Tonight at 8:05 PM, the NY Mets will start their run to the 2007 World Series Championship by going to St. Louis and playing a Cardinals team that beat them in the 2006 National League Championship Series.
With the Mets falling one game short of the World Series last year, they will start the 2007 season with 41 year old Tom Glavine taking the mound tonight.
Tom Glavine may be facing his last year in baseball, but if this is the case Glavine would like nothing better than to end his stellar, and most certain, Hall of Fame career by winning another World Series. Glavine won 15 games last year, and if he wins more than 10 games this year, he will have more than 300 wins in his career.
Hitting will not be a problem for this 2007 Mets team. The dynamic duo of Jose Reyes and David Wright will be back again to terrorize National League pitching. Carlos Beltran, Carols Delgado, Moises Alou, and Shawn Green will also be in the line-up for a batting order that should score 900 or more runs this year. Paul LoDuca and Jose Valentin will round up this hard-hitting line-up.
The Mets better plan on scoring lots of runs because when your team is anchored by two pitchers over 40’s; then your team may also give up some runs this year. Joining Tom Glavine in the pitching rotation this year will be over 40 (perhaps maybe even older) Orlando Hernandez. Hernandez won 11 games last year, but he seemed to struggle with the normal aches and pains suffered by a 40 year old major league pitcher. The Mets hope Hernandez can return to his ‘Yankee’ days pitching form when he was leading the cross-town rivals to World Series Championships.
John Maine did a good job filling in for injured star Pedro Martinez last year, and he will be looking to improve upon his 3.60 ERA, 6 win season from a year ago. The number four starter looks to be up and down pitcher Oliver Perez who was acquired in a trade from the Pirates last year. Perez was horrible during the regular season last year by posting a 6.55 ERA. However, Perez gave the Mets a good lift in the playoffs while filling in for Hernandez. Mets minor league phenom Mike Pelfrey will get a chance to secure the fifth spot in the rotation. If Pelfrey is not up to the task, former Dodger star Chan-Ho Park will be waiting in the wings.
The New York bullpen provided much needed relief pitching last year, and was one reason the Mets made the NL Championship Series. However, with Duaner Sanchez, Guillermo Mota, and Chad Bradford gone, the bullpen will have to relief on Aaron Heilman, rookie Joe Smith, and Park to hold leads until they can get to closer Billy Wagner so he can finish out games. Pedro Feliciano and Scott Schoeneweis will also be on hand to offer bullpen help.
The National League East is shaping up to be one the best, if not the best, leagues in all of baseball. The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies both made off season moves that make them look like serious contenders to knock-off the Mets. Add into this mix a Florida Marlins team that has a penchant for winning the World Series every five years; and you can see the Mets will really have their work cut out for them this year. The Washington Nationals, well, they are the Washington Nationals. What can you say about the National except wait ‘til ’08.
Willie Randolph may have to play mix and match with his pitching this year, but if he can have the Mets in the race until August, the Mets may be able to make a title run when a, hopefully, healthy Pedro Martinez returns to the pitching rotation.
My guess is Randolph will keep the Mets competitive, and somehow the Mets will win 93 games in ’07. This win total should be enough to win the NL East, or 93 wins should be enough to give the wildcard spot to the Mets. And as the Cardinals showed last year, once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen.
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