Choke Pt. 2

No, not the new Sam Rockwell movie!

So, my guess is you are all aware that the NY Mets spit the bit for another year on the last day of the season. But it really wasn't the last day of the season since the team played like crap over the last three weeks.
As I tell my sons - a true fan sticks with his team no matter what. But it is hard, my man.

A quick list of GOTTA GO (as in somewhere else next season) Mets:
Ollie Perez
Scott Schoenweis
Duaner Sanchez
Pedro Feliciano
Luis Castillo
Ramon Castro
Ricardo Rincon
Matt Wise
Moises Alou
Now some of this high-priced beef are free agents so away you go.

And some BETTER GET BETTER QUICK OR YOUR OUTTA HERE Mets:
Aaron Heilman
Angel Pagan
Luis Ayala
John Maine (not his ability or talent, but his injury)
Ambiorix Burgos
Jason Vargas

And the I COULD HAVE BEEN MORE CLUTCH Mets:
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Carlos Delgado
Ryan Church
Brian Schneider
Pedro Martinez

As Squeeze once sang "Another Nail in My Heart" . That song will keep me comforted over the hot stove winter as I trade every loser in my dreams.

Shea Tribute by Wednesday.

All Hands on Deck

Last day of the season - everybody get ready for a wild ride. You may see starting pitchers coming in to throw an inning if needed, particularly if your team plays in NY, Milwaukee, the South Side of Chicago and the Twin Cities.
Two postseason spots still up for grabs. In the AL, Minnesota and Chicago are neck 'n neck in the Central. I like the Twins over the Royals and Chicago over Cleveland to set up a one gamer tomorrow.
In the NL - Mr. Sabathia on 3 days rest against the Cubs. Tough call, he's been a killer in the NL. But I think the Cubs want to set a tone for the playoffs and will win a tight one.
Mets play Florida. Ollie Perez in what is likely his last regular season start for the Mets, since he's a Boras client heading into free agency. He's on 3 days as well, and his last outing blew chunks. No matter how he pitches, the Mets will look to jump all over S.Olsen today and get a heap of runs. Mets will win, so says SoulSlam!

Last, since today is the last regular season game at Shea ever, a fitting tribute is called for. I will post that later today (unless I'm in a coma) or Monday. Let's play ball!

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5:30PM

Done. It's over Johnny.

Saturday - Two to Go

Two to Go - Mets are 1 out of WC, 2 out of Division.
Even with two wins, the stars have to align for the Brewers to lose two. Best case, they split and we have a one game WC playoff - worst case, long winter begins Monday.

Game begins in 7 minutes. I'll check back in later.

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3:20PM or so...

Game is through 51/2 -Mets up 2-0. Santana has been outstanding.

Interesting line-up today.

Mets have Wright on first, no outs. Murphy up. See ya, gotta go watch...

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Now it's almost 8PM...

Johan Santana pitched a 3-hit shutout on three days rest to give the NY Mets another day. HUGE.

Brewers couldn't beat the Cubies, and Sheets left the game in the 3rd...I don't know about you, but everytime I turn around, he's coming out of (or taking himself out of) a game early.

I will a little extra prayer at church tomorrow. Father is a Mets fan, so I may ask for a blessing!

Stomach of Chaos

That's what I have right now. Every night, glued to my TV, watching my team either win (hopefully) or lose in dramatic fashion.

Last night, Pedro Martinez pitched in what is likely his last game in Mets uniform, or in any uniform. I have always liked Pedro, a very interesting character in the game. Now he comes to that time when his velocity is gone, his body is breaking, and it may be time to retire. I'm sure every Yankee fan still hates him. Good luck Petey.

Back to the game - after watching D. Murphy attempt the bunt in the 9th to move Reyes over, it is readily apparent that this kid, who has done nothing but a damn fine job for the team, is no Cap Anson. My question, did the kid miss a sign (it happens) or did 3B Coach Aguayo make a mistake? Either way, Aguayo will NOT be 3B coach next year. He's not very good at it.

Great job by Mr. Beltran - clutch hit.

Good reading - have not read it yet, but SI has an interesting story about SE VA baseball and the boys who have made it to the majors - check it out!

You Can't Get There From Here

Very famous retort when you ask a wiseguy for directions (most likely at the insistence of your better half, since no man actually needs directions!).

Metaphorically speaking though, it can also apply to the plight of my beloved team, the NY Mets, and the club's dismal play as they try to Houdini their way into the playoffs.

Two nights ago - Phillies drop a game to the Braves and the Mets put a big W behind Johan Santana, who may be best pitcher in the NL right now. Then last night came and went. Phillies drop another, Brewers win one, and the Mets, with the opportunity to win with no outs and a man on 3B to start the bottom of the 9th CAN"T PUSH THE WINNING RUN ACROSS!!!!!!!

The result - Mets still 1.5 GB of the Phils, and now tied in the Wild Card hunt with the Brewers.

My level of frustration knows no boundaries at this moment. As Al Davis says, "Just Win Baby". Excuses over. Go out and do the job. Now every game is a MUST WIN SITUATION.

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In other news, Hank Steinbrenner (aka Hankenstein, Blathering Hank) has decided that divisional play in baseball is bad and wrong and not fair. Good one, Hank! You are a baseball genius! I will bet Cashman cannot wait to get out from under this big bag of wind.

The Dead Zone

Also known as the Mets clubhouse apparently. Can somebody please grow a big set of shoes and lead this team!

Johan is going tonight. He's a gamer. So here's hoping we can pull off a win. And waiting for the Brewers to crack so we can back into the playoffs is not my idea of aggressive ball.

The Mets have backed themselves into a deep, dark corner and now have to fight to win. Better get going boys!

(Oh, my bloggin' head is pounding!)

