WAITING FOR WEDNESDAY, DAY 2

• Tom Glavine versus Jeff Weaver in Game 1 of the NLCS. Weaver's been pitching a lot better lately. But I like the Mets-Cardinals matchup. The Mets have a way better bullpen, the rotations are about even, despite the semi-mess the Mets are in, and the Mets' lineup is better. The Mets can't let Albert Pujols beat them. That's the one player they need to worry about in the Cardinals' lineup. Meanwhile, the Mets can come at you from all angles. The only person not hitting right now is Jose Valentin, and I don't think that will last.
• One more thing about the Mets-Cardinals. Keep in mind that when Carlos Beltran got his monster contract, it followed up his monster post-season with the Astros. And who did the Astros play in that year's NLCS? That's right, the Cardinals. So that's something to keep in mind. Of course, these games will neither be in Houston or the same Busch Stadium where Beltran was so hot, but it's worth noting.
• Not sure what's going to happen with the Joe Torre/Yankees manager situation, but from an outsider's perspective, I don't think it's Torre's fault that the Yankees aren't winning World Series. Sure, he's made some managerial mistakes, but he should be given a ton of slack because of all the success he's had. At least he should be allowed to resign, not be fired...and he shouldn't be forced to resign. He should be allowed to leave on his own terms. This is why I stopped rooting for the Yankees in the first place - I think Buck Showalter got a raw deal there (although I'm not convinced he would have had the same success Torre has had). I've seen bad managers, and Torre is not a bad manager. He doesn't deserve to be fired. I feel the same way about Willie Randolph after just two years - I hope he's here forever. I hope I never get to the point where I'm rooting for him to lose his job.
• A couple of stats to throw your way - I'm dubbing the Mets-Dodgers series to tape from the TiVo, and as a result I'm re-watching a lot of the series, and there was a stat I missed the first time around. The Mets are 6-0 at Shea all-time in the Division Series. That's pretty impressive. Also, I'll add to that, that the Mets are now 3-0 all-time in their Division Series appearances. They've beaten the Diamondbacks (1999), Giants (2000), and now the Dodgers (2006). I'm not as obsessive about this as I am with World Series matchups (we're rooting for Mets-Tigers, incidentally), but I like the fact that the Mets haven't had a repeat opponent in the Division Series. (Unlike the NLCS, thanks very much, St. Louis.)
• Finally in this bulleted section, it makes me a little upset that 1) the Mets blatantly lifted the 'Sweet Caroline' schtick off of the Red Sox, and 2) ESPN and FOX find the need to come back live to the game and play that loudly, drawing attention to the fact that the Mets are copying the Red Sox. Now, the Mets make no secret that it is a Red Sox thing they are copying, but I don't like it, because it should be something that is unique to Fenway. It drives me nuts because someone in the Mets office, probably some intern, thinks it was a great idea to get a crowd pumped up by playing it, not realizing the full story behind why it's now played all the time at Fenway. And meantime, if there is a Neil Diamond fan out there who can help me with this, I imagine the "So good, so good, so good" etc. part of that comes from a Niel Diamond concert, and Fenway fans didn't invent that as part of a sing-along, right? They're just the first to do it at a ballpark? I don't know. I'm just disappointed the Mets couldn't come up with their own crowd-rouser. Like in 1999, when they played "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. I loved that. Or this year, whenever Jose Reyes comes to the plate, and they play the "Ole" (that's o-LAY) song, and the crowd sings along with "Ho-say, Ho-say, Ho-say, Ho-say, Ho-say, Ho-say". (That doesn't stand by itself too well.) Or just play "Meet the Mets", for crying out loud. That's always a crowd pleaser.

RESPONSE TO RED SOX COMMENTS: In case you don't read the comments section, here's Dave in Brighton's reaction to my comments about Red Sox fans being happier over Yankees failure than Red Sox success:

"Oct. 28, 2004 -- Red Sox win World Series. Hundreds stay up all night, meet the team at Fenway Park. People leap for joy in the streets. An estimated three million turn out for a parade despite flu-inducing freezing drizzle.

Oct. 7, 2006 -- Yankees eliminated in ALDS. Guy at work says to me this morning "Hey, can you believe that Yankees lost to the Tigers?"I think maybe you're exaggerating just a little. "

I am exaggerating...just a little. There are a couple of problems with my statement - one being that since I know how ridiculous Sox fans can get, I totally tune them out. I don't listen to sports talk radio here because of how stupid the fans can sound and because of how awful the hosts are. Which is part of problem number 2 - I sometimes think the Boston sports media is an accurate representation of the fans. It tends to be an accurate representation of only the type of fans who call and make me not listen to sports talk radio around here. (The third issue, which I won't belabor, is that I happen to know sensible Red Sox fans, for the most part, who root for and enjoy the success of their team, rather than focusing their attention on rooting against the Yankees. Unfortunately, I think the Sox fans I know represent the minority of Sox fans...or at least they are a very silent majority. I guess if they are the majority, they're the type of majority that don't get played up, because they don't feed into what the media likes to pump up around here. Which brings us back to my main point - it's the media.)

Here's what I mean. The headline on Dan Shaughnessy's column Sunday (I know - my biggest problem is reading Dan Shaughnessy...but I guess I was looking for an idiot to prove my point, and I knew just where to find one) is "Their fall in Motown is a classic", and the first line is "If you are a Red Sox fan, this was your World Series." The article is about there being a time and place to celebrate what the Tigers accomplished, but for now, let's focus on what's important - that the Yankees lost!

It's something that irritates the heck out of me, perhaps more because I've met some of these media types and they have huge egos. And it bothers me that they're successful because a lot of people buy into their negativity, and that's what feeds the egos. Maybe if they were nice guys, I wouldn't mind it. But most of them are not. So I'm sorry if I've offended real Red Sox (read: baseball) fans in my attempt to shoot down the Boston media once again. And now we can go back to what's important - rooting for the Mets to win the World Series.