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New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS!

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Trachsel focused for first playoff start

 

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Steve Trachsel grew up in Southern California rooting for the Dodgers. (David Zalubowski/AP)

 

LOS ANGELES -- This is the game Steve Trachsel has been waiting his whole career to pitch.

That's just one of the reasons the Mets feel their veteran starter will be solely focused on his start in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, despite missing several days last week to deal with family issues.

 

"In playoff baseball you know what's at stake," manager Willie Randolph said. "You go out and gather yourself and prepare yourself, and [Trachsel] is ready to go."

 

Trachsel, who will have had 12 days' rest since his last start, said he wouldn't put himself in a position where he wasn't ready to benefit the club, especially not with the importance brought on by the postseason.

 

He had extensive conversations with Randolph during his absence from the team and while the club was scrambling for a contingency plan in the wake of Orlando Hernandez's season-ending right calf injury. Trachsel said he would help the team any way he could, whether that meant starting any game of the series or even coming out of the bullpen.

 

Randolph tabbed the longest-tenured Met for Game 3, and Trachsel reiterated that he'd be able to concentrate only on retiring the Dodgers and not his personal issues, which he declined to elaborate about Friday.

 

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't [focused], and I made that clear as well with Willie," Trachsel said.

 

The Mets do not expect the long layoff to hurt Trachsel, with the pitcher having started multiple games this season with extended time between his starts.

 

"There've been times this year when he's pitched on long rest and times when he's gone on short rest, so there are no concerns at all on that," Randolph said. "I'm looking forward to him going out there and pitching a gem for us."

 

Trachsel's lone start against the Dodgers this year was more of a lump of coal than a gem. The right-hander was tagged for four runs in 2 2/3 innings on Sept. 10, his shortest start this season.

 

The Mets need Trachsel, who was 15-8 with a 4.97 ERA in the regular season, to forget about that Dodgers disaster and try to duplicate what John Maine and Tom Glavine did back in New York in the first two games of this series.

 

"Obviously, I had a poor start against the Dodgers some weeks ago, and I'm not going to dwell on that," Trachsel said. "We have had two great starts from our starters, and hopefully I'm expecting a third."

 

In 15 years in the Major Leagues, Trachsel has never played for a club as good as this year's National League East champs. He once pitched the Cubs into the NLDS, winning their 1998 Wild Card playoff with the Giants, but Chicago was swept by the Braves, and Trachsel was denied a chance to pitch in October.

 

 

The right-hander threw 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball in that one-game playoff, so the Mets know he is one who can rise to the occasion.

 

"I'm very excited," Trachsel said of his first postseason start. "I'm trying not to approach it and make it a bigger event than it is -- it's still another ballgame; I prepare the same."

 

Saturday's 7:30 p.m. ET contest will essentially see Trachsel's career come full circle. He will oppose Greg Maddux, the same pitcher who departed the Cubs the offseason before Trachsel made his Major League debut in 1993.

 

It's also a battle between cagey veterans in which scouts will be able to set the radar gun aside and watch the counterparts take their turn painting the corners.

 

"I have a lot of respect for everything [Maddux] has done," Trachsel said. "He's probably one of the top five pitchers, especially for a control pitcher."

 

Maddux went 15-14 with a 4.20 ERA in the regular season, but that record is a more impressive 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA when counting only his two months with the Dodgers. Plus, Maddux is 3-1 with a 1.76 ERA in six starts at Dodger Stadium this year, so Trachsel doesn't figure to have much margin for error.

 

Trachsel grew up in Southern California and even attended Dodgers World Series games in the late '70s and early '80s, when, ironically, he cheered against Randolph, then the Yankees' second baseman.

 

Now, in his first playoff game, Trachsel has a chance to deliver the Mets to the NLCS for the first time since 2000 and inch closer to the World Series -- all while pitching in the same stadium where he found his love for the game.

 

"I'm going to really go out and enjoy myself tomorrow, because I've been waiting for this for a long time," Trachsel said. "I've done a lot of other things in my career which are nice, but the ring is what you play for."

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Mets facing Dodgers, racing Yankees

To beat Yanks to LCS, club must be wary of LA's potential

 

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"The longer you allow them to stay around, the more dangerous they get," said David Wright of the Dodgers, who are down, 2-0, in the NLDS. (Jim McIsaac/Getty)

 

LOS ANGELES -- Saturday afternoon, the Mets will probably check out of their hotel and meet the Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series with the engine of the plane that would return them to New York warming up.

This is standard operating procedure in circumstances where the next game could be the last game. But it's the last thing the Mets would want to harp on, because it doesn't sound politically correct.

