Mets (49-48) vs Cardinals (50-47)

Jake Westbrook 7-4, 5.26 ERA

Jon Niese 9-7, 3.73 ERA

1. Reyes - SS
2. Turner - 2B
3. Beltran - RF
4. Murphy - 3B
5. Pagan - CF
6. Duda - 1B
7. Paulino - C
8. Pridie - LF
9. Niese - LHP

The Mets are once again above the .500 at 49-48 and will be looking to sweep the struggling Cardinals for the first time in five years. Mets have won 15 of the last 21 games home verse the Cardinals and would be the first sweep of St. Louis since Aug 22-24, 2006.  Niese (9-7, 3.73 ERA) is looking to win his third straight start. Niese has improved to 6-2 with a 2.81 ERA over his last 9 starts after he allowed one earned in seven innings of an 11-2 win over Philadelphia on Saturday. “He is getting tougher,” manager Terry Collins said. Albert Pujols is just 1-for-4 with a double against Jon Niese. Pujols is 0 for 10 his last three games and batting .136 (3-for-22) in his last five games at Citi Field.

Key Notes:

• Jake Westbrook vs Mets - 0-1, 6.43 ERA
• Jon Niese vs Cardinals - 1-0, 1.17 ERA 
• Beltran is batting .366 with 5HRS 17RBIs in his last 18 games
• Niese - 3-1, 3.81 ERA 26IP 11ER 26K (Last 5 Games)
• Westbrook - 1-0, 5.53 ERA 27.2IP 17ER 19K (Last 5 Games)
• Niese - 10 games at Citi - 4-4, 3.16 ERA 62.2IP 52K .278BAA

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