My hair may be in need of a trim, but I can think of some birds whose wings have definitely been clipped.
Goodbye 2006 World Champion Cardinals. Goodbye Busch Stadium and your lights that blind only the home team's outfielders. Goodbye Stan The Man and Scott Spiezio's dad and the chick with the earmuffs. Goodbye to rings and banners and orgies of self-congratulation. Goodbye to overly acrobatic Jim Edmonds and recast Braden Looper and .100-hitting Albert Pujols and earthbound Yadier Molina and Shades LaRussa.
Goodbye to all that.
Hello 2007 Mets. Hello you big, beautiful defending National League East champions. Hello home run power, surehanded fielding and starting pitching that's never in doubt.
Goodbye 0-3 Cardinals. See you in St. Louie, screwy.
Hello Carlos Beltran who may take a strike three now and then but won't be caught lookin' no more. Hello Jose Reyes whose homer was nice but I was kind of, almost rooting for a triple. Hello Paul Lo Duca, batting .385 after tonight. Hello suspect Shawn Green, posting a .333 after three games. Hello nearly flawless John Maine, even better than barely touched El Duque who was even better than highly competent Tom Glavine.
Hello Moises and Ambiorix and Aaron the other. Hello all you new Mets. Hello all you old Mets. Hello Julio Franco who knows where to send a fly ball — right at Preston Wilson.
Hello everybody. Hello this year. Hello first place, a half-game lead over Atlanta, one ahead of Florida, 2-1/2 over the Rollinses. Is it too early to keep track? Not if these games count. And they do.
The world is three games old. This wasn't revenge. This was this year…is this year. It couldn't have commenced any better.
Word up, Hello.
Hey St. Louis, thanks for playing, bitches. Get out of my face with that facking grin. The chafing of flies.
It's good to be back. Winter is ended. I have no idea where there's going to be cooking this season. All our parking are belong to them. Any private suggestions would be greatly welcome. Anyone know what the deal is with parking on that grass by the water?
Nice muffs, Burkhardt.
They ought to be ashamed of (over)celebrating a title they obviously don't deserve. We should just grab that trophy and run.
Mets and Twins are 3-0, Extra Innings is back on cable.
Yes, life is good.
I think I'm finally over last October.
Funny that four days in April can mean more than five months of winter.
I'm not even jubilant. Content is more like it. Last October was an aberration whose sheer ridiculousness ate away at me all winter. Now the world is as it should be.
For now. Where are we playing Friday, again?
The Cardinals go from conquering heros, literally being led by a horse-drawn chariot cheered by 50,000+ on Sunday to the recipients of boos and mock cheers from the 5,000 or so remaining in the stands last night. This wasn't just payback, it was epic baseball.
A few other things to ponder:
Not only are we 3-0, we're 3-0 on the road.
Orlando Hernandez has a better batting average and more RBIs than Albert Pujols.
OK, one more snarky comment before I go to work.
Did anyone catch Lee Mazzilli on the post-game show? He looked and sounded like he was auditioning to be the next guy whacked on The Sopranos.
Amen, sister…
And why is Matt Jagoff still hosting the postgame — or is it posting the hostgame? I thought Chris Cotter got that job…
For me the added joy to our first (of many) triumphs this season was Tony LaRussa being exposed once again as the overrated manager he is. Why would you have a guy who's never started a game in the Majors go into the sixth without anyone warming up? And once that guy gives up a home run, wouldn't you get someone warming up then? Talk about yanking the confidence away from someone who, much to my disgust, was doing an impressive job in his first start.
Yet another reason I'm glad to be a Mets fan.
Meaning no respect for Tony LaRussa, he didn't have many attractive choices. The Cards bullpen is not exactly overstocked with reliable middle relievers these days — look what wound up happening once Looper was out — and with the pitcher due to lead off the next inning, a change in the sixth meant he either had to plan on switching pitchers again in the seventh or else double-switching out one of his regulars.
Interesting take from Viva El Birdos (an awesome Cardinals blog) on the Mets taking two times through the order to check out what Looper had, and then pouncing. Always makes me happy when the guys down on the field turn out to be not just insanely physically gifted but also smart.
C'mon Dave Duncan…be a genius.
Cardinals (the actual birds) are pretty. I don't want them to die.
But death to Cardinal fan smugness, absolutely. Not a second too soon.
Not that their 0-3 start really says anything about them, any more than a 3-0 start says anything about…the Pirates.
But try telling the noise machine that…