Yeah, losing to the Cardinals in the NLCS last year still kinda stings, especially when viewed over the performance that the Detroit Tigers exhibited in the World Series. That being said, Sunday night's victory over the Cardinals was a gratifying first step in correcting that situation.
Though every starting Met player got a hit, including pitcher Tom Glavine, who threw six innings on his way to his 291st career victory, it was the defense that killed all of the Cardinal chances after the Mets scored 5 of their runs in the third and fourth innings. Even though the Cardinals got their sole run in the sixth, two great plays thwarted the home side: a sliding catch by Moises Alou in left, and then a great assist from Carlos Beltran in shallow left center throwing out David Eckstein at the plate, which I think caught the Cardinals by surprise. That was the second out of the inning, with the heart of the Cardinal line up coming up, but the play killed the modest rally.
It's only one game, there's lots more to play, but if the Mets plan to repeat as NL East champions (and beyond), the game plan of lots of offense coupled with a great defense while the pitching staff finds out what it's made of in these first couple of months, should bear a lot of positive results down the line.
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