I won’t panic. But I will find it hard to sleep.
It’s not because they lost. I expected the Cardinals to win. Because of Carpenter. It’s not so bad to lose to their ace, the best pitcher in your league. But it’s bad to have him beat, to have your offense working, to get the lead and lose it twice, and then to have defeat sneak up on you, laughing at you, making you feel weak when you had been feeling strong.
We have to keep the wolf at bay. This just happened. Things happen. Wagner is a great pitcher. Mota is a great pitcher. Nothing is different today than it was yesterday. We have not heard the sucking sound, the rapid loss of air. The Series is tied. And we have the better team.
Look at how good the Mets were even tonight. Think of Delgado’s two home runs. Think of the swift slap in the first that sent the ball so quickly to the scoreboard in center. Think of how he is so strong that he could nudge an outside pitch, awkwardly and with just his arms, over a left field fence 400 feet away. Think of what happens when he has a full swing and sends the ball so high into the black above the lights in right. Think of Delgado, think of him laughing and smiling in the dugout. Think of his handsome, unsweating cool that makes his teammates so calm and so happy.
Think of Reyes back in the groove. Think of his eyes. Think of him shaking his crazy man curls and smiling like a satyr. Think of his headfirst slides that make you want to scream. Think of how he jumps up from them in a split second and claps his hands.
Think of Paulie LoDuca and how often he has made you happy.
Tomorrow night Steve Trachsel, who has been a Met the longest, will put things right. He and Glavine are the two dads who will calm us down. Trachsel will be himself, slow and smart. He will have his stubborn face as he sets out to prove that he is a very fine pitcher who has never deserved being thought of as a journeyman.
The Mets are all right. They are hitting and fielding and they are loose in the dugout. Tonight we lost because a mediocre bullpen beat our great one. The odds are that this won’t happen again. I’m talking about odds. I know that anything can happen. This is baseball. But the Mets have everything I am able to give them. They may win and they may lose. But they’re good. So I am filled with hope. They look as if they’re having fun, even though I’m a nervous wreck. I’m having fun too. This series is very exciting. I refuse to believe that they will not beat the Cardinals.
Thanks, I needed that. Last night left me feeling down in the dumps. But you are absolutely right. This year, we don’t need a miracle. We just need our Mets to be who they are. They are a great team, even with the injuries. Thanks for the infusion of hope.
You gotta BELIEVE!
-denise
One loss is not going to kill the Mets. It’s unfortunate that they could not hang on to the lead but give guys like Albert Pujols and Scott Spiezio and So Taguchi credit. They are very good ballplayers themselves or they would not be playing in the major leagues. Not to mention if the Cardinals weren’t good, they wouldn’t be in the post-season either.
At least the Mets offense did the job. It just wasn’t meant to be for the pitching last night. Trachsel may have had his ups and downs, but he has proven to win when he needs to. I still have faith in the Mets, even in St. Louis.
It’s been a tremendous season and the Mets fans haven’t had a whole lot to cheer about over the last several years. Carlos Delgado is something else and not to mention what a bright and classy guy he appears to be.
Let’s get em tonight at Busch and put last night’s game behind them. Granted, it was a bit bothersome to blow the lead, but sometimes those things do happen. Hopefully, the Mets can use last night’s loss to get themselves fired up. Still, I don’t think they need a whole lot of firing up. They have proven they can win without Pedro and El Duque. Granted, it would be ideal to have those two healthy, but what can you do? The rest just have to pick it up and they have shown they can do it.
LET’S GO METS!!
Yes. Thank you. I keep saying to myself that we never expected to win every game. It was hard how we lost, but as Wagner said in his interview last night, sometimes they just hit your pitches. You can’t explain it. You just have to move on. The remarkable thing is actually how often they can’t hit the pitches our bullpen throws. We have a great bullpen. A great team. Mr. Crazy Curls will bring us back in his first at bat tomorrow.
I was at that game and I can honestly say I have never seen the air sucked out of 55,000 people that quickly when Taguchi’s homerun left the park. The Mets are the better team, you are right, and hopefully they can right the ship tonight. Losing can be the best motivator. Let’s hope that is the case.
Jason
I was also at the game and it was so quiet on the train coming home. Thank you so much for this encouraging piece, it is a beautiful new day and I can’t wait for tonight!
LETS GO METS
You’re right in that while the loss was a tough one to swallow, there were some good things to come out of that game. Reyes had one of those Reyes nights. It is a good sign to see him finally break out of the box last night; he has had a slow offensive post season to date. With the ice broken, maybe he will be more of a force from here out. We’re going to need his special brand of havoc when we have to fight and claw against those Tigers. That is going to be one hell of a WS. But first, we look to Steve “Rodney Dangerfield” Trachsel to calm everyone down and go deeper that the 5th inning. We just won’t get by with 3-4 innings from our starters. Go Steve and Go Mets!
I was really upset at the blown lead, but I kept saying, nobody is perfect, and Wagner hadn’t blown a game in a long time. His record is definitely better than Franco. and Benitez. Reading the blog made me feel a lot better.