First Career Victory


The St. Louis Cardinals showed New York fans last night why they have the best record in baseball. I was at Citi Field as prized rookie pitcher Michael Wacha had a rocky first inning: he threw 37 pitches, giving up an Omar Quintanilla homer and a Marlon Byrd sacrifice fly. He then settled himself, and lasted six innings as he stifled the Mets offense. His final line: two runs, five hits, three walks.

While New York did itself in with shabby fielding (five of the six runs losing pitcher Jeremy Hefner surrendered were unearned), they also failed to cash in on several scoring opportunities. Despite a roster shuffle that saw the release of Rick Ankiel and the demotion of Ike Davis and Mike Baxter, the Mets again played flat, listless ball. Unable to build on an early 2-0 lead, it appeared inevitable that the Cards would get to Hefner. Add on fielding errors by Daniel Murphy and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, plus a bobble by David Wright that cost them a possible double play, the Cardinals came away with a 9 - 2 victory -- the first victory of Michael Wacha's major league career.

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