"Long before the hitter he tried to walk launched a game-breaking homer, Adam Wainwright knew his grand return to Queens was going to be a slog.

He felt out of sorts before even throwing a pitch.

In what has become a season defined by inconsistencies, the Cardinals' biggest constant succumbed to the trend as Wainwright allowed a season-high six runs in an 8-2 drubbing by the New York Mets. Wainwright's first appearance on a mound in New York since his curveball froze Carlos Beltran and won the 2006 National League Championship Series was everything that pitch was not: erratic and forgettable.

"Poor execution leads to poor results," Wainwright said. "My body was fighting itself to get in the right position to throw a ball. ... It was something that was a grind from the very first pitch.

"Very poor execution."

That has become a viral theme of the season.

The Cardinals lost for the fourth time in five games since their eight-game romp around the All-Star break. Whatever chances they had to inch back into Tuesday's game at Citi Field they lost in the webbing of David Wright's glove at third base or in their own lack of execution.

The Cardinals left 10 runners on base, went two for 12 with runners in scoring position and got an 0-for-five performance from first baseman Albert Pujols. The Mets, groping for offense, got eight runs and the three-run blast from Jeff Francoeur to back Jon Niese's six solid innings.

"We had a plan before the game on how to get all of their hitters out, especially (Pujols)," said Niese (7-4). "We tried not to let him beat us. It's kind of comforting that the plan worked."

While stretching for the game, before he threw his first warm-up pitch, Wainwright (14-6) felt his timing and balance were off. It didn't take long to discover by how much. In the second inning, Wainwright walked Wright and gave up a ground-rule double to Beltran. Wainwright meant to go inside with the pitch to Beltran and instead saw it stray up and away. He said he missed his location "by three feet. I never miss by three feet."

The lack of command was more problematic in the fifth. He walked Beltran on four pitches, gave up a single to rookie Ike Davis and with runners at the corners faced Francoeur. Wainwright was ready to surrender the at-bat. Either the free-swinging Francoeur was going to go after pitches, or Wainwright was prepared to walk him."