Expert Analysis

Oh yeah. Our starting pitching really is terrible, isn't it?

We've got no chance without Pedro or Orlando, do we?

Tom Glavine, and his 290 wins, are no match for Hong-Chih Kuo and his one major league victory which counts for three hundred because it came at Shea Stadium, right?

Not that the Mets needed bulletin board material tonight, but hearing how many of the so-called "pundits of baseball" bet the ranch on the Dodgers and Kuo tonight made me want to go out there and grab a bat.

"You know if the Dodgers don't have two runners thrown out at the plate, they win the game 7-6, so I'm picking the Dodgers today." -John Kruk, significantly paraphrased from earlier today.

Not to burst the bubble of you "experts", but did it ever occur to anyone that the Mets won 97 games because they didn't turn baseball games into "Stupid Human Tricks" on the bases? Gee, if the Dodgers don't get two runners thrown out at the plate, and actually cared to play some heads up baseball, then maybe they're a good enough team to win 97 games and not have to sweat it out until the final Saturday of the season to make the damn playoffs? Yeah? Ya think?

But why bother with the bitter beer face? The Mets are up two games to none. And that's because Mets starters have given up one run in 10+ innings...the same Mets starters that were deemed to be the most horrible wastes of human life in the history of civilization.

Consider all of the Dodgers love being handed out like flyers from your local psychic by the media...and combine it with all the people that declared Tom Glavine's career over early last season (yours truly included), and you have all the makings of the perfect opportunity to stick it to anyone and everyone.

Never have I been happier to have been proven wrong.

Kuo, with his one total win, was good tonight...but with Glavine putting the team on his back Kuo had to be perfect tonight. And Hong-Chih learned that playoff baseball is plenty different than a September start...especially for a guy who pitches exclusively from the stretch. Good teams have no business losing to a guy who's been a starting pitcher for a month and a half, and whaddaya know...the Mets are a good team!

No further proof of that is needed other than the scratching they did tonight for runs. Bunting, sacrificing, putting the bat on the ball when needed. Just look at Endy Chavez's game tonight. Like Wally Backman before him...and J.C. Martin before him, Chavez utilized the drag bunt to scratch for offense in the third inning. He would score without the benefit of a hit to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Along with giving Chavez a load of credit, give our manager a little credit too. He claims it was a hunch, but Randolph also understands the need to generate offense in the playoffs, especially against a hard throwing lefthander.

Chavez also singled in back of Jose Valentin's walk to set up Paul Lo Duca's sac fly for the second run. Along with Julio Franco's 6-4-3 double play that wasn't due to Rafael Furcal's lack of urgency, (instead of the bases, it was "Stupid Dodger Tricks" on the field tonight...but you know if they don't make any errors then they're a sure bet to win so let's pick them for Saturday, eh?) three of the four Mets runs were scored on outs. Funny, weren't the Dodgers supposed to be the ones who create runs with cheapie little hits and outs?

On the backs of Tommy and Endy (sounds like a failed folk group from the late seventies), along with two ribbies from Jose (Jose Jose Jose) Reyes, the Mets hold serve in Queens. It's on to some place called Chavez Ravine (what map can you find that on) with Steve Trachsel on the hill for Game three on Saturday. Call me crazy, but the soothsayer sees good things on Saturday for the reviled and maligned Trachsel.

Hey, someone has to see good things for the Mets...nobody else does.

Memo to Planet Earth: the Mets are good.