The House that Ruth Built

So today is the day. The immortal Yankee Stadium will host it's last game tonight. With no playoffs this year, it's the end.

Tom Verducci wrote an interesting piece in SI with the stadium in the first person. Quite a few tidbits I did not know.

And all the NY papers have been covering it in-depth. So I won't talk history here.

Now it's time to say goodbye. My earliest memories of the stadium? I was born in The Bronx, but my father's family came from upper Manhattan (via Ireland) and were mostly Dodgers or Giants fans. The Yankees were more for people of means, while the National League teams were for the working class. So when time came, I picked the Mets as my team. But I had some cousins who lived within site distance of YS, and I can remember it off in the distance when we would visit.

I had a lot of friends who root for the Yanks, so over the years I would get there time to time.

I remember spending quite a bit of time at Stan's whenever we went.

In 1996, it snowed on opening day, so the Yankees offered everyone a ticket to another game, either a Thursday against the Jays or a Tuesday against the Mariners. A friend had about 10 tickets to opening day so he took 10 for the Mariners on May 14. Since it was a weeknight, a lot of people didn't want to go. I went, happy to see Dwight "Doc" Gooden pitching. And the rest is history. Dr. K pitched a no-hitter that night, probably the first (and only) time I rooted for the Yankees in my life.

This year I took my two sons to the stadium so they could always say they were there. Cliff Lee and the Indians beat the Yanks 3-0 that night. Nice.

After a dozen or so years, the Bronx Bombers won't be in the playoffs. A little odd after a run like that. The stadium will be gone, replaced by the palace across the street. A palace that many will not be able to afford to get into. Somebody's got to foot the bill for all-stars everywhere I suppose.

So enjoy the show on ESPN tonight. The AL East has a new Ray of hope.

The Back and Forth of Baseball

So after a tumultuous week - the NY Mets have regained first in the NL East after a big win last night in Atlanta and a Philles loss to Florida. Coupled with another Brewers loss - the Mets and Phillies are both looking to make the playoffs, with one tagged as the Wild Card.
Unlike years past I am uncharacteristically calm about this playoff race. Don't know why. Maybe after watching the first month and a half the Mets played in a very lackluster manner, I see any "meaningful September games" as a big bonus.

So with a week and a day to go - could be a wild ride.

Check out ESPN's Outside the Lines tomorrow for a story on Lymon Bostock and his murder during the 1978 baseball season.

And after 6 weeks of no youth baseball, I began my informal baseball clinic today for boys who want to play and get better (we're in a kind of football town). Fun session, kids had a great time. Showed them this training tool and they loved it! Best of all, my son was ripping the ball in hitting practice. So says the proud father!

Fw:

Nice short sweet name for a post. And it all has to do with the folks who Fw: every e-mail they find cute/informative/important/witty. Trouble is, I rarely find it so. And these same folks never actually come up with anything on their own, so they are rarely cute/informative/important/witty, just annoying.

I do not need these e-mails folks. I do not care what snopes.com says, since I can pretty much figure out a hoax with my bulls*** detector (mine's built-in). And just so you know - the delete key is the only action I take when I get these banal deliveries.

Fw: yourself a life and a clue. Think hard and send me an e-mail with an original thought.

I sound like the Angry Blog Guy today!

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What, What, What?

As in happened.

I guess the baseball gods have decided to make me crazy. After a pretty nice cushion, the NY Mets blow the lead and are now 1/2 game out of first to the red-hot Phillies, and 1/2 game up on the (strange) Brewers, who fired their manager after a winning season of baseball with two weeks left. Who wants that job?

So we go another 11 and see where we get. I still believe that this isn't 2007 and we can right the ship.

Mets play the Nats 1x, the Braves 3x, the Cubbies 4x and the Fish 3x.

Phils play Atlanta 4x, Nats 3x and the Fish 3x with one off-day.

Brewers play Cubs 4x, Reds 3x and Pittsburgh 3x with one off-day.

Nationals or Marlins could be big spoilers here for either team. Cubs will be a tough one folks.

I need to get my Rally Cap going.

The Loss Column

So today, Friday 9/12, the NY Mets are up four games in the loss column versus the Philadelphia Phillies. This weekend is HUGE folks.

Mets play home against the woeful Braves. Santana against Hampton tonight, Pedro vs. JoJo Reyes on Saturday, and Ollie P. takes on some guy names Jorge on Sunday. Gotta win 2 of 3 here.

Phils got the Brew Crew- and they took the first game last night. Brewers better step it up folks. The Wild Card is at stake for them.

No predictions, cause I don't want to be called a jinx. Let's go Mets. Take care of business.

Anyway, I'm off to Dallas on Sunday for business. Gonna try to get to a Ranger game on Tuesday night. Catch you on the flipside of Ike.

Seven Years Ago

Just a short post -

Keep those who perished in New York City, Arlington and Shanksville seven years ago in your prayers today.

Never Forget.

God Bless America.

It's good to be King

Watched a fascinating documentary last night called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It's about Donkey Kong, you know the big monkey, damsel in distress, a plumber named Mario and many barrels and elevators.

Now, I'm not really the gaming type. I do like Tetris and puzzles, but today's video games leave me cold. I do remember the days of classics like Galaga, Centipede and the mighty DK though. I had heard about this film awhile back and thought it fairly interesting.

In the far corner, you have the recognized champ (since 1982!), a very unlikable (my opinion) guy named Billy Mitchell. In the other, the good-guy, Johnny-come-lately, Steve Weibe. And in between, the oddest assortment of video game followers and geeks you will ever see. Nearly everybody looks like something out of a Will Ferrell movie. Yikes.

Anyway, check out the movie if you wanted to see the nasty underbelly of the classic videogame world (which actually exists). Like I said, fascinating. You won't believe this stuff actually goes on.