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It was about the third inning on Saturday afternoon, after Jim Edmonds' two-run homer off Kevin Millwood that put the Cardinals up 3-1, when it was apparent that Bobby Cox's sickly Atlanta Braves were about ready to flatline. The Cardinals, with an outstanding group pitching effort, beat the Braves 7-1 and won the NL Division Series three-games-to-none advancing to the NLCS for the first time since 1996.
The Braves seemed to always have a cocky aura about them after so many consecutive trips to the postseason. It had to be satisfying for most fans for the Cards to not only beat the Braves, but pound them into the Georgia clay. This series seemed to be men against boys, with the Cardinals looking unbeatable. In fact, later that afternoon on the Mets/Giants telecast FOX analyst Tim McCarver said that the way the Cardinals played in those three games that nobody could have beaten them. Not the Yankees, Mets, or Mariners. Nobody.
After the Mets won both of their games against the Giants over the weekend at Shea Stadium they have advanced to the NLCS as well. We should have the rekindling of the great Cardinals/Mets rivalry of the mid-80s. Remember Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Howard Johnson, Keith Hernandez, Mookie Wilson, Wally Backman, Danny Heep and friends?
With all jokes aside, this will be a tall order for the Cards. The Mets have an outstanding team that, at least in the regular season, the Cardinals have had trouble matching up against. New York has a balanced pitching staff that features nasty lefthanders Mike Hampton and Al Leiter in the starting rotation, and solid veterans Dennis Cook and John Franco in the bullpen, along with Rick Reed, Bobby Jones, Turk Wendell, and Armando Benitez from the right side. Don't forget Glendon Rusch who looked like the second coming of Sandy Koufax in his two starts against the Cardinals this season. The Cards hit only .233 against New York pitching in 2000, and won only three of the nine games the two teams played against each other.
The Cardinals will need to get continued excellence out of their bullpen because the Mets 'pen is outstanding. They will also need to get quality innings out of some starter other than Darryl Kile. With Garrett Stephenson a big question mark for this series with his tender elbow, Pat Hentgen, Rick Ankiel, and Andy Benes will have to come through with big starts. Britt Reames, Mike James, and Matt Morris should get plenty of work out of the 'pen. All three were brilliant against the Braves.
The Redbirds will have to continue to get contributions from everyone, and will have to find a way to rough up the Mets outstanding lefthanded pitching which has been so tough on them in 2000.
This series has all the makings of a classic, with fans in both cities trading jabs back and forth. Look for the Cards to build off of the momentum of beating the Braves and win in seven games.
Blues:
The Blues opened their season on Thursday night in Phoenix with a slight hiccup against the Coyotes which resulted in a 4-1 loss. In the two games since they have looked every bit like the team that won Presidents' Trophy last season, by totally dismantling the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Mighty Ducks over the weekend.
All for lines and all six defensemen played well, as did goaltenders Brent Johnson and Roman Turek. With the possible exception of New Jersey, no team in the NHL has the kind of depth the Blues do. Third-line center Marty Reasoner would be a first or second line player on 90 % of the teams in the league. Constant expansion has watered down the league to a sickening level. Look at some of the players the Mighty Ducks ran out with regularity in their miserable performance against the Note on Sunday afternoon. Has anybody except hockey die-hards heard of Ladislav Kohn, Jonnas Ronnqvist, Mike Leclerc, Dan Blysma, Niclas Havelid, or Pavel Trnka? Why was somebody named Antti Aalto centering their second line?
The Blues have former Selke candidate Craig Conroy centering their fourth line and they had to move 1999-2000 19-goal scorer Mike Eastwood to the wing in order to accommodate him. Conroy is better than any center that was in Anaheim's lineup on Sunday. The Blues are in good shape even with second line pivot Michal Handzus sidelined for a time with a pulled abdominal muscle. They have a bunch of good players at all positions and there are more being groomed on the farm at Worcester.
It's also nice to see veterans like Scott Young and Pierre Turgeon playing as if they will be sent to the minors if they have a bad shift. Both players have played the first three games as if they were in Game 7 of a playoff series. Turgeon has looked every bit as good as he did last season before his thumb injury, and Young is determined to avoid the slow starts that have plagued his first two seasons as a Blue.
They may not be front page news right now, but the Blues time to thrill the St. Louis sports fans will come.
Bank on it.
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