The Mets have to be shaking in their boots right now, down 3-2 and staring down Chris Carpenter on the mound for the Cardinals. There was always a risk of the Mets being in this position the moment the news leaked that they would be losing not just Pedro but El Duque as well. Tom Glavine’s dandy, but Pedro’s mean. And mean is what wins in the playoffs.
It would be a shame, really, if the Mets came this far, only to fall apart before taking their shot at the brass ring. It would be an even bigger shame to lose to the weakest Cardinals team in years. Though to be fair, the Cards remind me of the mid-‘90s Yankees teams, the ones that had some star players (Paul O’Neill, a young Derek Jeter), but more importantly, they had a clutch supporting cast of guys like Scott Brosius and Shane Spencer. Notice that the bigger the Yankees got, the sooner their fortunes would turn in the postseason? Just a thought.
Fox is surely rooting for the Mets, not just because it would mean an extra game of playoff baseball, but because it would mean more New York baseball. As much as fans love seeing teams like the Tigers, White Sox, Marlins and Angels appear out of nowhere and win it all, Fox hates not having one of the New York teams in the Big Show. Detroit and St. Louis are ranked #11 and 52 respectively in population. Tulsa is actually bigger than St. Louis. Who knew?
I wonder how much the strike zone is going to grow/shrink tonight…
