Mets 1, Cardinals 1 (bottom of the 8th)
Aaron Heilman, possibly the only Clash fan Jesper Eklow will tolerate, relieved Chad Bradford in the top of the 9th. After inducing the World’s Grittiest Human to ground out, the Mets’ setup man extraordinaire blew away Scroatface, went to 3-0 on Prince Albert before issuing the intentional pass, then punched out Juan Encarnacion to end the frame.
Unless the Mets are up by 30 runs entering the 9th inning, I want to see Heilman stay in this game.
It’s been said very often that having a couple of dominant starters can carry an otherwise mediocre team in a short series. Who thought that would apply to Jeff Weaver and Jeff Suppan?
(UPDATE : Mets 1, Cards 1 (top of the 9th)
After Suppan walked Beltran, Tony La Genius brought in lefthander Randy Flores, who preceeded to strike out Delgado and Wright. Shawn Green weakly grounded to Pujols to end the inning, stranding the lead run on first. At no point did Beltran attempt to steal on Molina.
For those into grim, grim, grimmer stuff, the Mets are hitless since the 1st inning.
As the rain continues to fall (making some use of those stupid towels, I suppose), Aaron Heilman has started the 9th with a strikeout of Jim Edmonds. Country Time was seen earlier, warming up in the Mets pen, so he’s ready to do something heroic/catastrophic if neccessary. On the other hand, So Taguchi’s out of the game, so perhaps the Cards’ biggest remaining threat has been extinguished.
We still might see a Ramon Castro walkoff HR. Improbable, I know, but so was Perez going toe-to-toe with Suppan.)