What happened? Did I black out? Did I land the plane ok? Passengers hurt?

Was that Jeff Weaver on the hill yesterday? Really? Was I dreaming? What a game.

I’d like to spend today sticking it to ESPN for not believing in the Cards. I’d like to, but I really can’t. ‘Cause there ain’t no way I can say I saw Weaver, Flores, Kinney, Johnson and Wainwright combining on a shutout.

I suppose I could point out to Kieth Law that game 1 of a five game series is of ultimate importance, and Carpenter is the best NL starting pitcher still pitching. I suppose I could say that a game 1 victory wasn’t a completely unexpected event, and that the Cards could put up a fight. But I didn't see this.

Game 2 was insane.

If I had told you in June that we’d win a playoff game with the dynamic five listed above, you’d have trucked me away.

A few quick thoughts:

Time to review TLR’s love/hate relationship with rookies. No one would disagree that Anthony Reyes is far nastier than Weaver. Tony places so much emphasis on experience, that he’d rather see Weaver start games 2 and 5 than Reyes start one game.

And yet, rookie bullpeners got the last ten outs yesterday. That says a lot about Johnson, Kinney and Wainwright. It probably says more about Looper.

Jose Alberto has simply overwhelmed the Padres…with a little help from San Diego. Albert is aggressive on base, always putting pressure on the opponent. The Padres wilted with their botched rundown. Nice play by Pujols to take third on a grounder to the SS’s right as well. It’s little things that can win close games. Pujols does the little things better than any other $100 million baseball player.

Question: Can you have a “I’m Keith Hernandez” moment if you’re only as accomplished as David Wells? Can that moment last five years? Boomer looks like he put it in neutral a few seasons ago, and has simply been pitching for kicks and grins ever since. That said, WHY DO YOU PITCH TO ALBERT WITH A MAN ON SECOND AND ROLEN ON DECK?????????

Asinine.

They played a lot of baseball in New York yesterday. If you haven’t seen it, find a highlight of A-Rod’s K with the bases loaded. I’d like to say he choked. But it’s hard to fault a guy for being carved up by two 101 MPH fastballs, followed by a slow curve. Verlander has an arm.

How does Todd Jones keep his job as Detroit’s closer? I’ve never been in an MLB bullpen, but I’ve got to think there is a pecking order out there. The closer has to be the pen’s Alpha Dog. Zumeya and Rodney can throw 102 MPH, and they have to carry Jones’ bags? Does this make any sense?

For 7 innings, the Yanks saw fastballs averaging 99 on the gun. In the ninth, they saw Jones and his fu manchu throwing 89 MPH gas. You know Zumeya and Rodney get more chicks on the road than Jones does. It’s just bizzarre.

Grady Little is managing the Dodgers the way Mr. Burns managed his powerplant’s softball team. Let’s see. Penny has been having back spasms, we’re not sure he can pitch, so let’s test him out in a tie game in the 7th inning of game 1. Then we’ll wait on Maddux in favor of a rookie in game 2. In game 3, we can expect Homer to pinch hit for Drew, against a lefty, since Homer is righthanded.

Finally, boy does the NL suck. The Mets can’t pitch, the Padres can’t hit, and the Dodgers can’t do either. We just had a playoff games featuring Weaver v. Wells and Kuo v. Glavine. Tomorrow we get Trachsel v. Maddux. Glavine and Maddux were fantastic pitchers when David Caruso was a legtimate actor. This is bad.

One of the great questions of this postseason will wind up being, can an NL team win one World Series game.