Mets Win Game Eight (I Mean, Game One)

No, it's not going to lessen the sting of losing Game Seven of the 2006 NLCS, but beating Chris Carpenter is always a good way to get your season off on the right foot, which the Mets did on Opening Night by a score of 6-1.

Of course, the Mets had to start the night by watching ceremonies which honored past Cardinal World Series champions (with Mets announcer and World Series hero Keith Hernandez representing the '82 Cards) and present ones too ... punctuated with a motorcade featuring the World Series trophy, and the raising of the Cards' 2007 World Series banner. Mets starter Tom Glavine couldn't help but notice.

"There's no question for us as a group that it was a little bit of a disappointment that it wasn't us," Glavine said. "It could have very easily been us, but it wasn't. Maybe it's the kind of thing that you watch and know that when the season is over for us, that's what we want to be doing."

David Wright noticed as well.

"Hopefully, we have that in the back of our minds and that gives us that extra motivation," Wright said.

If the final score was indicative of motivation the Mets might have been feeling, then that's a good sign for their next game on Tuesday, when the Cardinals are presented with their World Series rings in a separate ceremony. As far as the Mets are concerned, the Cards can keep that motivation coming. Perhaps the Braves can have ceremonies commemorating their 14 straight division titles when the Mets hit town over the weekend (with Glavine throwing out the ceremonial first pitch). Motivation is a good thing.