An excellent assessment of the post season situation that the New York Mets find themselves in, after the loss of two of their top two starting pitchers, and their 3 game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. By Ben Shipgel, from today's New York Times.

Mettle, More Than Muscle, Fueled Mets’ Series Sweep

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8 — Someday, fathers and sons may gather ’round The Baseball Encyclopedia or, more likely, a Web site, to reminisce about a team that defied all conventions in winning a world championship. In completing the first step of their journey, a 9-5 victory Saturday night that completed a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in their National League division series, the Mets again asked their bullpen to pitch more than half the game and their offense to never stop hitting. This unorthodox formula has yielded extraordinary results.

It is not a traditional way of doing business, but this is no time to stop what works. Manager Willie Randolph is not afraid to yank his starters at the earliest sign of trouble, adjusting his lineup based on how he feels that morning and using as many relievers as necessary to patch together a victory. The only thing he can count on these days is a good game from Tom Glavine, who will probably start Game 1 of the N.L. Championship Series at Shea Stadium on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

If, for some reason, Glavine does not deliver, then fine, Randolph will proceed with Plan B and not look back.

“You never see me cry about what we don’t have,” Randolph said.

In rolling to the three-game sweep and their seventh consecutive victory over all, the Mets look like a team that is still coming to grips with exactly who they are.

They are not the team they were last week. Just as they were dealing with the loss of Pedro Martínez, Orlando Hernández, their presumed starter for Game 1 of the division series, sustained a torn calf muscle that kept him out of the playoffs. They are also not the team they were for Game 1, when Randolph, swiftly and decisively, turned to his bullpen to relieve the rookie John Maine. They are not even the team they were for Game 3. Their left fielder, Cliff Floyd, strained his left Achilles’ tendon while scoring in the third inning Saturday night and was unlikely to be available for the N.L.C.S.

That means more playing time for outfielders Endy Chávez, one of Randolph’s favorites, and Shawn Green, whose six weeks as a Met had been defined by mediocrity until his dynamic performance Saturday against his former team. Randolph had a hunch that Green, a native of Southern California, would feel inspired returning home, and he had hits in his first three at-bats, drove in two runs and squeezed the final out of the game.

“I’d be lying if I said this didn’t mean more,” Green said.

The Mets proved to be deft counterpunchers, absorbing every Dodgers rally, then coming back almost immediately. In Game 1, after the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, the Mets scored two in the fourth. After the Dodgers tied the score at 4-4 in the seventh, the Mets scored twice in the bottom half. In Game 3, after the Dodgers scored five unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth to go ahead, 5-4, the Mets scored three in the sixth and held the lead like a vise.

“We’ve been talking about our resilience all year,” Billy Wagner said. “We don’t know any other way.”

The starting staff of Glavine, Maine, Steve Trachsel and Oliver Pérez or Dave Williams will not strike fear into any opponent, but it is good enough as long as the relievers continue doing their job and the offense does not let up.

Of the 27 innings thrown by Mets pitchers during the series against the Dodgers, a little more than half — 13 2/3 innings — were by the starters. In Games 1 and 3, Randolph used three pitchers in one inning and asked Guillermo Mota to pitch the sixth and the seventh. Randolph leaned heavily on Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman and Wagner, all of whom pitched in every game.

No matter whom they play in the next round, the Mets will be considered favorites, with a World Series berth not far behind. But they had little time for making predictions or offering scouting reports on St. Louis in Saturday’s aftermath. The long and narrow visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium could hardly contain their joy, as Mota and Duaner Sánchez danced around, Champagne bottles in each hand, eager to douse whomever they could. José Reyes conducted television interviews wearing goggles. Wagner, while changing out of his soaked clothing, surveyed the corks and bottles strewn across the floor and remarked how blessed he was that he did not have to clean up the mess.

The party shifted to the center of the overcrowded quarters, where a group of eight Mets players and coaches gathered for an impromptu photograph. They hugged. They swigged. And then they sang.

“Meet the Mets, meet the Mets,” they crooned.

The rest of the lyrics were muddled, not to mention off-key, but they made their point with an exclamation mark. Less than a week after their role as overwhelming favorites was compromised, the Mets could not be blamed for feeling compelled to reintroduce themselves.

But their owner, Fred Wilpon, refused to gloat over his Mets being the last New York team standing. “No, I’m just happy we made it,” he said.

They still have the same quick-strike offense, but this is a new Mets team, still making sense of what it is, but one the players believe is coming together at just the right moment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/sports/baseball/09mets.html?th&emc=th