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 couldn’t wear blue jeans. I had to wear the color red. Are you kidding me? It was ridiculous. If I didn’t have any of that, or worse, if something was thrown off, then instantly I was thinking, ‘Oh, man, I’m in trouble.’ And that’s 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 wasn’t sure whether he’d 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. ”That’s tough on the starting pitcher. As he’s walking through here an hour-and-a-half before the game, he’s completely out of his routine because he’s hearing conflicting stories of what’s 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; it’s not gymnastics, it’s 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 Wright’s 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 wasn’t 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.

”He’s as good as you’re going to face in the big leagues,” Carpenter said. ”He’s got electric stuff. ”

Harvey had no-decisions in eight of his previous nine starts, and the Mets have scored just 18 runs while he’s been in the game during his last 10 outings, according to STATS.

”If I go seven zeros, we’re still playing the ballgame.” Harvey said. ”It’s 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 York’s 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 defense included Craig’s 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 center fielder John Jay. He ran to the warning track for Lucas Duda’s 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.

”That’s a long time from now,” Wainwright said. ”I’ve got to get a lot of different hitters out before I start worrying about All-Star hitters.”

— Associated Press —

Dillon Gee is grateful for the recent spate of bad weather – in more ways than one.

Gee revealed he has tendinitis in his right elbow and was able to make his start Wednesday night because two rainouts last week in Washington pushed his turn back a couple of days.

What a start it was, though.

Gee pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Lucas Duda hit one of three Mets homers and New York scored the most runs allowed by Shelby Miller in his young career for a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

”Luckily, the rainouts came at a great time for me personally,” Gee said.

The right-hander said he’s had tendinitis since spring training and his elbow was checked out by a doctor. Now, it’s just a matter of managing the pain.

David Wright and Marlon Byrd also connected for the Mets, who snapped a three-game skid and improved to 2-6 in June. Duda drove in two runs, including a first-inning single that scored Daniel Murphy from first base.

With prized pitching prospect Zack Wheeler nearing his promotion to the big leagues, Gee (5-6) has done everything possible to protect his spot in the rotation. He has yielded only three earned runs over 21 innings in his past three starts – all wins.

The run of poor weather – the Mets have been postponed six times this season – also might help keep Gee in the rotation for at least another start or two. More rain is forecast for Thursday.

”We’re looking right now at a possibility of going with the sixth starter for a few days,” manager Terry Collins said.

New York needs an extra starter for a makeup doubleheader Tuesday in Atlanta.

A day after being named NL captain for the Home Run Derby during All-Star week at Citi Field, Wright hit a long ball into the center-field seats just to the right of the Big Apple in the sixth.

”I simply didn’t execute,” Miller said. ”A curveball right down the middle to Duda, a fastball right down the middle to Wright. I made mistakes and they capitalized on them.”

The NL Central-leading Cardinals entered with the league’s best batting average at .277 but could get little going against Gee, who is on a three-game run that’s as good as Miller (7-4) has been all season.

Gee scattered six hits and struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings. He gave up a one-out homer in the sixth to Allen Craig – his second in two days against the Mets.

The recent success could not have come at a better time for the crafty Gee, because the Mets plan to call up Wheeler to start one game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. While Collins said everyone would get their turn through the rotation, a pitcher will likely be demoted to the bullpen after that to make room for Wheeler – and it most likely will be Gee or Jeremy Hefner.

”You’ve got to weigh a lot of things, Collins said. ”You’ve got to weigh health. You’re going to weigh who could pitch out of the bullpen, who’s got credentials out of the bullpen. It could be we can’t afford to put somebody in the bullpen, we’re going to need a starter at another time.”

Miller, on the other hand, has solidified a spot in the Cardinals’ rotation with surprising consistency for a 22-year-old. The four runs the Mets scored were the most he’s allowed in 19 big league appearances – 13 starts this season. He had allowed three runs three times this year and his ERA is 2.21, up from 1.91 going into the game.

”There are time that it’s not just selection (of pitches), but execution,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. ”Sometimes young pitchers with early success in their careers fall into this. It is a tough league, good hitters – they make adjustments. They call this a game of adjustments for a reason.”

Miller struck out 10 without a walk in six innings.

The Mets did not score against him over 5 2-3 innings on May 15 but were able to go ahead in the first when Wright lined a two-out double to right-center and scored on Murphy’s single.

Running on a pitch to Duda, Murphy, not known for his speed, scored from first when right fielder Carlos Beltran played the line drive down the first base line lackadaisically and made his throw to second base.