 

Let sleeping Dodgers lie, you know.

 

And the Mets, even on the verge of a series sweep, are leery of the Dodgers, having bought into their Jekyll & Hyde personality.

 

"They've been a great comeback team from desperation," said New York closer Billy Wagner.

 

"The longer you allow them to stay around," said David Wright, "the more dangerous they get."

 

Danger hasn't yet been Los Angeles' middle name. The Dodgers have given the Mets little fight.

 

Only about six, seven members of the Mets clocked in for their voluntary workout at Dodger Stadium late Friday afternoon. A long, tough travel day accounted for the sparse turnout. However, someone pointed out that the Mets would only need to play those six or seven Saturday to close out the Dodgers.

 

The Mets will come to Elysian Park one step removed from advancing to the NL Championship Series.

 

It would be significant for them to take that step Saturday, because it would mean they are taking it before the Yankees. And when it comes to the perception wars, doing anything ahead of the Yankees is valuable.

 

The Mets are playing the Bums -- as the Dodgers were known in their Brooklyn days -- but they are dealing with the Bombers, make no mistake.

 

These are high-stakes times in New York. The Yankees were quicker on the cable sports network draw, the first to announce new stadium plans and the first to break ground (although both new parks are planned for 2009 openings).

 

Saturday afternoon brings a chance for the Mets to be first, since the Yankees could not secure their own Division Series against the Tigers until Saturday night, if they also take care of business in Game 3 on Friday night.

 

 

 

Home | News | Video | Audio | PhotosTheir organization may care more about stealing headlines than do the players, who are satisfied with stealing bases and an occasional sign.

 

But, although it is foolhardy to so soon entertain Subway Series thoughts, even the guys in uniform have sharpened their antennae for the Bronx boys.

 

"They've got a great team, great lineup," Cliff Floyd had said after spying some of their early action against Detroit. "You have [Jorge] Posada hitting eighth? Unbelievable."

 

The thing is, before October runs its course, the Mets may be as hard to believe. A clone of the Yankees, if anything: a vulnerable pitching rotation, a bullpen fortress and a complete lineup.

 

The Mets' three pillars -- Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and Wright -- combined for 105 home runs and 346 RBIs this season. They mesh with much more speed than the Yankees can offer, and playoff baseball may be giving this cast an overdue chance to strut.

 

After all, the Mets spent a season challenged by only their hunger. They had a double-digit NL East lead by June 22.

 

"But you can't say we had nothing to play for," protested Wright. "Look at what happened with the Cardinals and the Astros. That just showed that every game counts."

 

Still, now they are being challenged by the unforgiving postseason.

 

 

 

Be a part of the NLDS Mailbag

Who's going to win this series? Who's the best player? Why'd the manager make that move? If game stories and features aren't enough for you and you want more, e-mail MLB.com's Jim Street at mlbjstreet@aol.com. After the game, before it, even while the action is going on. Send in your question (make sure the subject line contains NLDS Mailbag), and Street will answer selected queries in a regular mailbag right here on MLB.com.

 

Asked whether playing possibly their first high-stakes, pressurized games of the entire year has energized the team, Floyd said, "Yeah, no doubt. Every little thing means something now. If we didn't again feel good about ourselves coming out of Washington [and a season-ending sweep over the Nationals], it might've been a different story the first two games."

 

It is the Dodgers' duty to change the story, to graduate from mere distraction for the Mets to serious annoyance. They also have a big-picture issue: salvaging some pride for the NL West, which is just 2-13 in the postseason since the Giants' run to the 2002 World Series.

 

To accomplish any of that, the Dodgers could adopt Coors Field as their new home -- they scored 19 runs there in a Sept. 28 victory over the Rockies, and a total of 18 in five games since.

 

That's not going to happen, so they must start playing above their heads in a matchup where they don't have any obvious advantage. Except one, at least Saturday: the house will be on their side.

 

Dodger Stadium's gate will be comparable in size to the 57,000 which twice packed Shea Stadium, and the Blue Boys want to make sure it will be as loud, too.

 

They even handed Tom Lasorda the pom-poms Friday. "I just spent two days in New York and the fans there were outstanding," Lasorda declared in a widely distributed statement. "I've always said that we have the greatest fans in all of baseball, and we need to show the rest of the country that it's the truth!"

 

The Dodgers are also encouraging people to come dressed in the team's primary color. So while fans will be in blue, the Dodgers have one last chance to get in the pink.

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Let's go Mets!

 

If we win tonight, everyone keep your cool, because we haven't won anything yet.

I hope we don't have a champagne ceremony because this team is supposed to accomplish much better things. Take it into the next series.

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