"We came one hit away," manager Willie Randolph said. "What I reflect on is the positive stuff. It just wasn't meant to be, but I'm proud of what we did. Now, you start over from scratch. You throw it away, leave it alone, learn from it, and get ready for the next one."
Pitcher Tom Glavine says the Mets will be ready for the next one. Their season opens a week from tonight against the same Cardinals club that beat them in the league championship series.
"There's some unfinished business here," Glavine said. "It's mostly a quiet, understood thing, but there's no question it's a motivator for us."
Closer Billy Wagner concurred.
"We know how close we came," he said. "We know the feeling. We feel we were the better team. We just didn't execute, and that's something that drives us."
The Mets have a star-studded lineup and say they can repeat as NL East champions. But they have challenges, particularly with their starting pitching rotation and bullpen. Both units could be really good. Or both could be something else. In the end, pitching will determine the Mets' fate, but that doesn't make them unique.
"Every year it's the same," Glavine said. "Whoever pitches best wins."
The Mets have some tremendous resumes in their starting rotation, but all come with fine print.
Glavine is 10 wins shy of 300, but he's 41 years old. Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, 40, doesn't have the dazzling stuff he once did, and has had trouble with nagging injuries. Pedro Martinez had rotator cuff surgery in October. If all goes well - and rotator cuff injuries always come with a big if - he could be back by August and be the team's big second-half pickup.
The bottom of the rotation has big potential in John Maine, Oliver Perez, and possibly top prospect Mike Pelfrey, but consistency is an issue.
