NEW YORK -- Knuckleballer R. A. Dickey pitched 8 1/3 shutout innings to go to 7-4 as the New York Mets blanked the Cardinals, 4-0, on Thursday afternoon at Citi Field.
The Cardinals were shut out for the 10th time this season.
Nine have come on the road.
The Cardinals managed just four hits against Dickey, who kept the Cardinals grounded with his mix of 74-mph knucklers and even some 83-mph hard knucklers. For good measure, he mixed in a 84-mph fastball or two. The Cardinals put two runners on base in the ninth inning -- and that was the only inning that the Cardinals got two runners on base.
The Mets gave Dickey a chance to finish his shutout, but a single by Colby Rasmus and a walk to Jon Jay forced Jerry Manuel to go to his closer -- for a third time in three games this season. Francisco Rodriguez came in to face Albert Pujols with two runners on base and one out in the ninth inning.
Manuel was booed by the crowd before he made the move, and he was booed by the crowd trotting off the field after making the move.
Rodriguez retired Pujols and Matt Holliday for the save.
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LIFE AFTER OSWALT
NEW YORK -- Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said he had a "bead" on several things as Saturday's trade deadline approaches. The Cardinals took a late look at their chances of landing Roy Oswalt on Thursday before the righty was dealt to Philadelphia. Houston's hesitance to trade within the division was a huge hurdle for the Cardinals to clear, even before the talk of the amount of Oswalt's contract the Cardinals would be willing to absorb.
The Cardinals appeared to have moved on to a second-tier of starting pitchers. Cleveland's Jake Westbrook remains a pitcher of interest to the Cardinals. Colorado's Aaron Cook has entered the picture as a possible fit, even though the sinkerballer is owed about $14.25 million on his contract, including a hefty salary/mutual option for 2011. Lefty Paul Maholm, reportedly a target of the pitching-hungry Los Angeles Dodgers, would also fit the profile, though there's been no confirmation of the Cardinals' interest.
The Cardinals are also in the market for a starting middle infielder. Stephen Drew has been linked to the team, though speaking in general terms this past week Mozeliak downplayed the team's chances of landing an infielder that would shift the depth chart beyond 2010. Drew, the Arizona starter, is arbitration-eligible this coming winter. Mozeliak did not dismiss the concept -- just talked about the difficulty of making that happen.
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DICKEY BEDEVILS CARDS
NEW YORK -- R. A. Dickey is befuddling the Cardinals with his flighty knuckleball as he takes a shutout into the eighth inning here at Citi Field. Dickey tends to throw a harder, firmer knuckleball than other pitchers of his ilk, but it doesn't make it any less tricky to follow.
Dickey has only two strikeouts in the game, and both of them came in the first inning. Most revealing about how his knuckleball is diving and moving is that fact that the Cardinals have 15 outs from groundballs. They've hit into two double plays, and 13 of the past 15 Cardinals Dickey has faced -- as I type this -- have been retired because of balls put in play on the ground.
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PAGAN TRIPLES; JAY FIRES
NEW YORK -- A leadoff triple by Angel Pagan to start the bottom of the fifth inning led to one more run from the Mets, but a play in center field by Jon Jay kept them from adding any more.
Pagan scored on Carlos Beltran's RBI single.
Beltran tried to score from second on Josh Thole's single, but Jay fired a strike to the plate that Yadier Molina caught just as Beltan slid in. Molina left a sliver of the plate open for Beltran to slide toward, and as Beltran tried to slip in behind Molina's right leg, the Cardinals catcher applied the tag.
The Mets lead, 4-0, through 5 1/2 innings.
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DAVIS BLAST PUTS METS AHEAD
NEW YORK -- He pounded them in spring training. He tied the game with a pinch-hit single on Wednesday. And now rookie Ike Davis has put the Cardinals behind this afternoon with a three-run shot off Blake Hawksworth.
Apparently, it's the Cardinals turn to rally.
Davis, a college teammate of former Cardinals prospect Brett Wallace, hit two massive home runs against the Cardinals in spring training. One was a cascading homer that cleared the hill positioned behind the right-field wall at the Mets' training facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
In the third inning today, Mets' leadoff hitter Jose Reyes skipped a double past Albert Pujols backhand stab and Angel Pagan reached on a bunt single. Hawksworth got Carlos Beltran to fly out to shallow center field, and a throw from Jon Jay kept Reyes still at third base. Jay didn't have a chance at Davis' blast.
Davis pounded a first-pitch changeup to the seats in deep center field. It was his 15th homer of the season, tying him for the fifth-most by a Mets' rookie.
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PUJOLS A "PUSH"
NEW YORK -- After experiencing different kind of ailments on two consecutive days, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols is back in the lineup a few hours removed from his 13th-inning single won last night's game, 8-7.
La Russa said he checked with Pujols, who was one of the earliest to arrive at the clubhouse Wednesday, and that the situation as much as his health influenced the lineup.
"A push game for a lot of people, especially Albert," La Russa said. "This is a day we're scrambling. ... There isn't anything (from Tuesday) that factored into (Wednesday), and there isn't anything (from Wednesday) that factors in to today other than four monhts of playing aches and pains and some fatigue."
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SUPPAN LISTED AS RELIEF
Starter Jeff Suppan is listed as available in relief if needed today. Suppan pitched a standard between-start bullpen on Wednesday, and he's scheduled to start Saturday. But the Cardinals are in need of innings -- or will be if starter Blake Hawksworth cannot fire deep into this afternoon's game. Suppan is listed as an option in the bullpen, and if he throws the Cardinals would have to rethink their rotation for this weekend's series against Pittsburgh.
"If Hawks gets deep we've got a lot of weapons," La Russa said. "If we need innings, Suppan is listed and we'll worry about Saturday on Saturday."
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METS LINEUP
NEW YORK -- David Wright and Luis Castillo catch a break in the tight turnaround from last night's game as the Cardinals send out knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to face the Cardinals. The Mets announced three different starters for today's game in the days headed up the noon local time start. Dickey gets the call after being cleared by doctors to throw a few days of experiencing hip discomfort.
The Cardinals faced Dickey in the first game of spring training.
The lineup:
1. Lopez, 3B
2. Jay, CF
3. Pujols, 1B
4. Holliday, LF
5. Ludwick, RF
6. Schumaker, 2B
7. Molina, C
8. Hawksworth, P
9. Greene, SS
CARDINALS LINEUP
NEW YORK -- Despite some difficulty running late in last night's game, Albert Pujols is healthy enough to start today's 11:10 a.m. game against the Mets and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
Colby Rasmus is healthy, too, but despite getting on base three times in his return to the lineup last night, he's sitting today in favor of hot-hitting Jon Jay.
The Cardinals' lineup:
1. Lopez, 3B
2. Jay, CF
3. Pujols, 1B
4. Holliday, LF
5. Ludwick, RF
6. Schumaker, 2B
7. Molina, C
8. Hawksworth, P
9. Greene, SS
Mets' lineup: TBA.
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