Last night, for openers anyway, he was right.
Mike Pelfrey, whose unexpected emergence solidified the rotation this season, opened a star-studded Wrigley Divisional Playoff by throwing 8 surprisingly solid innings, scattering 8 hits and a trio of walks to allow only a single run before exiting for a pinch hitter in the 9th with the score tied in his first-ever post season start.
"Nervous? I vomited so much before the game I was almost dehydrated," the young staradmitted afterwards.
The Cubs opened the scoring in this dramatic pither's duel when Mike Fontenot RBI single scored Derrek Lee in the bottom of the
6th for a 1-0 led.
Although the Mets managed only 3 hits in the first 7 innings off of an uncharacteristically wild Ryan Dempster, who walked 7 on the night, after 7 innings of typically frustrating inability to capitalise, they finally broke through in the 8th when with none out, David Wright managed an RBI single to score Reyes and tie the game.
Unfortunately, that hopeful rally was extinguished by Sean Marshall, who retired 6 the 7 Mets he faced.
Having weathered Pelf's start, Wrigley's partisans figured their team would feast on the Mets' notoriously shitty bullpen in the 8th and 9th.
Where is this shitty bullpen I heard so much about?
"We figured we had them," Lou Piniella admitted in a gutted clubhouse afterwards.
Piniella of course, had an equally disappointing 23-24 career post season record, 15-22 if you discount his improbable run managing the Reds in 1990.
Enter Brian Stokes who, with the reduced playoff rosters and thus, smaller pen, figures to play a key role for Manuel in the late innings.
"I told him I'd cut his balls off and feed them to Luis Castillo in a sopa de cajones if he let me down," Manuel joked with reporters afterwards.
Stokes tossed two scoreless innings before giving way to Luis Ayala in the 11th.
Ramon Castro's pinch hit RBI single off Jeff Samardzija gave the Mets a fragile 2-1 lead in the 12th.
"I told Ayala I'd slit his throat with a corkscrew if he let me down," Manuel joked with reporters afterwards.
Ayala walked three and allowed a hit over two innings but held the Cubs scoreless, somehow, with the game on the line.
The Cubs, with a miserable stretch of failure nearly a century long, now face what is considered a must-win game already against Johan Santana with Carlos Zambrano starting fo the Cubs.
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9 comments:
I see you threw David Wright a bone. I missed the game, unfortunately. You must be very happy about this outcome.
well, it's no bone. Wright hit .333 in his only prior Division Series in 2006. The theory exists that once finally out of September, he'd stop choking, but that's only a theory.
best thing about this game is that it's played in GST so I didn't have to wake up at 1 am to enjoy it :)
I finally figured out where you are when you write these blogs: you are sitting in the solarium of a rest home in your pajamas. You are wearing a checkered robe and the sun is streaming in on your face.
jaap where do you get these passionate commentators? the second sanchez disappears you get jdon. I'm jealous.
thanks for running the fantasy Met playoffs. This time, I hope they go all the way and face K*zmir in the WS!
I have a question abut Omar. I am sitting here waiting for the imaginary Mets-Cubs game to start so I thought I would ask. Now I admit to my all-consuming disapproval for the job Omar has done, so there could be a little bias working for me, but does anybody here think that someone would swoop right in and snag Omar if the Mets canned him?
Hey jaap---what's the score of the met game?
jdon, if only a solarium! Not enough sun in England to make that realistic though. But who knows, if this trip to NYC works out my days of long distance Mets might be over...
IMFM, it's all in the special brownies!
The fantasy playoffs usually last long enough for the angry inner hysteria to dial down a little.
jdon, if Mets had canned Omar he'd just be unemployed, I reckon.
Why don't they bring Willie back to be 3rd base coach next season and then if they play poorly they can sack Manuel and name Willie interim manager -makes as much sense as Omar's extension.
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