The Myth of the Cardinal…2006 Style

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper
Posted Monday, September 3, 2007

Compared to the 2006 regular season, Mets fans have not had it as “easy” in 2007. Easy meaning: floating by during the regular season, then coasting to the postseason. Some fans even had the nerve to scoff at the unprecedented 2006 run, saying there was no real “race,” we didn’t have to beat the Braves, blah blah blah, blah blah blah.

Well, like Mom always used to say, be careful what you wish for. Because 2007, in the eyes of many fans, has been anything but a cakewalk. From injuries, to the iffy relief staff, the ever elusive fifth starter, second baseman quandaries, outfield drama, and a definitively more competitive NL East, 2007 has been interesting to say the very least.

To paraphrase James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams, the one thing has been a constant in the 2007 baseball season is that the Mets have managed to stay in first place all season -- not to mention hold the boasting rights of the team with the best NL record for most of the season.

And in the end, if it means a postseason run, no matter what the record, most fans will take it. Problem? What problem??

But after the unthinkable sweep in Philadelphia last week, which propelled the archrival Phils to within two games of first place, the questions of can the Mets pull it off were definitely being loudly whispered.

And what is it that the Mets trying to pull off exactly? Well, winning it all, natch!

Fellow columnist and blogger “Metstradamus” wrote a few weeks back about how Mets fans are probably in the most enviable position in our tenure as fans. For once, the team is being hunted, and not in the race behind any other teams. It’s certainly a different hat for us to wear.

Another fellow prof, Joe Janish, wrote about how the 2007 Mets can take a page from the 2006 Cardinals playbook – meaning, a team can be barely over .500 in the regular season, win their division, make the playoffs and win the whole dang thing.

But can the 2007 Mets do that?

This weekend may have been a precursor to what the 2007 Mets are certainly capable of. Meaning – they can beat the good teams, they can beat the mediocre teams, they can beat the really horrible teams. As of now, the Atlanta Braves, long considered the biggest headache to the Mets until the horrific sweep in Philly earlier in the week, are considered a mediocre team. And the Phillies have dropped two to the fourth place scrappy spoilers, the Marlins.

Can they sustain it?

I believe they can. Carlos Delgado took his Vivarin and realized he hurt the team when he panicked the plate. Delgado gave fans a much needed taste of what he is truly capable of.

Carlos Beltran came through in the clutch. The pitching was solid when we needed them to be. The bullpen was strong. And the hitting – oh, the hitting.

I don’t believe the team left a bad taste in Mets fans mouths after the weekend at the Ted.

But again, I ask the question, can the 2007 Mets pull off the unthinkable and win the whole thing, even without completely dominating (in Mets’ fans views) the rest of their competition?

I’m not going to the Apostle who denied Tom Seaver, but I will say this – it will take a lot for this Mets fan to be convinced that this is the team that wins it all.

I guess its history, really, that leads me to this decision. In our history as Mets fans, when have they not broken our collective heart? When was the last time they dropped a critical game that we can look back and say – dang, they should have won that one?

I know, there must be other fans out there who say that about their respective teams…but I don’t feel none are as evident as the Mets.

How many of us have gotten ridiculed by…somebody about:

· Carlos Beltran taking the third strike?

· Losing four straight in Philly? In the middle of a HEATED pennant race?

· All those bad bad BAD years under Steve Phillips, Art Howe, Jim Duquette?

· Scott Kazmir’s trade?

· Game Six of 1986? (Yes, I know they won, but do you know how many ignorant people out there think a.) Mets won the series that game and b.) that it was ALL Buckner’s fault, not the entire Red Sox team who were one strike away from winning it all???)

· The Mets not being the Yankees?

I know, I realize a lot of these issues I’ve illustrated above are my issues and most likely in the fact that I am a lifelong insecure Mets fan. But come on – aren’t you???

If getting our hearts broken makes us who we are as Mets fans, then 2006 really took the cake.

But can the Mets actually do the reverse? Be the spoiler and not receive the table scraps?

Throw a scrub out on the mound and have the other team look like the 1962 Mets? Surprise everyone in the postseason while having a mediocre regular season?

The Amazin Mets. The Miracle Mets. We’ve seen wonders occur under our noses as Mets fans.

Who says we can’t be the 2007 version of the 2006 Cardinals?Come on, The Coop says. This is the Mets we are talking about. There are no done deals with the Mets, as Jeff Garlin says about the Cubs. There’s only – we’ll see.