Archive for the 'Sports' Category

I made the decision to not watch this thing. Couldn’t deal with seeing it happen on our field. But in the end I couldn’t resist.

Despite another meltdown in the 9th by the gutless and or mediocre Billy Wagner the Mets held on for a 4-2 win and forced a winner take all game 7 Thursday night.

Maybe I won’t watch that one. I don’t feel good about this and can’t ake much more. I wasn’t going to watch tonight but couldn’t find anything to do and went home just to eat right around the start of the game. i told myself I’d just watch the first couple of innings while I cooked and ate then get out of the house. So I kept my shoes and clothes on which I don’t usually do when I come in. Certainly the shoes go off if I’m going to be in a while. But I wanted to be ready to bolt. The shoes were feeling uncomfortable. But after those initial couple of innings went by and John Maine hadn’t given up a run I felt like I couldn’t ruin the universal balance and leave. I had to wait for that first Cardinal run.

The Cards didn’t score in the 1st and Reyes led off with a homer for the Mets.

Did I dare jinx this thing?

No.

So inning after inning I watched. I stayed in the same seat with shoes on feeling a tad uncomfortable but not wanting to set off a butterfly like effect and change anything that was working. The Mets scored again later and I was further committed to not messing this up on my end.

By the 10:30 range it was obvious I couldn’t go anywhere since Barnes & Noble would be closing soon and diners are lonely places. Bars are out of the question for teetotalling half deaf people who have to fight an irresistable urge to slap and or make fun of drunk people, like myself.

I wanted to remove the shoes and pants. But would that start a chain reaction leading to catastrophe at Shea?

So I stayed in the same seat wearing the same stuff with my shoes kicking at my desk, occasionally resting on its pull out slidedraw. I couldn’t even go online because I didn’t start the game doing that and it seemed like it was further committing me to being in for the night and having to face the horror and sadness of the end alone in front of a 50 inch television bringing the horror vibrantly into my room in excruciatingly crystal clear high definition.

So I stayed dressed and perched as if I was about to bolt. Just hanging around temporarily until my ride showed up or I got the call to leave. Something of that attitude in my head and my posture.

So some time around 11:30 we get to the 9th with a 4 run lead. Still no runs given up. Wagner comes in. I said to my tv earlier at 2-0 Wagner would blow that. We needed at least a 3 run cushion with our $10 million a year wreck of a closer.

In no time at all it was 2nd and 3rd nobody out. he gets a couple of outs but chokes and its 4-2 with the tying run up. Crowd shots showed alot of very distressed people. Actually alot of the crowd looked that way all night long. Alot of life and death tension in the air at Shea tonight.

SO after the runs it seemed the butterfly effect rule was no longer in play and I should bolt. Get out now rather than watch the ultimate meltdown and choke!

BUt it was too late to leave. Leave it to the Mets to con me into staying and watching and then when I was trapped to slap me with my silly superstitious baseball mindset.

But Wagner got the out. Grounder to 2nd. Not pretty. But we got a game 7.

What to do tomorrow?

Do i sit in the same clothes and shoes in the same spot?

Do i go and sit in a dark movie theater or the book store?

Do i drive to Manhattan and wallow in it with my beloved New Yorkers?

I don’t know yet.

I’m not optimistic. This is not a great team. They’d have little shot against Detroit. Neither would the Cardinals. What we are seeing is a battle of mediocrity.

But the Cards have more on the bench right now. They have deeper starting pitching. Hotter hitters. More experience in these situations. And they don’t have Oliver Perez pitching.

Oliver Perez is pitching game 7 of the NLCS for the Mets.

THink about that.

Say it out loud a few times.

If you know anything about Baseball you know that this is akin to saying The nukes will hit the U.S. unless George Bush can outwit Kim Jong Il in a game of chess.

Or your movie franchise will die unless the next version is great and the man you’ve hired to direct it is Tim Burton.

And Perez is pitching on a days less rest than usual.

He wasn’t even on their roster for the Dodger series in the 1st round.

He was basically given away by the Pirates.

The Pirates!

Not the cool kind.

The ones form Pittsburgh.

