Here’s a little question to ponder from the difference-between-our-town-and-yours department: the overwhelming storyline out of the Mets’ feel-good Opening Day win was clearly the bullpen, which registered 10 outs, which, as I wryly note here, it sometimes took the Mets’ pen two weeks to get 10 outs last year. But as much as we killed the Mets’ pen last year — and deservedly so — the Cardinals’ bullpen might have been even worse, blowing 31 saves last year. Thirty-one! So what happens? On Opening Day, in St. Louis … well, they blew another one. Twice. Can you even imagine if …

*******

Good for North Carolina, which did one of the most difficult things you can ever do in sports, which is to justify the near-unanimous belief that the Tar Heels were the best team in the country by being just that, the best team in the country, especially in six dominant games in the NCAA Tournament. But please don’t get caught up in the pap about how so many years bypassed the NBA draft last year only for a shot at the title. Understand, if any of them had been assured they would be lottery picks, they would have been watching last night’s game. And probably wouldn’t have been watching Carolina, either.