Tuesday night's game is pretty much a microcosm of my feelings about the way the Mets match up with the Cardinals. The only person in that lineup that can beat you is Albert Pujols, which John Maine let happen (twice), and the Cardinals' bullpen stinks. The unfortunate thing is that the Cardinals are very beatable - because of that, their lead in the NL Central is now down to one game over the Reds, and they are in serious trouble when it comes to making the post-season.John Maine was the starter for the Mets, and he had a bad outing, mostly because of Pujols...but also because he let baserunners on ahead of Pujols. Pujols hit a 3-run homer and a grand slam off Maine, accounting for the entire Cardinals offense (this all came after Maine retired the first nine batters he faced). Lucky for the Mets, Jeff Weaver was the Cardinals' starter, and he gave up two homers to Carlos Delgado - a solo shot and the Mets' team-record 9th grand slam of the year (as well as Delgado's 400th career homer). That narrowed the gap to 7-5, which the Mets got to 7-6 in the 6th.
It stayed that way into the ninth (despite my prayers that the Mets would rock Braden Looper in the 8th inning), when ineffective closer Jason Isringhausen came on for St. Louis. After getting Jose Reyes to ground out, Isringhausen gave up a single to Paul LoDuca, then Carlos Beltran ripped a game-winning homer over the right field wall.
It was an exciting win for the Mets, and it was the type of game where you felt the Mets would come back and win, or at least I did, because of what I've been seeing with the Cardinals' bullpen all year. The interesting thing from this game was the post-game quotes, too, because Beltran talked about how the winner of this series is making a statement. That's good that the Mets are going out to show that they are the best team in the National League - it would be embarrassing for them to lose this series to the Cardinals.
This is a relatively tough stretch for the Mets. After 3 with St. Louis, the Mets host Philadelphia (no doubt looking for revenge for last week's 3 out of 4 series win by the Phillies). Then the Mets go to surprisingly tough Colorado (who they just swept in New York), then they go to Houston before coming back home to take on Atlanta and the Dodgers. Those are some of the better teams in the National League, and it would be fitting that the Mets clinch the division against one of those teams, putting an exclamation point on the Mets' dominance over the National League. (The Atlanta series is September 4, 5, and 6th, too early for a clinching - but wouldn't that have been awesome if the Mets could celebrate the division championship in front of Atlanta.)
Steve Trachsel takes on Mark Mulder in game 2 of the St. Louis series on Wednesday night.
MAGIC NUMBER: The Phillies beat the Cubs on Tuesday night, for the second night in a row, so the Mets' Magic Number only decreases by one. The Phillies can't stay as hot as they've been - I expect this number to start dropping a lot very soon.GOOD NEWS FOR GLAVINE: I guess it pays to be an optimist. Turns out Tom Glavine will not have to undergo surgery, and will only miss 7-10 days, which is nothing compared to the worst-case scenarios that were being laid out for Glavine. And at his age, a 7-10 day period of rest for his arm isn't the worst thing to happen to the Mets.
GREEN'S GANG: The Mets acquired Shawn Green from the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. Green hasn't been playing much lately, since the Diamondbacks are giving playing time to a youngster, and he's been unhappy about that. The Mets gave up minor league pitcher Evan McLane (who I saw pitch for the Tides at Pawtucket earlier this season on the johnnymets.blogspot.com Lastings Milledge scouting trip). But in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Green, the Mets had to designate Victor Diaz for assignment - so I think another team can pick him up, but if he doesn't get picked up in 10 days, the Mets will retain him. There's a lot of potential in Diaz, but I guess he won't reach it as a Met...what with Milledge, Beltran, and whoever else in their outfield, Diaz was probably destined to be a career minor leaguer in the Mets' organization.
I'm not too crazy about the Mets adding Green. It doesn't seem like something they need right now - but he can change my mind if he plays like the Shawn Green of a few years back, rather than the one of the past couple of years.
THE KID'S KIDS/ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: The rare double minor league rainout. Both the St. Lucie Mets and the Norfolk Tides had their games postponed due to rain on Tuesday night.
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