Yes he was great 3 years ago but he’s been a mess since. Mets actually tried to trade him and did indeed trade him within hours after acquiring him. Moved him to San Diego but the Padres GM suddenly nixed the deal when word leaked that the Mets best reliever was injured in cab accident the night before.

The guy is basically a reclamation project. Someone to have pitching coack Rick Peterson work with for a year and hope we can salvage a decent pitcher who does have some good stuff. But now 2 months or so later with him having improved numbers in his Met appearences but still pretty bad ones (his Pittsburgh major and minor league numbers the last 2 years were absolutely mind bogglingly bad), he’s on the hill with the season on the line.

He’s been getting props for his Game 4 showing. But he gave up 5 runs and 9 hits in 5 innings for gods sake. (5 and two thirds to be exact). It shows you how far our standards have dropped when that’s a good outing.

He is still young (I think around 24), and Willie is playing the natural talent card here as opposed to experience or consistency.

BUt I don’t think it will work. The Card Suppan shut us out in Game 3. he’s not great but he’s credible.

And the Mets offense just hasn’t really showed up.

So between this, the non existent bench, the overused bullpen, and the mostly useless offense, I don’t have much hope.

We are at home and the Cards aren’t exactly the 27 Yankees.

Hell they’re not even the 06 Yankees.

But the Mets are thinned out and hanging by a thread. They can’t win much more like this. I think despite all the sudden optimism after tonight I think the Mets don’t have 2 straight wins left in them.

If my some chance we have a 1 or 2 run lead in the 9th I can’t see our wonderful lefty closer not choking it up.

Either one of these teams is probably Tiger bait but it would still be nice to get there. I think the pressure would be off. I could handle just showing up against Detroit.

But at least we forced it to 7. That’s more revenue for the Mets the more games they get and it’s that much more they can put into the team in the offseason to improve it. Once I settled in and watched I was on edge every inning despite the teams limited chances to do much beyond.

I didn’t want it to end that quickly though, or with me watching alone to wallow in my increasingly lousy month. October is my favorite month but it’s been a lousy one on many fronts. I’d still like to see this team drag another week out of this season-week and a half if they can scratch out a win or two against Detroit-but losing tomorrow will be better in some ways than tonight. Some ways worse because you can move on with a win. But they didn’t just die. Maine showed a little something. And we get more money. There’s more respect in losing in 7. Especially when you have no starting pitching staff.

But I’m not sure I can watch.

Mets win game 1 of NLCS 2-0.

My kind of game. Wish the Mets could play these every night. This kind of game keeps my panic under a semblance of control. But it is worrisome that the Mets aren’t hitting much since that is our strength.

But it was kind of predictable too. David Wright in particular is a problem I think. THe guy hasn’t displayed any power in 2 or 3 months. Tonight he was up in the 8th with a chance to get a key insurance run in with a man on 3rd and 1 out and you could just feel he had no chance of getting the ball out of the infield.

As many expected Valentin has hit a monster sized wall.

But he did make a great play in the 9th with an assist by Delgado who made a sweet scoop.

Floyd is of course hurt again. Yanked from the game early. That did get our boy Endy Chavez in who made a great diving catch very few players would have made.

Both runs came on a big fly by Carlos Beltran. I love that. Great pitching 1 or 2 homers, some good defense and lets move on.

And Tommy Glavine pitched well. He has 13 scoreless postseason innings now for the Mets. He was a bit lucky in spots tonight but if he can give a 2 or 3 more of these the Braves years are officially forgotten and i’ll do the Tomahawk Chop on my kneews in front of Ted Turner and Jane Fonda.

But that’s unlikely. A sense of calm is starting to settle in now. THis is very unlilkely to go the distance and I know that. It was unlikely all season with our staff. And much of our vaunted offense seems shot. But we didn’t go down in the 1st round. We’re getting some playoff experience. And we’re better off than the Yankees.

And not to make light of it but we’re certainly better off than Cory Lidle.

But of course it was still a tense game early on. Gave me chair a good wprkout with the rolling and spinning. The crowd at Shea didn’t seem as electric as I’d like. I don’t know if they were nervous or if too many tickets went to celebrities and corporate suits who are too good to make noise. But I need to see some steadier excitement tomorrow.

