The Most Competitive Balance Ever and the Random Song of the Day

It seems all these teams are pretty well matched, right? Every time you think one team is better than the other, the other team takes it to game 5. There are a lot of things right and wrong with the 2nd Wild Card, but maybe that crazy buffoon of a commissioner saw all this coming. Records don't matter as much anymore except for home field advantage, so might as well make every team feel if they take advantage of an opportunity, they can do anything. It makes for more fun. We seem to have entered a Competitive Golden Age in baseball, helped along by the 1-game Wild Card. While this time around, the experience won out in the Division Series, with the Yankees, the Tigers, the Giants and the Cardinals moving ahead. It didn't matter that the Redbirds were 7 games behind the Braves and wouldn't have made it by even a sliver without the 2nd Wild Card. We all knew they are as good as any team out there, including the New Age Nationals, who looked defeated by their inexperience in the end.

For teams like the Mets, we know they CAN be competitive. Talent is clearly an issue, but the bottom line is they need to execute. And they need to execute in the 2nd half, and when they have the chance to put the foot on the neck of the competition.


My freshman roommate, Ted, who is a big-time Phillies fan, texted me this morning:

Ted: The ALCS starts tonight? 
       
     Wow. 
       
     That's cruel.

Me: Yep. Crazy, right? But Yanks deserve to NOT work. I hope it's not 
    Cards Yanks...

Ted: I agree. Although, I must admit, I've disliked Yankee teams in the 
     past more than this team.
       
     Translation for some reason I don't totally hate this Yankee team
       
     I don't think they are as good and for some reason that's endearing
       
     Like PH for a-rod and winning because of it, benching arod and his 
     replacement gets a key RBI...Raul...and I finally realized how good 
     Jeter really is...

     I like these things...what's wrong with me

Me: Oh, I agree with all you just said, but that doesn't change the fact 
    I think that franchise needs to feel disappointment more

Ted: Agreed

Me: I think those fans should feel what the National fans felt last 
    night, you know.

Ted: Go tigers, I'm just saying if the yanks do win...it won't upset me 
     very much.

Me: You don't live in New York. "Tings ah back to noormool."

    If they win, they will say.

    With Competitive Balance the way it is, I don't think they should 
    come out on top this year, though if they do, they will probably 
    have earned it.

Here's the Random Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

 

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This is Normal.

It took the Washington Baseball Community 79 years to be yet another National League East team to suffer a devastating loss to the Cardinals in a Winner-Take-All game. They just don't stop. Same way we expect Eli Manning to pull out a victory in the 4th Quarter every week, we expect the Cardinals will do somethin' along this line. I was pulling for Washington, because it's cool for that area that lost baseball for so long, but also because I just want to see the Cardinals stop winning. Alas, Drew Storen couldn't locate his fastball and experience outweighed talent. In the overall narrative, it makes sense. This Washington team and town has just gotten back to truly, for most, unfamiliar territory. Might as well seethe over the Redbird before tasting the glory and the champagne.

Experience made most of the difference in today's games, with the Yankees outlasting the O's much the way they did in the regular season. Now, the possibility of a Bay Series is gone, The Mid-Atlantic Series is wiped off the map, and the Mets did their part long ago to put ideas of a Subway Series to bed. I will look for a Giants Tigers series, though I will still watch if the Cardinals make it back. I don't think it's their consistency that sickens me; it's that my team isn't that kind of consistent.

And so, the Nats are eliminated, much the same way the 91-61 New York Giants eliminated the 99-53 Washington Senators in Game 5 back in 1933. After the Giants won both their games at the Polo Grounds, the Senators won in Game 3 at Griffith Stadium with a complete-game shutout by Earl Whitehill. Game 4 came down to the 11th inning, and the Giants scored 1 to break a 1-1 tie and win it in the bottom half. They took the deciding game 5 in the top of the 10th, breaking a 3-3 tie with a Mel Ott Solo Shot. The Senators got 2 on in the bottom half with 2 out, but Joe Kuhel struck out.  Relatively soon thereafter (in the grand scheme of the universe), Washington Baseball Fans would seriously consider becoming Orioles fans.

And even the DC folk who stayed with the O's couldn't beat those Daaaamn Yankees.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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Farewell Former Foe and a Song for the Night

I'm sure I am already the umteenth person to start a post or article or what not like this, but once again Billy Beane will not win the last game of the year. It sucks, too, 'cause they were fun to rally behind. The Tigers were clearly the better team at the end, with Justin Verlander looking as if there was no way he was gonna let his team blow a 2-game lead (a pitcher picked just ahead of Philip Humber in the 2004 Draft, I might add....or...just did add...) I hope, one day, Billy Beane and his Oakland A's can get that ring, as long as it's not at the expense of the Mets, once again.

