Misty water-color memories

I grew up a Mets fan in New York, and I used to despise the Cardinals. With that said, I have a different feeling with the two teams set to begin their NLCS tonight. Sure, I want the Mets to sweep the Cards, but I don't have that same dislike for them that I did back then because they're not in the same division anymore.

But I'll never forget the mid-1980s. In 1985, the Mets went into the last week of the season trailing the Cards by 3 games and playing in St. Louis. The first game was an absolute must-win for the Mets, and they played that way. Ron Darling pitched for the Mets and he was virtually untouchable. So was Cards starter John Tudor. (Remember, this was before ESPN was televising baseball games every night, so I sat glued to the radio in my room listening to Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy describe the action _ I know, I didn't have a life). The game was scoreless through 9, and both starting pitchers were still in. It was scoreless through 10, which was Darling's last inning. Then in the 11th Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous shot off the scoreboard in right-center and the Mets won 1-0. The next night, Dwight Gooden, who was 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA that season, beat Joaquin Andujar and the Mets were within 1 game. That left the third game. If the Mets win, they're tied. If the Cards win, they're up 2 with 3 games left to play. That night, however, the Mets decided to go with a rookie in Rick Aguilera rather than go with Sid Fernandez or Ed Lynch. Aguilera pitched OK, but the Cards won 4-2 and clinched the division the next night.

It was much the same way in 1987, when the two teams went down to the wire, with the Cards taking the division the last week of the season. Just think, the Mets could have won the NL East 4 years in a row (they won it going away in 1986 and 1988) if not for the Cardinals. They could have been a dynasty then. Of course, if it was today, chances are they would have won the wildcard in those years and then who knows?