MLB PLAYOFFS: REMEMBER JOHN MAINE?

When you think about it, it's really semi-halfway surprising that the St. Louis Cardinals have reached Game 7 of the National League championship series against the favoured New York Mets while getting next-to-nothing from Albert Pujols and a banged-up Scott Rolen.

That's pretty thin gruel for the Cardinals fans and all the people who aren't so much on the St. Louis bandwagon, but are just four-square against seeing a New York team in the World Series.

(DIGRESSION: This anti-New York sentiment just seems a bit lazy, since the Series always seems somewhat diminished when it takes place outside of NY, NY or Boston. Admit it: You want the Mets on that wall, you need the Mets on that well. Come on, admit it. OK, don't.)

One-time Ottawa Lynx hurler John Maine checked the Cards on two hits through five-plus innings in the Mets' series-tying 4-2 victory, Jose Reyes hit a leadoff homer and swiped a couple bases, and Paul Lo Duca put the game out of reach with a two-run single in the home half of the seventh.

The pitching matchup has the Cards' Jeff Suppan vs. the Mets' Oliver Perez in Game 7 tonight, and if you say you saw that coming at the outset of the playoffs, then congratulations, you're a pathological liar. Suppan's probably the man to start for St. Louis, what with having won a pair of series clinchers in the '04 playoffs. As for Perez, he spent part of this season pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates farm club, and his regular-season ERA (6.55) resembles the interest rate for a short-term mortage.

Still, it feels like the Cards' best chance to knock out the Mets has been missed. We shall see tonight.

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.