Momentum, Thy Name Is Carlos Delgado

Momentum.

It's supposed to be the next day's starting pitcher.

So they say.

But it didn't quite matter who was on the hill for the Mets on Sunday night. Because if the Mets' lineup didn't produce against Anthony Reyes, they were done.

Finished.

Kaput.

Game 4 of the NLCS was going to show us what the Mets were made of, one way or the other. For Game 3 introduced the Mets to adversity. Would the Mets let adversity come and pick their pocket?

No. Instead, they took adversity, slugged him in the mouth, did a bar slide straight out the window, spit on him, then laughed in his face.

And it was Carlos Delgado doing the leg work.

Oh the whole Mets lineup, from top to bottom, produced on Sunday. David Wright got his first hit of the series, a solo HR. Jose Valentin broke out of his slump with a game icing three run triple. Carlos Beltran had two solo HR's tonight, the first one putting the Mets on the board at a time when the Cardinals were threatening to blow the Mets out of the water again. But it's Carlos Delgado who is having a playoff series for the ages. Delgado hit another three run HR, his third dinger of the series, in the fifth inning to give the Mets a 5-2 lead. Then, in the sixth, he came up with a 2 run ground rule double to give him five straight runs batted in, and spark the big six run sixth off of the Cardinals bullpen.

When someone has never experienced the playoffs during a long career, it's impossible to tell how they're going to perform on the big stage. The Mets are lucky that the players that got them to the dance are still dancing once they get to the big ballroom for the first time. Carlos Delgado is exhibit A, and at no other time during the season was a big performance needed as much as it was on Sunday. Boy did they get some big performances.

All of a sudden, this series is tied at two apiece...and things look a lot better right now than they did 24 long hours ago.

As for Ollie Perez, no he wasn't spectacular. But he gave the Mets a chance to win which is all anyone would ever ask of him. If Ollie Perez was a mediocre NFL quarterback, then one would say that he "managed the game". For example: if Perez doesn't get Juan Encarnacion to ground into the inning ending double play in the first (and in the process save Delgado's error makin' bacon), then who knows how this game goes. But Perez got the outs that were absolutely required of him, and earned himself some widespread respect in the process, along with perhaps a potential Game 7 start.

In other words, Oliver Perez "managed the game"...as opposed to Steve Trachsel who was baseball's equivalent of Ryan Leaf on Saturday.

I still don't understand why Dave Williams isn't on the roster...maybe he threw small puppies off of a building or something...but Perez has certainly made Omar Minaya look pretty damn smart (well, smarter than we already think he is) for trading Xavier Nady away.

Willie Randolph told us that the Mets were as loose as ever after Game 3, and that they were going to approach this game the way they did any other game. I have to admit that I had my doubts. But when Darren Oliver was on the radio before the game talking about how he was going to bust on Chad Bradford in the bullpen, that was clue number one that maybe Willie wasn't just dishing the spin (or is that spinning the dish?) And when you saw the Mets in the dugout during the game, and especially during their six run sixth, they were their old selves...laughing and cavorting...and maybe throwing a little singing as well.

So I guess momentum's name is now Tom Glavine...on short rest. But we all know the truth. The truth is that momentum is tomorrow's starting lineup.