runs and six hits while striking out five in 5 1-3 innings of a 4-3 win over Detroit on Wednesday.

The right-hander is 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA in three starts and three relief appearances versus the Mets. He failed to get a decision in the Cards' 6-4 win over the Mets on April 21.

New York slugger David Wright, who is 7 for 10 (.700) against Wellemeyer, had three hits Sunday to end a 1-for-17 slump. The third baseman is batting an NL-best .349 this season and .462 (18 for 39) in his last nine games against the Cardinals.

Mets catcher Brian Schneider, meanwhile, hit his second three-run homer of the series Sunday.

"What I'm really trying to do is just have a good at-bat," said Schneider, part of a platoon with Omir Santos that has helped New York catchers lead the NL with 48 RBIs.