The two teams I have cared the most about in this postseason both took on the Mets in the Fall Classic. The one who beat them in 7 has left the party, being beaten by a team the Mets could have played in 2006. The one who the Mets beat in 5 has forced game 5 against a team the Mets lost to in 5 and share a city with. The Giants used to live here, and they fought their way from 2 down to win game 5 and go off to play for the National League Pennant with some former Mets on hand for the fun. They await the winner of a series between a team that the Mets beat in 5 six years before they beat the Mets in 7, and a team that beat the Mets a bunch of times this year to get to the point of playing in a game 5.

I don't know whether I'm trying to say that it all comes back to the Mets or that the playoffs are awesome. Either way, I wish we were playing a game 5.

Here's a Song for the Night.

LET'S. GO. PLAYOFFS.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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A Little Hiccup But We Duke it Out

Well, Dillon Gee was as good as any starter in our rotation until he hung what looked to be a cutter to Wilson Betemit in the 8th inning, and all of a sudden the Orioles sprung to life. Bobby P. had to weather a storm and Francisco had to weather a hurricane, but miraculously the Mets sweep the Orange Birds with a final score of 4-3.

That might have been the best I've ever seen from Dillon Gee. He was working every corner with every pitch in his arsenal. He  hit a wall later in the game when his pitch count was certainly low enough to go the complete game shutout. Unfortunately he couldn't battle through, but the bullpen, albeit in a scary fashion, came through for the Mets and the 7th Letter in the Alphabet. Swung a nice bat tonight, too, scoring on Wright's huge double.

Mike Nickeas just keeps on getting big hits. About a week ago, I wrote about The Nick's .155 average, and how long the Mets could live with it. I made the point, however, that he has gotten a lot of hits that have broken us through in certain games. Last night, SNY showed that Mike has a .333 average with runners in scoring position right before he made contact and tailed the ball away from a diving Adam Jones in right-center, who, if he had made the play, would have made a spectacular diving play. The bottom line, it seems, is that with runners on, The Nick makes contact and has been huge for this club. Nickeas profiles as an unlikely hero when the time to shine is right, and regardless of his stats, I agree with keeping him around as backup catcher.

There ain't no lefty Scottie can't rake.

Frank Francisco early on in the 9th inning was doing a great job of painting the corners. His strategy seemed to change as different hitters came up, and that hurt him. He lost complete control at one point when he walked free swinging Mark Reynolds to load the bases and bring up Steve Pearce...who he walked in 4 low pitches to force in a run and bring up contact hitter Brian Roberts. But give Francisco credit. The game could still be won, and he did a great job of getting Roberts to ground out to Jordany at 2nd.

Who would have thought 2 years ago we'd be discussing the roster problem the Mets have because of depth? Right now, Valdespin keeps hitting and will stay in the lineup if he does so. Murphy is struggling with the bat but you don't expect them to send him down. Baxter will come back at some point and will need to take a spot. Meanwhile, Vinny Rottino keeps doing the hard-nosed type of stuff it takes to win ballgames. In the 4th, after Scott Hairston doubled,  the righty Rottino waited back on a pitch and  made sure to hit it to the right side of the infield, moving Hairston over to 3rd with 1 out. Scottie eventually scored the 1st run of the ballgame. In the 5th, with Hairston and David Wright on 2nd and 3rd, respectively, Rottino was intentionally walked to get to the lefty Ike Davis. Ike grounded the ball slowly the other way to the shortstop, who tossed it to the 2nd baseman for the force out. The 2nd baseman turned just as Vinny was sliding perfectly into 2nd to trip the fielder up. The extra run scored, and it turned out we really needed it. As long as these guys continue to perform, those roster decisions get harder and harder to deal with. I love it.

The Mets will take a day before the much-anticipated Subway Series gets underway (Ain't it funny how every time somebody says these games are getting boring, a weekend comes along like this to spice things up again?) A rematch of the southpaws is slated for Friday Night at 7:10PM, with Jon Niese taking on Andy Pettitte.

Chris Young against Ivan Nova.

Dickey. Sabathia.

RA has created a buzz around this one Subway Series game that I haven't seen since the late 90's, early 2000's. We will be there Sunday when this all goes down. What a pitching matchup. The night is gonna be a lot of fun.

We can handle the Yankees.

Bring on the Pinstripes (in the grey aways.)

LET'S. GO. METS.

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