OK, my Canon PowerShot A540 and I are moving along from the Tigers-Yanks ALDS blog to this NLCS blog. The goal will be to push the blogging envelope and take you places you won’t otherwise experience at the NLCS unless you have one of those cool thingies around your neck and a general curiosity to be out and about and mingle with the St. Louis and New York fans. There will be homemade videos, pics from inside and outside the parks, and some general keystroking like I’m doing here. This approach all resulted from me asking fans what they want out of an MLB.com series blog at the start of the postseason, and you want what people don’t see and cutting-edge. So we will try to oblige again and by all means make further requests here and we’ll see what’s possible.

This also will be a place where Mets and Cardinal fans converge, so have fun and please keep it cordial as the intensity level rises throughout the series. That’s an assumption, of course. If it’s anything like the Mets-Cards rivalry days of the ’80s, when they both won their last titles, it will be great.

On a personal note, I live in New York and my three boys live in St. Louis. It couldn’t be any better than to be working this series. If you’re around Shea or Busch, make sure to let me know here or email me so I can say hello.

Updated 4:15 p.m. ET: The Cards work out at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday at Shea, followed by the Mets at 1 p.m. The NLCS interview room opens for business with the Cards at 1 p.m., featuring manager Tony La Russa, Game 1 probable starter Jeff Weaver and an additional player. Mets in the interview room starting at 2 will include manager Willie Randolph, Game 1 probable starter Tom Glavine and catcher Paul Lo Duca. Let’s get it all started with your series predictions!