Friday, October 20, 2006

A Pennant That Got Away

Dammit.

I was certain that the fly ball that Yadier Molina hit in the top of the ninth was a simple fly to leftfield when it left his bat.

And of all the Mets you'd want up in a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth with the tying and winning runs on base, it surely was Carlos Beltran, who seemed to own the Cardinals in the postseason. A storybook finish loomed on the horizon. But it was an incredible curveball by Adam Wainwright on 0-2 that caught him looking to end the Mets season.

Dammit.

Oliver Perez sure did Derek Lowe proud last night, and gave the Mets six solid innings. Like D-Lowe in 2004, he gave up just one run in his Game 7 appearance. He deserved a win.

And Endy Chavez' catch was one of the greatest catches I've ever seen and he turned it into a double play. I thought for sure after Scott Rolen threw away Carlos Delgado's grounder in the bottom of the inning that the Cardinals were snakebit (especially Rolen), and the Mets were on the way to the pennant. Even Chavez coming up with two outs and the bases full was too much like a Hollywood script, and I thought Chavez would clear the bases.

Dammit.

Jeff Suppan pitched brilliantly and deserved the MVP. The Mets wasted those two golden opportunities, in the sixth and ninth. I agree with bringing Aaron Heilman back for the ninth inning. And I don't want to hear ANYONE second-guess Willie Randolph not bringing in Billy Wagner for the ninth. His numbers are far worse in non-save situations (see Games 2 and 6), and Heilman looked strong in the eighth. You just have to tip your cap to Molina.

The Mets lose the NLCS to a team that was 14 games worse than they were in the 2006 regular season. And St. Louis was 3 games worse than the Red Sox were.

And on those depressing notes, I think I'll try to go to bed.

Tigers in 5.

Dammit.

7 comments:

Michael Leggett said...

Try Tigers in 4:

Let La Russa & Low Rent Lord Albert make it 16 Straight World Series Losses.

Peter N said...

I though the game was great. Truly ANYONE could have won, at any opoint.Go Tigers...in 5...let's see the Redbirds play an AL team. Should be fun. Great weekend Q.

BklynSoxFan said...

Actually, LaRussa's WS losing streak is at 8, as his teams were swept in 1990 and 2004.

BklynSoxFan said...

LaRussa's last WS victory was the 1989 WS championship...

Adam Wainwright maybe a star in the making. His curve to get Floyd and Beltran was simply amazing.

Suldog said...

Sorry, Q. My condolences.

BklynSoxFan said...

Thanks Suldog. Yesterday's loss brings back memories of the 2003 ALCS loss, but not nearly as raw. Hopefully, this will spur the Mets on to better things in 2007, like it did for the Red Sox in 2004.

Michael Leggett said...

& I didn't think that the Mets could cause me to burst into tears, 3X in 2 days:

I must be wrong;

Like The Red Sox, the Mets still have THE POWER to do that;

Hey, it's been 40 Years since that 1st Game;

It's all those memories.