SOUTH GRAND — There were few, if any, members of the St. Louis Cardinals’ traveling party thrilled to be at Shea Stadium for a one-day, barnstorming trip in the final week of a disappointing 2007. But, as one Cardinal said in the clubhouse after the win: At least it was a fruitful trip for a teammate.

Joel Pineiro cashed in on that visit.

The frustration the Cardinals had for their late-season, one-game stop at Shea went beyond robbing them of their last off day and forcing them to swing through Queens on their way from Milwaukee to Pittsburgh. No, the real seeds of their bitterness were planted during their previous visit to Shea. With heavy rains in the area, but not necessarily at Shea, the New York Mets called the game and hopped on a bus bound for Philadelphia and their next series. The Cardinals remained at Shea. Their flight was delayed. One Cardinal popped his head out of the dugout, noticed there was no rain, had been very little rain and yelled up the press box, saying with a shrug: “What the heck?”

They got their payback, and Pineiro got paid.

The Cardinals swept back into Shea and defeated the Mets, 3-0. That was part of the Mets’ collapse that fall, and it was Pineiro who pitched the Cardinals to a win. He was superb, and less than a few months later he had a new, two-year, $13.5-million deal. That was the talk after the game: That Pineiro had made quite a final impression on the verge of free agency, and he had done on a big stage.

Said then closer Jason Isringhausen: “Nice audition for next year.”

1. And so Pineiro finds himself tonight back in Queens and back looking to audition on the brink of free agency. While Chris Carpenter is putting together quite a bid for the Comeback Player of the Year award, Pineiro has arguably clinched the bounce-back player of the year nod. His ERA is below 3.00 less than year after it was among the highest of any starter in the game. He’s embraced the sinker, channeled unerring control and continued to bedevil the Mets. This will be his third start against the Mets this season, and he’s yet to lose. His success against the Mets — with two speed bumps last season — stretches back to that one-night stand at Shea in September 2007. The last time he was “auditioning” for a new deal. Pineiro’s last five starts against the Mets (3-0, 2.91 ERA):

• 4/22/2009 vs Mets … 8 IP … 6 H … 2 ER … 2 W/0 K … WIN
• 6/23/2009 @ Mets … 9 IP … 2 H … 0 ER … 0 W/1 K … WIN, SHO
• 7/2/2008 vs Mets … 5 IP … 11 H … 4 ER … 1 W/4 K … ND
• 7/26/2008 @ Mets … 4 IP … 10 H … 5 ER … 1 W/2 K … ND
• 9/27/2007 @ Mets … 8 IP … 3 H … 0 ER … 1 W/6 K … W

2. The Cardinals will have a busy offseason as they look to reshape their roster, which is loaded with pending free agents, from tonight’s starter, Pineiro, to Matt Holliday to Jason LaRue. If you consider that the Cardinals historically move swiftly to re-sign/address their backup catcher role and you remove LaRue from the list, here below are seven free-agents-to-be that will pose individual challenges for the Cardinals to re-sign. And that’s the inspiration behind the poll:

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3. One of the free agents listed above is the lefty specialist Trever Miller, who really wasn’t supposed to be a free agent at all until after the 2010 season. That was the original plan when the Cardinals offered him a two-year deal this past winter — what would have been the first two-year deal of the veteran’s career. Instead, a physical revealed an imperfection in Miller’s left shoulder and the Cardinals balked at the original offer. The contract was sliced to a one-year, incentive-laden deal. Well, the shoulder hasn’t been a problem, and Miller has done his job: He has a 1.98 ERA, a .109 batting average against by lefthanded batters, and of the 71 plate appearances LHBs have had against him, he’s struck out 29 of them. He has six consecutive years of at least 60 appearances, and he’s likely going to get there. But only now is he starting to build on his $500,000 base salary. With 42 appearances, Miller has triggered the first of the $200,000 step bonuses and is three away from his second. He needs to reach 60 to get the $225,000 bonus and then 70 to get a $230,000. That would restore the salary he had in the pre-physical deal, but there is no clause in his contract that would activate a second year.

