Mets Win Opener vs Old Rivals

Cards and Mets Have A Long Historycopyright c 2006 Evan Pritchard

The Mets beat the Cardinals 2-0 on a Beltran-battered blast that crashed against the upper part of the scoreboard in distant right center field with Lo Duca on base. That was all the offense they needed with Tom Glavine on the mound, who needed only 89 pitches in his 34th post-season start to sail past the Cards in his 7 brilliant innings. It was a good thing the 40 year old hurler's pitch count was low as he will have to come back on only three days rest, as it stands now. There is only so much Ben *** that you can put on an arm like that.

The Cardinals were the Mets' first opponents in April of 1962, and have met in many a post season game since the division of the National League, and the Mets have won all of them in recent years. (The Mets last lost an NLCS game since 1988, not a bad streak, and have won eight in a row now, counting the series versus the Nationals to close out September.) In recent years, Tony La Russa has been the manager of the thwarted Cards, and one of the best in baseball. Tony, a former lawyer, is a brilliant strategest who is not afraid to shuffle the deck (of Cards, no pun intended) to squeeze one more run out of his team; however he also has used body-mind techniques such as deep relaxation and auto suggestion to increase team performance. He must have used one of Emmitt Miller's deep relaxation tapes on Jeff Weaver Thursday before the game, because Weaver pitched much better than his ERA. Carpenter is up next for Friday's game and he is a man who needs no introduction, and needs no sacro-cranial therapy!

Glavine is one of the great post season pitchers as well, as can be determined ironically by the fact that he has lost more post-season games than anyone else, 15. You have to be good to lose that many and still get the nod. Last night was his 14th post season victory.

Beltran's homer was his sixth post season dinger off Cardinal pitching; the first 5 came in his brilliant playoff appearance in Houston which got him a position in New York. During that series he came to the plate 28 times and hit 5 homers, with 10 hits 12 runs scored and 7 ribbies. That's a batting average of .357, but a runs scored average of .428, an rbi average of .250 and a home run average of .178, which is the kind of numbers we associate with......forgive me for saying it.....Mickey Mantle. It was one of six hits for the Mets off Jeff Weaver and Co, Inc, but it was enough. Glavine was joined by the hot throwing Mota and Wagner for a four hit shutout. All three were in top form for the windswept evening's contest of skill.

Though hitless against Weaver and crew, Valentin made two great plays in the ninth to help Billy Wagner and his 99 mile an hour projectiles close the deal on the day.

When Julio Franco started playing in the majors in 1982, Pujols was only 2. When you combine Wright's age and Reyes' age together, both 23, you get 46 years, both together are younger than Franco.

Mota had an excellent outing. He was acquired from the Indians for cash and a player to be named later after the Dwayner Sanchez accident.

Former Met Preston Wilson has had 8 homers in just 32 games with the Cards. His step father, Mookie Wilson, was the Met who hit that ground ball to Bill Buckner that I wrote about in my Red Sox Health Alert article.

On the post game interviews of fans there was a sign that said how Mets fans felt after this win:

CARDINALS TASTE JUST LIKE CHICKEN!!!

The Mets have always fared well against La Russa. It must be that tough minded New Yorker attitude. We're all lawyers in this city.

More updates as we go along. EP

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METS LOSE SECOND GAME TO CARDS AS CLOSER WAGNER CAN'T FIND THE HANDLE
coyright c 2006 Evan Pritchard

The Mets lost the second game of the NLCS versus the Cardinals in spite of some decent pitching by Maine and handy relief from the bull pen. It was 6-6 in the ninth when Billy Wagner blew the tie. Some speculated that it would have been better if Willie Randolph had not brought in Wagner for a non-save situation. But they needed good pitching and he was the best on the other end of the telephone so he went in. The final score was 8-6.

In the top of the first, John Maine retired the side in order. In the home half of the first, the Mets came on like gangbusters; Reyes doubled to start, LoDuca was out but Beltran walked and then Delgado hit what was not to be his last three run homer of the series. Wright walked to extend the rally, but the Green and Valentin were retired to end the inning. The score was 3-0 Mets.

The Cards came right back with a big inning; Edmonds got a walk off Maine, then Spiezio made an out, then Encarnation and Belliard got on to load up the bases for Molina. Ben came through with a double to score two to make it 3-2 Mets, but pitcher Carpenter struck out and then Eckstien popped to Valentin.

