Before I get to the preview, I'm going to get on my soapbox about something that has annoyed the living shit out of me for a few days now, that being, the Mets place in NYC. No, I'm not talking about the wall to wall coverage of "Will George Fire Joe" in all the papers, or even the ESPN week-long special on "What happened to the Yankees". No, what I am talking about is the perception of this team among fans in the city.
I'm sick and tired of reading stories about how the Mets can now take over the city. I have news for the media, the Mets drew over 3.5 million fans this year. Ratings on SNY are higher than they ever were on MSG/FSNY. Merchandise sales are up. In other words, there already is a good portion of this city that loves our Mets. We have been there all along, and will continue to do so. What I do not want, and what most Met fans do not want are Yankee fans who switch allegiance to the Mets. No true fan of the Yankees would do that, as no true Met fan would root for the Yankees (despite Larry Jones' comments to the contrary a few years ago. How's your golf game Larry?)
Yes, of course there will be the casual baseball fan who has no vested interest in either team for the most part who might now tilt towards the Mets now that they are still playing while the Yankees are not, that is normal. But do not sit there and write stories that the Mets can take over the city. We do not want to. We do not want bandwagon fans. The true fan has suffered through the Art Howe Error. We suffered through Dallas Green. We lived through Joe Torre and George Bamberger. We lived with Buddy Harrelson. We enjoyed Davey and Bobby, and are enjoying Willie. We will be here even if the team loses in this round, and we will not be looking for a new manager, or to trade a Hall of Famer. We are Met fans, and we are Proud of that.
On to the Preview.
Interesting matchup. The Cards slumped coming into the playoffs, barely hanging on and holding off the Reds and Astros. However, once the playoffs began, they resumed playing good ball, beating the Padres (sorry Mike's) 3-1. The keys for the Mets, and obviously, this is not rocket science, will be keeping Eckstein off the bases, and holding Pujols in check. Edmonds is playing hurt, as is Rolen. Both remain dangerous, but their bread is buttered by Eckstein and Pujols.
The Cardinals of course want to neutralize Reyes and Delgado. The problem is that even if they do that, they still have to deal with PLD and Wright. A key for the Mets will be Valentin warming up again. He had a poor NLDS, so a bounce back performance is a must, especially with Uncle Cliffy possibly not being on the roster, and even if he is, available for pinch-hitting duties only for the most part. A wounded Carlos Beltran is still dangerous, as he can still move runners along, and work walks, as he did in the NLDS. So in the end, the lineup favors the Mets.
Pitching will be the deciding factor here. The Cards are throwing Jeff Weaver tonight. Now, before we get all happy about them throwing a guy who was released by the Angels this season, and failed in NY as a Yankee, I'm concerned he may channel Kenny Rogers from last Saturday and try for some NY payback. That is a slight concern though. Jeff Suppan goes tomorrow night, followed by Chris Carpenter. Their pen is missing Izzy, who has been replaced by Wainwright. Looper is still there, not closing however. The Cards do have a couple of lefties in the pen, but none in the starting rotation. Hopefully, leftitis is a thing of the past. The Cards do have Tony Larussa, a self-proclaimed genius, who always seems to overmanage at this time of year. He is a winner, so he could be a deciding factor here.
The Mets will counter with Glavine tonight, hoping he can emulate what he did in Game 2 of the NLDS, followed by Maine and Trax. For Game 4, since Kukla and Fran were not available, we get Ollie. So again, the hope for the Mets is to get 5 or 6 serviceable innings out of the starters, and then bring in the bullpen. This is the recipe used all season long, and it led to 97 regular season wins, and a sweep in the NLDS.
So, a potentially good series awaits us. I have my concerns about the starters, and some parts of the lineup, but I have faith. Mets in 6.
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3 comments:
I like the Kukla & Fran line, Ed.
I'm a little more confident than you. I say mets in 6, though I think 5 is likely. I really think the boys are gonna bash the hell out the Three Stooges (that would be whichever trio takes the hill when Carpenter's not it).
In addition to Bobby and Davey, I immensely enjoyed and respected Gil Hodges. A true man among men.
koosman - I stuck solely to managers that I can recall. Being born in 1969, I did not get to enjoy his teams. No slight intended, Gil is fondly remembered by all.
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