4. He may not be doing it with the same power that Flushing Meadows has come to expect, but Mets third baseman David Wright continues to keep cranking out hits, despite all of the chaos swallowing the Mets this season. Wright is batting .321 with 52 RBIs and only seven home runs. He’s remained healthy and hitting while the other members of the Mets’ core have stumbled, struggled and gone on the DL. Since June 1, according to Elias, the Mets have gone where Wright takes them. Their record based on his hits:

• 2 or more Wright hits … 11-8
• 1 Wright hit … 9-10
• 0 Wright hits … 2-16

5. In case you missed it in the wake of Albert Pujols talking about his “funk” (if you ask Tony La Russa) and “struggling” (Pujols word), here is a detailed look from Bird Land yesterday at the real benefit of finding protection for Pujols: The Albert Pujols Protection Plan. The reason to protect Pujols in the lineup is not entirely what you think it is.

6. In case you missed last week’s report from multi-tasking, all-CAPS bossman Reid Laymance (@REIDLAYMANCE) in Cardinal Beat: Cardinals’ VP/Farm Director Jeff Luhnow has joined the Twittering masses (yours truly is at @dgoold; Bernie Miklasz is @miklasz, etc.) Luhnow logged on last week and promising to provide quick snapshots of what has been going on in the Cardinals’ minor leagues. He can be found here: @jluhnow. Some of his recent Tweets:

25 players on the move in the minor leagues over the next 24-48 hours to configure teams for last month of minor league season.

In Lakeland w 100 plus scouts looking at top East Coast prep players for ‘10 draft. Hot. Really hot!

Pete Parise, undrafted pick up in 07 from Pitt, having a breakout year and picked up his first save in Memphis tonight. Good sinker.

Several strong candidates for pitcher of month. Walters, Dickson, Lynn, Sanchez, Nieto, Schneider, Jimenez (Charllan)… thoughts?

7. FARMNIK REPORT: Memphis won its fifth consecutive game Monday and took over first place in the Northern Division of the Pacific Coast League. Adam Ottavino got the win in the 5-2 victory after the righthander pitched six innings, allowing one run on three hits and five walks. He struck out six. … Brian Barden had a two-run double, and Mark Hamilton helped pad the lead with an RBI double later in the game. … Xavier Scruggs, a 19th-round pick in the 2008 draft, made his full-season debut Monday for Quad Cites and he made it memorable. Scruggs launched two home runs and drove in four RBIs for the River Bandits in a 9-4 victory. Infielder Jason Stidham, a 2009 draft pick, also homered as part of his 2-for-4 days. … The Cardinals’ affiliates who played Monday all won. … Catcher Luis De La Cruz had three hits for Batavia. … Outfielder Tyler Henley hit a grand slam for Class AA Springfield. As much as Daniel Descalso is being mentioned as the emerging prospect in the Cardinals system, some of that attention should shift to Henley. The right fielder is batting .325/.382/.518 with 11 home runs and 25 doubles this season. … Lefty Nick Additon improved to 1-1 after limiting Northwest Arkansas to one run in his 6 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.

8. ESPN’s scouting guru Keith Law writes that Brett Wallace, who is batting .289/.349/.447 for his new club (Oakland’s Class AAA affiliate), was the best prospect traded at the deadline. He calls Wallace the only “impact” prospect who changed teams.

9. Wrote about the Other New Cardinal in this morning’s paper, describing how Julio Lugo fits into the lineup this season — and how the Cardinals have time and flexibility to decide if he fits into the depth chart for next season. Like Miller, Lugo has incentives in his deal triggered by appearances. But his incentive is a big option that vests for 2011. It’s highly unlikely he trigger that $9-million option, because he needs 2,400 plate appearances between 2007-10 and 600 PAs in 2010. He has 1,100 since 2007 going into tonight. Albert Pujols had this to say about his friend and teammate:

“If he doesn’t trust you, he can be real sensitive. The situation he was in in Boston, where he wasn’t playing, it was hurting him. He wants to play. He wants to compete. He wants to be in the field. I know with the skill and the ability he has and knowing he wasn’t getting that opportunity he was frustrated and wanted to get out of there. I’m glad he did.”

10. Jeff Passan, the sticky-fingered KC masterpiece turned national baseball writer for Yahoo!, does more than write how Holliday could add $30 million to his next contract by being a Cardinal for the next couple months, per an unnamed GM. In this same piece for Yahoo! Sports, Passan questions Adam Wainwright’s choice of facial fashion and presents two prongs of Wainwright’s building case for award consideration:

• Only Tim Lincecum and Justin Verlander struck out more batters in July.
• Only Cliff Lee has pitched more innings this season.
• Wainwright may be the best pitcher born in 1981 except for …

Well, click the link to get the other Southern-born ace who currently has the edge.

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