IT is hard to maintain that kind of energy and NY crowds generally know when to take it up a notch. I suspect if we’re back here for a game 6 or 7 the buzz will be steadier. On the otehr hand they could be a bit scared like I sensed they might be tonight. That underdog role we were suddenly cast in in the Dodger series is just as suddenly off as we’re not most peoples pick to win this one.

Also I didn’t realize it but tonight was the first time a game 1 of the CS has taken place at Shea.

The Cards have their ace on tomorrow against one of our men of mediocrity John Maine. On paper this is a mismatch. Especially the way the Mets are hitting. Or not hitting. The rainout allowed Carpenter to come back a game early. One of the disadvantages from the cancellation. And Pujols is due. Glavine kept him off balance tonight. John Maine won’t do the same.

And thanks to the rainout I now have to work for game 2 which should have been tonight. Not sure how I’ll handle it. I’ll DVR the puppy either way but don’t know if I’ll catch snatches at work. Might depend on who I work with. I can’t be bothered by work problems or needs during an obviously more important event.

As a matter of fact I think I should get paid time off for these games. Or at least time and a half for the duress and sacrifice I’m enduring in order to accomodate these people.

Item 1 when my people take control of the White House.

Why? Because the Mets completed a sweep of the Dodgers and the Yankees season ended as it usually does the past few years: In the 1st round. 9-5 Mets over L.A. on the West coast. Mets get a much needed 3 days rest before Championship Series starts on Wednesday against either St Louis or San Diego.

Tonights game was brutal on the nerves excruciating on the psyche, and generally tortuous in a way that is probably illegal somewhere under the Geneva Conventions (Not valid in these non-participating United States). And we were up 2 games and ultimately won by 4.

But it was really a rough one. After blowing a 4-0 lead as Mr Mediocrity Steve Trachsel melted down in the 5th we came back from 5-4 and edged through almost every inning with the Dodgers battling throughout.

I only had 2 hours of sleep last night, watched a guy die at work before 8 A.M., and played Tennis for 90 minutes, so I thought I’d drift off to sleep fairly early. But after that game I’m too wound.

And it was fun watching it with people online and trading barbs and references as the game and its many highs and lows went by. Also reacting to commercials and the announcers stupidity in real time was a blast. And camera shots. All that stuff. Almost as good as having a life and real friends.

And the Yankees are done. As a doornail. Lay down and pissed themselves like scared puppies in the face of a Tiger team that didn’t bow before them.

As I’ve been trying to tell Yankee fans for 6 years you’ll never win another championship with that payroll and a bunch of mercenaries and mediocre old pitchers.

Now of course the Mets have the issue with the old mediocre pitching thing too. And as some point it will probably be our undoing whether in the NLCS or World Series. BUt with everyone picking us for an early exit and the Yanks for greatness (and yes I thought they’d probably be right though the negativity on the Mets is more of a superstitious ritual), we’re making some noise and having a run at least.

BUt man if we hadn’t lost Sanchez in late July and had picked up 1 quality starter as we almost did at the deadline, we’d be in great shape right now.

Still a good season is protected by not being a 1st round loser. 1 more series would clinch a great season no matter what happens after that. Especially considering our paper thin staff.

And that staff was pushed again tonight as Willie had to use 3 guys in the 5th and eventually the whole pen was again pushed into duty accept for ROberto Hernandez whom no one trusts including his mother.

And the ugly beast that is Jeff Kent was put down. Or at least his team was. He actually killed us. Couldn’t get him out. If he becomes Albert Pujols in NLCS we’re in deeep trouble because he can single handedly carry a team and win a series. And the Cards have a few more supporting players with some past glory than Kent.

Indeed a fine day for our species as we find that striking a deal with the Baseball Devil doesn’t win championships and steroids and champagne don’t mix. Steinbrenner will be fuming and Arod will continue to be scourged by his teams fans until being driven out of town.

He should have been human, not let his ego drive him, and work things out with the Mets in 2002. I think he’ll be moved somehow this offseason.

And the good guys won.