Final: The Mets defeated the Cardinals by a final score of 4 to 1, Tuesday night.

Pitching: Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez tossed shutout ball in the first six innings before giving up a solo home run to Scott Rolen in the 7th.  Scott Schoeneweis came on in relief in the 8th inning to giving up one hit and walking one before being pulled when Albert Pujols came to the plate. The Mets called on Aaron Heilman to get the superstar out and he did just that, getting Pujols to pop flied to center to end the inning. Billy Wagner came in for the 9th and shut down the Cardinals 1-2-3 for the save.

Batting: Oddly enough, the only man to have two hits tonight was the pitcher Orlando Hernandez, who first singled to right and later on sent a double down the left field line that put the Mets ahead 4-0 in 6th inning. Jose Reyes went 1-4, with a walk and scoring two runs. Carlos Beltran went 1-4 with an RBI. David Wright was on base three times tonight with one hit and two walks.

Notes:

The Mets did not strike out anyone in the Cardinals lineup tonight.

The Mets left 19 runners on base, with corner outfielders Alou and Green combining to leave 11 on base collectively. In Sunday's game, the Mets left 14 on base.

The Mets turned three double plays tonight putting their season total up to seven, just two games into the season.

Looking Ahead:

With not enough painkillers in the world to fix this headache he once caused, the Mets square off against former Met reliever Braden Looper. Making the switch from the bullpen to the starting role this season, Looper was announced as the #3 starter for the Cardinals this opening series as the Mets will send John Maine to the mound. Maine went 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals in the NLCS this past October.

First pitch is at 8:10PM on SNY and WFAN.

Bring it on Looper!