Die Macht » with just his seventh ball in Test cricket,

NEW YORK -- Adam Wainwright used to be a creature of routine leading up to each start. "Same sleeping shirt the night before," the St. Louis Cardinals ace said. "I couldnt wear blue jeans. I had to wear the colour red. Are you kidding me? It was ridiculous. If I didnt have any of that, or worse, if something was thrown off, then instantly I was thinking, Oh, man, Im in trouble. And thats ridiculous. It has nothing to do with getting anyone out. I figured that out somewhere along the line." With rain falling in the morning and clashing forecasts for the afternoon, Wainwright wasnt sure whether hed pitch at all Thursday. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told him about 80 minutes before start time to get ready, so Wainwright shortened his pregame routine and then pitched seven scoreless innings to become the major leagues first 10-game winner. In a classic pitching matchup, his 2-1 victory over the New York Mets sent Matt Harvey to his first loss of the season. "We had two Cy Young candidates going at each other," said Matt Carpenter, who tripled in the go-ahead run in the third and preserved the lead with a sparkling stop at second base in the ninth. Some forecasts had predicted up to 3 inches of rain. "Two days ago, they were talking about we were going to need to build an ark," Matheny said. "Thats tough on the starting pitcher. As hes walking through here an hour-and-a-half before the game, hes completely out of his routine because hes hearing conflicting stories of whats going to happen with weather. But he got his mind together and got into an abbreviated version of his routine and went out and executed." After expecting a rain delay, Wainwright did his preparation and warmup -- "kind of a ground routine; its not gymnastics, its just stretching" -- in the clubhouse instead of on the field. "My whole normal pregame routine was kind of thrown out the window," he said. Wainwright (10-3) retired his first 11 batters before David Wrights single and allowed four hits, struck out six and walked two -- including an intentional pass that caused the Mets to pinch hit for Harvey in the seventh. He tied his career best by winning his fifth straight start, dropped his ERA to 2.18 and got his 1,000th strikeout when Wright was called out on a first-inning curveball. "It wasnt much fun to be an offensive player today," Wright said. Known best in New York for freezing Carlos Beltran with a called third strike to end Game 7 of the 2006 NL championship series, Wainwright had been 0-4 with an 8.46 ERA in four starts against the Mets since his only career win against them, in St. Louis on April 18, 2010. "I had everybody in the world tell me I had never beat the Mets at their stadium, so it was something I wanted to do," Wainwright said. Trevor Rosenthal pitched the eighth, and Edward Mujica allowed a long home run to Marlon Byrd with one out in the ninth. John Buck doubled and took third as Kirk Nieuwenhuis grounded to Carpenter, who made a diving backhand stop as he fell and threw to first for the out. "When it was hit, I thought he had a good chance of getting a base hit up the middle." Carpenter said. Josh Satin fouled off two full-count pitches and swung over a splitter as Mujica remained perfect in 19 save chances. Harvey (5-1) had given up one run and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and a walk, ending a 14-start unbeaten streak dating to Sept. 12 but lowering his ERA to 2.04. "Hes as good as youre going to face in the big leagues," Carpenter said. "Hes got electric stuff. " Harvey had no-decisions in eight of his previous nine starts, and the Mets have scored just 18 runs while hes been in the game during his last 10 outings, according to STATS. "If I go seven zeros, were still playing the ballgame." Harvey said. "Its an incredible lineup. You really have to be locked in one through nine." St. Louis went ahead in the third when Pete Kozma hit an opposite-field single to right for the first hit of the game and Carpenter tripled past Byrd, who tried for a sprawling catch in right but allowed the ball to bounce past him. New Yorks bullpen gave up a run in the eighth, when Carpenter and Beltran singled off Scott Rice, and Matt Holliday and Allen Craig singled against LaTroy Hawkins. A day of dazzling defence included Craigs diving stop at first base in the eighth to rob Omar Quintanilla of a hit, two nifty pickups by Daniel Descalso on slow rollers to third in the seventh and a pair of challenging catches by centre fielder John Jay. He ran to the warning track for Lucas Dudas two-out drive with a runner on second in the fourth and nabbed a wind-blown drive by Jordany Valdespin leading off the sixth. "Our guys played a flawless game," Wainwright said. Next month, Wainwright and Harvey could find themselves in the same clubhouse at Citi Field -- on the NL All-Star team. "Thats a long time from now," Wainwright said. "Ive got to get a lot of different hitters out before I start worrying about All-Star hitters." NOTES: St. Louis took two of three in the series and improved the big leagues best record to 43-23. ... Craig has 49 RBIs. ... Kozma had three of the Cardinals 10 hits.Craig Kimbrel Red Sox Jersey . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. Pedro Martinez Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. https://www.cheapredsox.com/2651z-mike-shawaryn-jersey-red-sox.html . -- In a span of seven Washington Redskins offensive plays, Justin Tuck sacked Robert Griffin III four times. Marcus Walden Red Sox Jersey .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Michael Chavis Red Sox Jersey .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again.Alastair Cook will have to wait to become the first Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs, as he fell for 16 on day one of the first Investec Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley.Cook and Alex Hales had worked hard on their way to 49-0 after being put into bat by Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews, before Dasun Shanaka - on debut - removed the England captain with just his seventh ball in Test cricket, leaving him still 20 short of 10,000.Shanaka (3-30) added the strikes of Nick Compton and Joe Root for ducks to continue a dream debut, and after James Vince and Ben Stokes fell soon after lunch, England were reeling on 83-5.Hales (71no) and Jonny Bairstow (54no) led tthe England fightback, adding 88 for the sixth wicket to take England safely through to tea on 171-5, before rain meant no further play was possible for the day.ddddddddddddatch live coverage from day two of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley, live on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am on Friday. You can also catch highlights from day one at 8pm on Sky Sports 3, with The Verdict following immediately after at 9pm.Also See:ScorecardEngland v Sri Lanka on Sky SportsEngland fixtures/resultsSri Lanka fixtures/results ' ' '