Coming Into Los Angeles

NLDS – Game 2

Mets 4, Dodgers 1
Mets lead, 2-0

This is, of course, what should be happening. All of the nervousness and anxiety I described below goes against the logic of a likely Game 2 result. The hitters did just enough hitting, Tom Glavine and his relief pitched brilliantly, and the Mets leave for the west coast with a comfortable 2-0 lead. Comfortable to a point, of course; let’s not pretend that the apprehension has dissipated that much at this point.

Steve Trachsel was fairly well disparaged in this space well before he took leave for family reasons last week. Who knows how his frame of mind is faring now? I’ve given Trax grief as much for his annoyingly “deliberate” approach to his starts as I have for his intermittently second-rate performance. I don’t have a wealth of confidence in the guy, but he’s a veteran more than capable of a playoff-worthy performance. My only plea to him is “throw strikes.” With Nomar injecting more steroid speculation into the rumor mill with yet another injury, and with the rest of the Dodger bats staying relatively mum, that torturous corner-picking may not be the best approach. We want seven innings and fewer than four walks out of Trachsel.

No letting up, dammit.

Listening to Grady Little’s press conferences, I kind of can’t believe he’s a two-time playoff manager. The Texas drawl as a first impression doesn’t exactly add IQ points, but he just sounds like he’s several boilermakers in and making illegal left turns every time I hear him. He’s not known for his in-game cunning, from what I read here a couple of autumns ago, and he doesn’t exude confidence with his demeanor. What’s the appeal? I guess I really don’t want to find out over the weekend.

With the way the geniuses in the sports media seem to be getting everything wrong in these playoffs, I’m not at ease with the momentum switching back to the Mets’ camp. Rob, can you give L.A. another shout-out just for good luck?