The Mets scored again in the bottom of the second. Chavez led off with a double to left, then Maine made a nice sacrifice bunt to move up the runner. Reyes knocked in Chavez from third with a single to center. It was 4-2. Then LoDuca grounded out to third and Beltran struck out to end the rally.

Top of the third and the Cards were determined to tie it up. Chris Duncan struck out but Pujols walked and then Jim Edmonds blasted a two run homer off Maine to tie up the game, 4-4. Speizio walked but Encarnation and Belliard both flied out to end the rally.

Bottom of the third, the Mets threatened but did not break the tie. Delgado grounded to short then Wright and Green both walked and it looked like a rally, but Valentin killed the rally with a short to second to first double play.

Top of the fourth, still 4-4. Molina flied to center, Carpenter flied to left and then Eckstine walked and stole a base, but Duncan struck out for the second straight time.

Bottom of the fourth, Chavez grounded to second, and then Maine was hit by a pitch. Reyes forced Maine at second and LoDuca grounded to short to end the inning. It was the first scoreless inning of the game.

Top of the fifth, Pedro Feliciano came in to pitch to Pujols and got him to ground to short. Edmonds lined to center for an out and then Spiezio flied to center.

Bottom of the fifth, Beltran grounded to first, but then Delgado hit his second homer of the night, a solo shot and it put the Mets in the lead 5-4. The Mets continued the rally, with hits from Wright and Green but it was to no avail. Valentin continued his cold streak and flied to center and Chavez grounded out to third.

Top of the sixth, the Cards went quietly with a strike out by Encarnation, a grounder to second by Belliard, a single to left by Molina and a popup to third by pinchhitter Rodriquez on one pitch.

Bottom of the sixth, still 5-4 Mets. Anderson Hernandez, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, struck out but then Reyes walked and LoDuca hit a double to left to score the 6th Met run. It was 6-4. Beltran and Delgado both grounded to second to end the inning.

Top of the seventh, Mota came in to pitch and he was throwing fireballs and getting them to fly at 99 and almost 100 miles an hour. Eckstein and Duncan both flied out. Pujols ripped a single to left and Edmonds walked to put the tying runs on. Then Spiezio, subbing for Rolan, smashed a huge triple to right field which scored those tying runs, and it was all tied up at 6 all. Hielman came in to pitch and Encarnation grounded out to end the rally.

Bottom of the seventh, the Mets went quietly; a fly to center by Wright, and grounder to first by Green a single by Valentin, a rare hit for him, and then Chavez ended the inning with a grounder to 2nd.

Top of the eighth, still with Heilman pitching, Belliard grounded to second, then Molina singled to left, then the pitcher struck out and Eckstien ended the rally without a run by grounding to second.

Bottom of the eighth, Julio Franco struck out, but Reyes got on base and then LoDuca walked and it looked like the Mets with speed at second had a good chance to go ahead, but Beltran grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and it was over. The score remained tied. If they had gotten even one run, some would say, it would have put Wagner more at ease and he would have done better in the ninth to get a post-season save. As it turned out, once again, Wagner was not his best entering a tie game. It was only the second scoreless inning in the high-scoring game.

Top of the ninth, Wagner pitching and Taquero, batting for Chris Duncan, hit a hugely important home run to put the Cards ahead 7-6. Pujols followed with a double and although Edmonds grounded to 2nd, Spiezio doubled to score Pujols to make it 8-6. Encarnation singled to right but then Wagner got Belliard to ground to second and Molina to ground to third. Spiezio was caught in a rundown between third and second, and Wright and Reyes chased Spiezio back and forth several times before finally putting the squeeze on him; in fact Wright did squeeze him and it looked like he tickled him under the arms before letting him go. I kid you not. They were laughing, partly because the rundown went for such a long time, sort of like monkey in the middle for millionaires, as we can now call Wright and Reyes.

Unfortunately the damage was done, and the Mets were not able to come back from the two run deficit. The Mets had been 78-4 this season when leading after six innings, until tonight. They left the sixth leading 6-4, but the Cards got 4 runs off the Mets bullpen, and the St. Louis pen did not give up anything, and thereby hangs the tale.

Carpenter gave up five earned runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. It was Tony LaRussa’s 2298th win in the majors, which is one of the highest, but does not give him even a franchise record, as Frankie Frisch had more wins in his day with the old Cardinals. It was the first really big blown lead by Billy Wagner since May 20th, when he blew a lead to the Yankees, covered by this blog (click on May archives)

This loss evened the series 1-1 for the Mets, starting out the series with two games in front of the home town fans. They learned that the Cardinals are not to be easily captured, even when flying far from home.