Dampened enthusiasm
Rain may play role again tonight
ST. LOUIS -- What would this National League Championship Series be without another weather forecast that could have an impact on pitching plans?
The National Weather Service is calling for a 100 percent chance of rain, and possibly a thunderstorm, during the day today, with an 80 percent chance of rain tonight, when Game 5 of the NLCS between the Cardinals and Mets is scheduled.
Tonight's starting pitchers, Tom Glavine for the Mets and Jeff Weaver for the Cardinals, both would be going on three days' rest because of rain in New York last Wednesday that postponed Game 1 for a day.
Six times in Glavine's career, he has pitched on short rest in the postseason, but only twice since 1992, and both of those games ended in defeat.
He lasted five innings in Game 5 of the 2001 NLCS against Arizona and Randy Johnson, laboring through 99 pitches and giving up three runs (one earned) in a 3-2 defeat. In Game 4 of the 2002 division series against the Giants, Glavine lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs in an 8-3 loss in San Francisco.
Weaver, meanwhile, never has pitched on short rest in 181 regular-season starts and three postseason starts, including his win against the Padres in the division series this season, in which he threw five scoreless innings, and his Game 1 defeat to Glavine in the NLCS, when he gave up a two-run home run to Carlos Beltran in 5 2/3 innings in a 2-0 loss.
``There are times when it's noticeable, probably more in the regular season than now," Glavine said of going on short rest. ``But I think this time of year, your adrenaline is so high, you're so fired up about getting out there, that I think that takes away from a lot of the feelings on the negative side."
Weaver apparently didn't realize this would all be new to him. ``I can't recall too many times I've thrown on three days' rest," he said. ``Maybe down the stretch a couple of years ago with LA."
Mets general manager Omar Minaya was asked if he'd prefer a postponement, so that Glavine could pitch on regular rest.
``I'm hoping we play," he said. ``I never go into a day hoping we don't play. When you start thinking negative about playing, that's not good."
Glavine, who had parried questions about Albert Pujols's comments after Game 1 that Glavine hadn't been that good, graciously took Pujols off the hook when asked about it yesterday, but not without a little jab.
``A lot of people have joked with me about it," Glavine said. ``But I mean, I don't know Albert well enough to know where that came from. And I know that a lot of things that we say as athletes in the heat of the moment either isn't what we meant to say or doesn't come out the way we meant it.
``You know, I have a ton of respect for Albert. He's a great player. It's a great challenge when I face him individually. If he truly didn't think I pitched well the other night, then I hope I do something [tonight] to really impress him. That would be a good thing."
None of them, before Perez, was asked to start a postseason game. Perez, who earned the win for the Mets last night, was 3-13, a .188 winning percentage, with a 6.55 ERA in 22 starts this season, which he split between the Pirates and Mets.
Perez was solid but unspectacular last night, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits, including three home runs.
David Wright flied to center with two runners aboard to end the first inning, and Jose Reyes, the Mets' other wunderkind, popped to shortstop David Eckstein in short left field to end the second.
In his second at-bat, in the third, Wright came to the plate one batter after Carlos Beltran went deep and hit his first home run of the postseason.
Wright had begun the night hitless in nine at-bats in the LCS, after a regular season in which he hit .311 with 26 home runs and 116 RBIs.
Beltran, who had four home runs against the Cardinals in the 2004 NLCS while playing for Houston, had just one hit in nine trips since homering off the Shea Stadium scoreboard in Game 1 until he homered off Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes. He added another in the seventh.
Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com 
