Keidel: Mets And Royals Are Evenly Matched, But Amazin's Should Win Series
By Jason Keidel
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If you're a stat geek, there's a lovely piece on CBSSports.com which will choke you with numbers.
We'll poach a few here, but you should know the narrative entering the World Series on Tuesday night between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals.
Say it again: The Mets are in the World Series.
First, let's address the layoff between the NLCS and WS. Means nothing. It's not like Matt Harvey forgot how to pitch or Curtis Granderson forgot how to hit. The Mets had four days off before the NLDS and dispatched the Dodgers. And with their neophyte aces already taxed beyond their career highs, an extra day or two around the hot tub and massage table is most welcome.
Despite the dearth of dominant hitting (other than the freak show Daniel Murphy put on this October), the Mets can score in several ways. Likewise, the Royals can score without short-circuiting the scoreboard. They are nimble and pesky, and will test Travis d'Arnaud's arm with a conga line of base stealers.
The Mets trot out the best young rotation since the Bobby Cox Braves. They struck out a dizzying 30.8 percent of the batters they faced in the playoffs, while the economical Royals struck out only 17.4 percent of the time. The Royals do well against flamethrowers, but there's no way to prepare for the Mets' most holy trinity of young aces, all of whom have nasty secondary pitches to keep Kansas City off balance.
The Mets are a largely lefty lineup, and the Royals will have no lefties to match them. None of their big arms are southpaws. Good news for Lucas Duda, Murphy and Granderson.
The idea that the Royals have exponentially more knowledge, wisdom and experience is vastly overstated. Only 12 players on their ALCS roster were on last year's World Series team. Besides, the Mets proved that no stage is to broad, and no lights are too bright. Just ask the Cubs and Dodgers, both of whom were favored to meet the Mets and beat the Mets.
Like many of you, yours truly is truly superstitious. So since I made no prediction during the Dodgers and Cubs series, I will refrain here to keep the karma and mojo intact. Let's just say the Mets are justifiably favored, no matter how slight the odds.
It's worth repeating that the Mets haven't lost (5-0) since I've been tweeting during the playoffs. If you'd like that streak to continue, show some Twitter love @JasonKeidel.
I've considered taking Tuesday off to test the theory and drum up some love and gratitude. Remember, I'm not a Mets fan. But like so many New Yorkers, it's impossible for me to hate this club, or even show occasional contempt. Just seeing Terry Collins in his first Fall Classic, and David Wright ending his solemn streak as the longest-tenured player with one team to never reach the World Series, is enough to spike a few hairs on the arms.
As a true, native New Yorker -- not one of the endless, nauseating Oberlin grads who hopped the Hudson to turn my island into a strip mall of banks, pharmacies, Whole Foods and hot yoga -- I was here, quite alive and lucid when the Mets last won a World Series.
In fact, it happened exactly 29 years ago today. When Jesse Orosco flung his glove in the air and the Mets mobbed him, making the mound a bonfire of bodies, I couldn't believe the ruckus outside. More than any New Year's Eve. More than any Super Bowl or Yankees World Series. I strolled out to my 14th floor balcony and felt Manhattan tremble under my feet, heard the neighboring shrieks and the saxophonic tune of car horns, and saw the sky flower with fireworks.
There's something about the Mets that's hardwired into New Yorkers. Maybe it's the underdog profile, the blue-collar ethic, the financially challenged, the often inept. The loser who decides one day he's not going to lose.
When the Yankees win it's a formality, the sterile, perfunctory result of history and heavy spending. There's much more mystery to the Mets, who have been the Big Apple's little brother for 53 years.
It was quite exciting to see Reggie Jackson hit those World Series homers when I was eight years old. But now entering Yankees Stadium is like walking into a bank vault, a monetary motif to the halls and walls. Nothing like the old stadium. There's no charm, no old-world quirks or character. It's a mint, designed to produce and collect cash.
The Mets are the sideshow, the team that forever fumbles and signs Jason Bay and still pays Bobby Bonilla. The team that got in bed with Bernie Madoff.
Even so, there's something charmed and charming about these Mets. They just come to play, and have taken the house money and doubled-down into a World Series.
It's no longer a dream. The Mets are four wins from a world championship.
Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKeidel.
