Wainwright, Harvey battle in Rubbermatch of Cardinals vs. Mets

The St. Louis Cardinals are in position once again to do what manager Mike Matheny and his ball club set out to do in each series that they play in -- which is win it. With that being said, who better to have on the mound in that sort of game rather than a former CY Young award winner and the teams ace?

The Cardinals will be sending Adam Wainwright to the mound this afternoon as he will go up against the new and improved number one for the Mets in Matt Harvey, who is currently 5-0 on the season right now despite battling some personal injury issues.

Wainwright enters this afternoons game with a 9-3 record and has a chance to win his fifth consecutive start in a row -- the bad news? He hasn't defeated the New York Mets in his last four starts (0-4). Leading the majors with a 13.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio -- which is more than twice as high as the next guy, Adam has struck out 28 batters and issued just two walks during his current four game winning streak. There is a reason why Cardinal Nation calls him the 'streak-stopper', as if those numbers don't explain it.

St. Louis won the series opener on Tuesday night by a score of 9 to 2 before the Mets took the second game to even it up last night by a score of 5 to 1. Allen Craig was the only run producer for the Cardinals on Wednesday night, as the bats will look to get back on fire for today's 12:10 pm Central Time first pitch.

Here is a quick look at the lineup that Matheny has put together for todays decisive rubbermatch inside Shea Stadium in New York:

1. Matt Carpenter -- Second Base

2. Carlos Beltran -- Right Field

3. Matt Holliday -- Left Field

4. Allen Craig -- First Base

5. Yadier Molina -- Catcher

6. Jon Jay -- Center Field

7. Daniel Descalso -- Third Base

8. Pete Kozma -- Shortstop

9. Adam Wainwright -- Pitcher

Pitching Matchup: (STL) Adam Wainwright (9-3, 2.21 ERA) vs. (NYM) Matt Harvey (5-0, 2.06 ERA)