The Mets finally have the pitching matchup to win Jose Quintana his first game

The Mets have no excuse to not win Jose Quintana's next start.
Atlanta Braves v New York Mets - Game Two
Atlanta Braves v New York Mets - Game Two / Rich Schultz/GettyImages
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Jose Quintana has been a gem for the New York Mets through his first five starts and yet poor run support has offered him nothing more than a record of 0-4 despite multiple quality starts. He’s getting Jacob deGrommed this year by the team. How long can this go on?

Thursday’s scheduled pitching matchup between the Mets and St. Louis Cardinals may finally reward Quintana with his first win. The probable pitcher for the Cardinals is Adam Wainwright who in just about any other season might strike some fear into the Mets. Not this year. In his quest to reach 200 career wins, Wainwright has fallen off the deep end.

The 41-year-old lasted just one inning against the Kansas City Royals his last time out. One of baseball’s worst hammered him for 8 earned runs. He’s now 3-7 with an 8.78 ERA on the year while in search of the elusive 200th victory.

The NY Mets have no excuse not to beat Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals

Beating Wainwright comes with some added benefits for those who’ve stuck around since 2006. It was Wainwright who freeze-framed Carlos Beltran in the 2006 NLCS. While it might not feel like ancient history, Wainwright had only 2 regular season victories at the time. He hadn’t even started a game for the Cardinals.

Although parked in the NL Central for his entire career, matchups versus the Mets are nothing new. He made his debut on September 11, 2005 against the Mets in a performance which saw him surrender 3 earned runs in his lone inning of relief.

The Mets have actually had their way with Wainwright over the years. He’s 8-6 with a 4.58 ERA in 15 career starts and a pair of relief appearances. Facing off against Quintana or any other Mets pitcher, if anything changes, shouldn’t be too tall of a task. Then again, on June 17 Wainwright won career game number 198 at Citi Field. He hasn’t won a game since.

Mets fans might be a little torn right now in terms of how to feel about this ball club. On one hand, how do you cheer against your ball club? On the other, losing helps the future of the franchise. Dropping in the draft ten spots if they don’t finish with at least the sixth-worst record isn’t total damnation so maybe for at least one evening even the diehard lovers of the tank can wish Quintana well and hope Wainwright has one last bad outing against the Amazins.

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