St. Louis: What Hell Would Be Like If It Was Really, Really Nice

(Note: A.F.O.M.G. will be in with a post later this afternoon.)

St. Louis was a lot like synagogue.

Everyone was dressed the same. Some people wanted to be there; everyone else felt like they should be. And, whenever they were told, the fans sang along loudly following the cry of their rabbi, the score board.

In short, Busch was kind of a joke. Not because the people were bad sports fans. They are simply too nice.

Fans wouldn't call me an asshole. They might call me a "not nice person."

The Mets stunk. They sure as hell didn't suck.

It was unreal. It was like I walked into baseball's Pleasantville.

Everything could have been really pleasant. Until the Mets decided to up and lose their biggest game of the season.

But you would have never known the magnitude of the game from being at Busch Stadium. Cardinal fans were more concerned with us enjoying their city than they were with beating the Mets.

It was all just really bizarre.

After the game, I walked up the stairs to exit the stadium. Instead of rubbing it into me that the Mets had lost, Cardinal fans patted me on the shoulder to console me.

"It'll be tough to win back in New York," they would say.

Sure, I've been Californiaized a little but this just wasn't right. These people had no interest in talking shit or rubbing in their victory.

I was kind of lost for thoughts after all this so I did what most 24 year olds would do when they have 5 hours to kill before their flight, no job, and a thirst for the action.

I decided to venture to the hotel bar.

I walk up to the bar. We were staying right across the street from the stadium so I was smothered in Cardinal red. I approach the bartender for an evening Ale when the weirdness continues.

Next thing I know, half of St. Louis is buying me drinks, giving me their business cards and trying to set me up with their sisters/daughters.

I spent much of the night with John and Brigid, a couple of married fortysomethings who sold real estate in the area.

We talked about baseball for a while but ventured into a bevy of social issues.

Another guy there approaches me and asks me if I ever saw "Two for the Money" the Matthew McConaughey flick about the guy who only lifts weights and picks winners.

I told him I had and next thing I know this guy responds: "I am the real life version of that."

Thirty minutes, a couple shots and beers later, and this guy has himself convinced that he has convinced me to use him as a gambling resource.

Meanwhile, Brigid, my surrogate St. Louis mom for the evening did not approve. While I was uninterested, she gave me a very disapproving look when Two for the Money and a couple of his buddies wanted to take me to the "East Side" where all the strip clubs are.

It's 12 hours later and I already miss John and Brigid. They were just good old Americans. That's all I have to say about that.

My 21 hours in St. Louis were just really bizarre.

Just as I was after game 3, I feel OK.

For me, this isn't a 2-game series. Right now, the Mets have to view tonight as a 1-game series.

They have to employ a kamakazi pitching staff like any team would do in a game 7. They gotta do whatever it takes to win this game.

If that means throwing Maine, Perez and Oliver tonight, then so be it.

If that means throwing Heilman 2 and Wagner 2, then so be it.

If they win tonight, then as my father always says, they'll figure it out in Game 7.

I think we have a shot. I really do. Having been on the road in a big playoff game, I can see the pressure that the visiting team must feel.

It will take a lot for the Cardinals to come into Shea and close it out. They still have all the pressure in the world on them to win tonight. They know that they don't want to go to a Game 7 on the road.

But we should and for good reason.

Joel and I bumped into ESPN's Tim Kurkjian on the plane ride home. Kurkjian told us that he talked to Rick Peterson after game 5 and asked him who the Mets would throw in Game 7.

Peterson's response: "I have no idea."

Gotta like where this team is at right now.

Vaya con dios,

Sip