Steve and the Tank! - Tuesday Recap (Cardinals at Mets; Yankees at Mariners); Injury Updates

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Tuesday Recap (Cardinals at Mets; Yankees at Mariners); Injury Updates

Even before the Mets great come from behind victory over the Cardinals, the Mets received great news that veteran left-hander Tom Glavine will only be out about a week to ten days. Thank God!

In a clash of MVP candidates, Carlos Beltran had the last laugh over Albert Pujols who had two home runs, a three run blast and a grand slam which represented all seven of the Cardinals runs. As worthy MVP candidates as the Carloses (Beltran and Delgado) have been, Pujols will probably get it because he hasn't before and where would the Cardinals be without him. Furthermore, the Carloses will take votes away from each other as well as DW who should get some MVP consideration.

Most importantly, if the Mets and Cardinals meet in the playoffs, I give the edge to the Mets because they will probably have home field advantage and the Cardinals are 20 games over .500 against right hand starters BUT under .500 against left hand starters according to WFAN's game announcers. A pretty unbelievable statistic but I trust the FAN. Therefore, if Glavine, a lefty, is pitching in the playoffs, I feel pretty good about the Mets chances. If Pedro is near 100% and Maine, Trachsel, and/or El Duque are on, I like the Mets chances against the Cardinals.

As for the Yankees, they unfortunately lost to the Mariners 6-5 but something had to give after the Mariners lost 11 in a row coming in and the Yankees thankfully swept the five game set at Fenway.

The good news from the injury front is that Sheffield was cleared to swing under water and Matsui is cleared to hit off the tee according to the WCBS game announcers. Even if Matsui and Sheffield aren't 100% by October, they could come off the bench in pinch hitting situation. Fingers crossed for full recoveries for both Sheff and Hideki.

Unlike Steve, I am still keeping the Subway Series dream alive. The Tigers have been a great story but they are built for the regular season and after Pudge, how much post-season experience do they have? The Cardinals are a great regular season team but have under-achieved in the recent post seasons.

The teams that could thwart my Subway Series dream and thus deny my much needed baseball closure are the Dodgers and the Angels (yes, the same "LA of Anaheim of Orange County of South California of the United States of the Western Hemisphere of the Planet Earth of the Solar System of the Known Universe" Angels). The Dodgers are hot and have crafty veteran leadership in Maddux and Nomar. If there is a manager equal to or even better than Joe Torre, it is Angels skipper Mike Scioscia. He is a fellow National Leaguer who keeps the pressure on the base paths. The Angels are so scary that I wanted the RS to beat the Angels on Tuesday evening (but lost 4-3) because I don't want the Angels to make the playoffs and the RS are probably not going to make it anyway, touch wood. Yes, you read it here first. Count on "Steve and The Tank" to tell it like it is.

Go Yankees! / Mets!

Posted by The Tank in NY.

MLB

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:34:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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