More Rain Delays

(Busch Stadium) After yesterday saw rain account for two hours and fifteen minutes of delay, the weather is at again as today’s start time has been pushed back to 1:45pm CT. (Updated, targeted time is now 2:30pm CT).

“Sunny and 75 in my mind,” responded Mike Matheny if he anticipated any difference in how weather delays were handled with this being the start of a series instead of a getaway day. “Until somebody tells me different, we’re going to be ready to play when the bell rings.”

The Busch Stadium grounds crew worked late last night after the game and began again early this morning to ready the field for play.

“Our field crew does an amazing job,” praised Matheny. “The hours they put in to that field to make it, not just a field that’s capable of playing, but just a beautiful field that’s really nice to play on.”

The rain had subsided for much of the morning, but Head Groundskeeper Bill Findley and his crew rolled out the tarp a few minutes before the rains began to fall about 30 minutes before the scheduled game time.

For the latest updates on the rain delays, please follow Brian Stull on Twitter @StullySTL.

Once play gets underway, the starting lineups are as follows:

CARDINALS (updated)

2B Matt Carpenter

SS Aledmys Diaz

LF Matt Holliday

CF Stephen Piscotty

3B Jhonny Peralta

C Yadier Molina

RF Brandon Moss

1B Jedd Gyorko

P Carlos Martinez

PIRATES

1B John Jaso

RF Gregory Polanco

CF Andrew McCutchen

LF Starling Marte

3B David Freese

2B Josh Harrison

SS Jordy Mercer

C Erik Kratz

P Jonathon Niese (L)