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There is no joy in Metville, for the mighty Carlos has struck out. Looking. On a 55 mph curveball.

The baseball gods will surely punish me for being so pun-heavy – God knows, I smack around the BE writers when they get out of control with them – but someone needs to ‘splain to me how Carlos Beltran, a Cardinals killer if ever there was one, could stand frozen, with two strikes, on the most hittable curve ball in the history of playoff baseball. For crying out loud, at least pretend to swing at the damn thing. Otherwise, you render fellow outfield Endy Chavez’s incredible catch of Scott Rolen’s home run in the sixth – which Chavez turned into a double play – completely pointless.

To be fair, it’s not as though Beltran is the only one that didn’t come through in the clutch in Game 7. Cliff Floyd, pinch hitting for losing pitcher Aaron Heilman (can’t really blame him for throwing a belt-high fastball to the youngest Flying Molina Brother, when only nine pitchers got away with that all season), was also frozen by an Adam Wainwright curveball. And let us not forget the bottom of the sixth, right after Chavez’s incredible play (which Floyd never, ever would have been able to make). After a throwing error by Rolen with a runner on first – loved his joke post-game about hitting the bull, a sly “Bull Durham” reference – Jeff Suppan intentionally walks Shawn Green to load the bases. Jose Valentin strikes out, and Chavez, the most eager beaver you’ve ever seen, swings at the first pitch, only to hit a meek flyout to Jim Edmonds in center field.

While the Cubs fan in me is angry to see the Cards advance, I have to take my hat off to them. Everyone said they were the weakest team that La Russa’s brought to the postseason in years, maybe ever. Well, maybe that’s what it will take for them to win it all. After all, the Yankees have proven that the biggest lineup isn’t necessarily the best one. Are the 2006 Cardinals the 1996 Yankees in disguise? We’ll find out Saturday.

You know, it’s funny. I just remembered that my friends and I were all rooting for the Yankees in that Series, because the Braves were the heavy favorites and we wanted to see the underdog Yankees win. How odd to call the Yankees underdogs at anything. But that’s what they were, and they won it handily. Note to Detroit: don’t get complacent. You have a much more difficult Series ahead of you than you think.

And so it’s come to this: the least of New York’s pitching (pick an Oliver, Perez or Darren) against St. Louis’ most aggressively average (Jeff Suppan). Home teams have a substantial edge in Game 7’s, but I attended the Game 7 at Wrigley between the Cubs and Marlins, so you know, anything’s possible.

Give the Mets credit; they sent rookie John Maine out to battle Chris Carpenter, arguably the best pitcher in the National League, and came out on the winning end. In fact, the Mets won both games that Carpenter started in this series, a most impressive feat. Jose Reyes leading off the game with a home run was a good start.

The Tigers have to be loving this, watching both teams exhaust their pitching staffs like that. Then again, could the lengthy break make the Tigers pitchers rusty? Personally, I’ve never bought into that idea. There is no way extra rest at the end of the playoffs could hurt anyone, especially pitchers who are almost out of gas.

Everyone thought this was New York’s year. The only thing the Mets are hoping for is that tonight is their night.