”What a great read. He never slowed down,” Byrd said. ”That’s what we need – aggressive.”

With one out in the fourth, Duda homered into the Cardinals’ bullpen in right-center to end a run of eight straight outs by Miller that began after Duda’s RBI single in the first.

Byrd homered off Seth Maness in the seventh.

David Freese went 0 for 4 for the Cardinals, ending his career-best hitting streak at 20 games – longest in the majors this season.

— Associated Press —

Michael Wacha had combed his hair and dressed in a button-down shirt, all ready at his locker not long after a beer shower to celebrate his first major league win.

Just as he did on the mound, the St. Louis rookie got cleaned up quick.

Wacha recovered from a wild start and Allen Craig hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals in a 9-2 victory over the staggering New York Mets on Tuesday night.

”It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Wacha said. ”Hopefully, there’s more to come.”

Matt Holliday had three hits and the NL Central leaders took full advantage of a crucial error by new Mets first baseman Daniel Murphy, who was shifted over from second after slumping Ike Davis got demoted to the minors Sunday.

David Freese extended his career-best hitting streak to 20 games, longest in the majors this season, and Wacha (1-0) even knocked in a run with a groundout for his first RBI.

The 21-year-old righty walked three batters and fell behind 2-0 in a 37-pitch first inning but worked his way through it and soon settled in.

”The first inning was rough,” he said. ”Just didn’t have any command over my pitches. After I got out of the first I just told myself, just flush it out and just forget about it and just go out and attack the hitters the next couple of innings.”

Omar Quintanilla homered for the Mets, who gave up a major league-high seven unearned runs and lost for the seventh time in eight games since a season-best five-game winning streak that included a four-game sweep of the Subway Series against the New York Yankees. They dropped 13 games under .500, their lowest mark of the year.

Jeremy Hefner (1-6) had a 2-1 lead until St. Louis scored five unearned runs in the fifth, capped by Craig’s fifth homer. The outburst began when Jon Jay reached on a leadoff grounder to Murphy, who knocked it down on his backhand but rushed a high, off-balance throw to Hefner covering first.

”It’s a groundball that I should have handled, but I booted it,” Murphy said. ”It’s not my first time playing first base, and it gave them life.”

Pete Kozma doubled and Hefner slammed down the rosin bag after Wacha’s grounder to shortstop tied the score. Matt Carpenter walked, Yadier Molina put the Cardinals ahead with an RBI groundout and Holliday reached on an infield single before Craig drove an 0-1 pitch to left-center for a 6-2 advantage.

At his best in clutch situations, Craig came in batting .400 with runners in scoring position – the same average he had last year.

”You just can’t say it’s a fluke when a guy does what he’s done,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ”It’s for real. He’s just got a knack for getting it done.”

St. Louis, which owns baseball’s best record at 42-22, added two in the seventh after Kirk Nieuwenhuis misplayed a deep fly to right for an error. Holliday had an RBI single and reliever Josh Edgin, just recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, walked Jay with the bases loaded to force in another run.

”Their lineup is a test,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. ”They hit to all fields. They hit to all fields with power. They stay focused pitch after pitch.”

Shane Robinson, who replaced Craig in right field, homered in the ninth off David Aardsma to make it 9-2.

Craig made a painful-looking catch in the third when he fell at the base of the wall, where his neck and the back of his head snapped back and hit the fence.

”I feel all right. Probably going to be a little sore tomorrow, but not a big deal,” Craig said. ”It definitely jarred me a little bit.”

Wacha, drafted 19th overall a year ago out of Texas A&M, was making his third major league start after an impressive outing against Kansas City and a shaky one vs. Arizona.

Pitching on the road for the first time, he gave up a home run to his second batter. Marlon Byrd hit a sacrifice fly and the bases were loaded when Nieuwenhuis hit a grounder up the middle that appeared headed for center field and a two-run single that would have given New York a 4-0 lead.

Kozma, however, was positioned perfectly at shortstop and made a nice play to end the inning.

It was the sort of play that often goes unnoticed, but it stopped the Mets in their tracks. Wacha did not walk another batter and yielded five hits over six solid innings before Randy Choate and Keith Butler finished up.

”He just was out of rhythm and every pitcher goes through it,” Matheny said. ”Some of ’em are able to still end up in the sixth inning.”

New York did not manage a hit after Jordany Valdespin’s leadoff single in the fifth. With Davis sent down, Valdespin is getting an opportunity to play regularly at second base, his natural position.

— Associated Press —