Cards/Mets - Game 4

I turned it off after Delgado's 2RBI ground rule double. I'd seen enough thank you very much.

Items to ponder from tonight's bloodletting:

- I understand that Duncan/LaRussa believed Reyes was tipping his pitches. I wasn't paying that close of attention to his windup motion, and they are far more experienced in spotting that stuff from the dugout than I from 1500 miles away while peering at the game in HD. And it does explain how 0 for 11 David Wright could launch a ball to the back of the Met bullpen, which remains his only hit in this series. But from the stretch he negotiated the fourth pretty well. At this point he had given up 3 hits and 2 ER. Not bad. Why not let him pitch in the 5th? Of course, this is sooooo much easier to say now that we know Brad Thompson will only retire 1 guy in the fifth, and Hancock won't get anyone out in the sixth. But while allowing for my rose-colored glasses filtering the past, it still seems like LaRussa overthought this one.

Duncan and LaRussa have jealously protected Reyes' arm all season. He's only thrown over 100 pitches once, and that was 27 Sep against San Diego. This would seem to be a good game to go slightly over that mark (he had thrown 86 through 4 innings). But what do I know? I'm a balding, slightly overfat white guy chowing down at my in-laws house during the game. Makes for a pretty picture, eh?

- Wonder how much different the game would have been had Belly Lard not been thrown out at third in the second inning. Oquendo gets the blame for this one. I think, with the pitcher on deck, that he should have held Belliard at second. Reyes then sacrifices the runners to second and third, respectively, and then Eckstein hits - he who led off the game with a single. We could have gotten to Perez for more runs early, and that may have changed the outcome. I think the Mets achieved a slight momentum shift with that play, and they kept it rolling with the solo HR's in the third. Then the Cardinal bullpen blew up, removing all the suspense from this one.

So on to a CRITICAL Game 5. The good news: Glavine's pitching on three days rest. Historically, he hasn't excelled in these situations (2-5, 6.75; last time 7 June 06, 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings). Bad news: so is Weaver, who has never started on 3 days rest. Oh, goody.