Open Thread - NLCS Game 6: Mets vs Cardinals (10/18/2006) on FOX

He's also more consistent than Maine (i.e. Carpenter's variance is smaller than Maine's), but maybe we'll got lucky.

Let's go Mets! Let's go Maine!

If a Cardinals fan shows up looking to start trouble, in sheep's clothing or otherwise, either be polite or ignore them.  No use getting all riled up.

Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Delgado.

Go bullpen.  Go Mets.

Okay, wtf?

Gah, and Wright does yet another trademark late inning throwing error!  Good thing Delgado was ready for it.

I'm incensed.

I actually agree with that - D. Oliver can come out of the bullpen, unlike Perez.

Fuck fuck fuck, fingers crossed.

I was hoping for Darren Oliver tomorrow, but Perez should be OK.

The crowd where I was (mezzanine behind the RF foul pole) was actually not as fired up as I expected at a crucial playoff game.  I mean, for the first two innings everyone was standing up for every two-strike count, but by the fifth people were trying to start The Wave.  The Wave. In NLCS Game 6, with a two-run lead, and Carinal runners all over the basepaths.  I don't understand people sometimes.  The energy when the Mets got something going was incredible, of course, but there was also a lot of free-floating anger coming out in weird places, like arguing ball and strike calls from 450 feet away (de rigeur for the Bud-Lite-addled man, I know, but still ridiculous).  I myself actually lost my voice around the third inning, I was screaming so hard.

Chris Carpenter deserves a lot of credit for this game.  I saw upthread that someone wrote "where did those incredible curveballs come from?" in the 4th or 5th, and I was thinking the exact same thing in the stands.  It was obvious from far, far away that he froze a few Mets (Valentin stands out in my memory) with a couple of knee-bucklers there.

On the flip side, so does John Maine.  He's really composed, almost imperturbable.  My impression (TV viewers, confirm or deny) was that he seemed to have a lot of problems with his control of his secondary pitches, which allowed the Cardinal hitters to sit on the fastball (since anything else was pretty far off the plate).  But he gutted it out and recorded a really fine performance.  I think he's a big leaguer for good now.

The one really questionable Willie Randolph decision was (obviously enough) bringing in Mota to face the lefty power threat Chris Duncan.  It worked out fine in the event, but you really could question why he didn't go to a left-hander there. I was under the strong impression this meant Darren Oliver would be starting tomorrow, since he'd be the natural choice with Feliciano tired from yesterday.  But apparently I haven't caught up with the twists and turns of Willie-ball yet.  You won't hear me complaining tonight, though.

We're too far in to back off now.  Game 7 is ours.  Or maybe that's the sleep deprivation talking.