The LDS is in the bag and the Cardinals have emerged as the Mets' opponents in the forthcoming LCS. My elation on Saturday bordered on indescribable, as the Mets finished off the Dodgers and the juggernaut Yankees fell prey to the upstart $82 million Detroit Tigers. It's hard to say the Yankees are the worst team money can buy (the early nineties edition of these Mets apparently have that distinction), but their continued failures in the postseason are surprising and wonderful all at once. It's only a matter of time until Bob Klapisch pens a coffee table book on how the Yankee dynasty fell apart (though Buster Olney may have beat him to the punch several years ago).
In their three games against Los Angeles the Mets had a mixed bag of offensive contributions. We're talking about a tiny sample size here, fewer than fifteen at-bats in all cases. Carlos Delgado (.429/.429/.643), Paul Lo Duca (.455/.500/.545) and Cliff Floyd (.444/.500/.778) all hit the ball with authoritah, though Floyd's status for the LCS remains uncertain following his early departure from Game 3 with an achilles injury. David Wright (.333/.385/.500) and Shawn Green (.333/.333/.556) have both been solid at the plate, while Jose Reyes (.167/.286/.167) and Jose Valentin (.000/.250/.000) have barely showed up at all. Carlos Beltran picked up a couple of bloop singles but helped the offense by drawing five walks in the three games. Expect the offense to pick up overall against the Cardinals, whose pitching staff is quite a bit poorer than the Dodgers'.
I talked about this a bit over at MetsGeek.com a bit, but I think the Mets compare very well with St. Louis. Chris Carpenter is a bona fide ace, but the rest of the Cards' starting rotation is basically dreck. Jeff Suppan, Jason Marquis and Jeff Weaver make the Mets' 2-3-4 of John Maine, Steve Trachsel and Oliver Perez look far better than they would otherwise. The Cardinals will come with a heavy dose of right-handed pitching, which falls right into the strength of the Mets' lineup.
Speaking of the Cardinals, Larry Borowsky over at SBNation site Viva El Birdos has been running a series of limericks, many user-contributed. I think we can play that game.
Game 1
With Pedro on ice for the season
El Duque got hurt for some reason
Rotation in shambles
So Willie, he gambles
With John Maine, the bullpen, we're breezin'
You guys fill in Game 2 and Game 3. I'll post my interpretations later on. Also, the first Postseason Comment Contest nomination thread will be posted later this morning, so go review the game chatters for the first three games and consider who might be deserving of the Mets' '86 DVD set.