Mets down Cards behind Beltran & Glavine

Tommy G's pitching and Carlos Beltran's hitting provide all New York would need to take 1-0 series lead.

Carlos Beltran's 6th inning blast was all the Mets would need

WP: Glavine
LP: Weaver
SV:Wagner
HR: NY:Beltran

WHAT HAPPENED:
Cardinals starter Jeff Weaver and Mets lefty Tom Glavine combined for 5+ innings of exciting, pitching dominant playoff baseball. The two hurlers combined to allow only 5 hits thru 5 1/2, and had the hitters off balance the whole time. Then came the bottom of the 6th, and Weaver made the kind of mistake that you CANNOT afford to make in a tight playoff game like this one. After 2 quick outs Paulie LoDuca lined a single to left. No problem, right? Wrong, because the Mets power-hitting center fielder Carlos Beltran was up next, and he hit the 4th pitch he saw from Weaver so hard and far it almost put a hole in the giant scoreboard beyond the center field wall. The shot went an estimated 430 ft, but would've gone about 500 if the board didn't interrupt its flight.Beltran is making a living off of postseason HRs, especially against the Cards: it was his 11th career playoff homer and astonishing 5th vs. St' Louis in just 3 series against them. Ouch. Might want to walk that guy next time.

WHY ST.LOUIS LOST:
Weaver & Glavine. Although he pitched brilliantly for 5 2/3 innings,Weaver absolutely cannot make a mistake like that to a hitter like Beltran in that spot. Walk him if you must, but don't allow him to beat you like that. But that's why Weaver is a 15-loss pitcher and Beltran is one of the best hitters in the game. Also Tommy G. has quietly (as hew usually does)put the depleted Mets pitching staff on his shoulders since the loss of Pedro & El Duque and given them 2 consecutive brilliant performances, not allowing a run so far in the postseason (13 IP);it's the first time in his 34 career playoff starts that he has gone back-to-back games without allowing a run. A lot of people forget about this guy for the Mets- Tommy is making sure no one will forget about him again. Another factor in the loss was poor Cardinal base running. Twice the Redbirds had base runners caught napping and picked off base, including an embarrassing play by Pujols when he was almost at second base on a liner to center in the 4th; Beltran fired back to first to easily nail Pujols for a rally-killing DP.

NOTES:
Mets LF Cliff Floyd got the start despite his badly injured achilles tendon. After making an out in the 2nd Floyd was removed from the game, saying he "felt 2 pops" in there. He is listed as day-to-day. My question to Willie Randolph- with games on 5 consecutive days following the rain out, why start the already hobbled Floyd in Game 1 and now potentially lose him for the other 3 or 4?

Due to the postponement of Game 1 LaRussa announced that ace Chris Carpenter will start Game 2 tonight in New York on his normal rest instead of his original schedule to be the Game 3 starter when the series resumed in St. Louie. Makes sense, 'cause if the Cards lose tonight Game 3 won't matter too much. Rookie John Maine will go for the Mets. The game is tonight at 8PM on FOX.

QUOTES:
"He wasn't good. He wasn't good at all," Pujols said of Glavine, who threw seven innings of four-hit ball for the victory. "I think we hit the ball hard, we didn't get some breaks.
"I say he wasn't good at all. We just didn't get some opportunities and that's it.. .. (Glavine did the) same thing that he always does. Throw a changeup, fastball and that was it. I just think we should've done a better job than we did." Sour Grapes Albert following his terrible 0-3, 1 baserunning blunder performance. Way to give credit where credit is due, Al.

ALCS: Game 3 switches the series to Detroit, but cold & possible snowy conditions make the completion of the game dicey. It was moved to 4PM to accommodate various interests, one of them possibly being the weather. But since it was already flurrying last night I don't see what moving it to today will accomplish. If the game goes off it will be Kenny Rogers for the Tigers facing Rich Harden for the A's, who desperately need this game or face the prospects of yet another disappointing playoff series loss. Harden missed 3 1/2 months with arm troubles this year, but he is a native Canadian, so if anyone should thrive on the conditions it would be him.