It's Been a While

Since we last posted, the hockey season is back in full swing and we just witnessed what we all feared- a Phillies-Yankees World Series. Let's try to sum up the month of October and hope we do not have to do this again a month from now.

The Yankees are the World Series champions. Congrats to them. You should be the champs when you outspend the team behind you in annual player salaries by $60+ million. That team behind them is the Mets, but we won't go there. I hope the Mets were watching what the Yankees did to the Phillies. That means Oliver Perez has to return to 2007 form and another lefty is needed in the bullpen. Lefties, lefties, lefties.

As long as the small market teams keep pocketing their luxury tax money and never bitch about it, this will go on forever. The Yankees will be there every year. They will never see the dark ages like they did in the 80s. Major League Baseball needs to put something in place to limit free agent spending, while allowing teams to pay as much as they want for homegrown talent or players acquired in trades. Think about it- owners won't go throwing money around because they can't and roster turnover will not be as frequent as it is now. Teams will be good because of drafting and trading and not because they have the money to splurge on each and every all-star available in the winter. It's not a team salary cap, but a new-player-acquisition cap.

Don't get me wrong, credit the Yankees for spending wisely, even if they did break the bank. All the moves paid off. Who had a bad year on that team?

The NHL could use this different cap as well. A hard cap as it is in place now, creates what is now a free agent frenzy on July 1. Sure it bring a buzz, but it also brings a completely different team come training camp. What happens when your 4th round draft pick turns out to be a gem and his contract is up, but you're up against the cap? So long buddy.

The Rangers are nothing without Marian Gaborik. Hopefully they can adjust to the gameplan Vancouver had for them, which shut him down big time. Dubinsky and Callahan are the guys that have to get going. They've been around for a few seasons now- it's time for them to approach the peak in their development.

Like last season, you can thank the good start to the season. Unlike last season, hopefully we don't limp into the playoffs and have another early exit.

The last three champions in MLB and the NHL have been the Phillies, Penguins and Yankees. Ugh.

Vintage

Pedro had all of his good stuff last night. 8 shutout innings with 130 pitches. Getting out of a couple of late jams. Too bad I'm not typing this at this time in 2008, 07, or even 06. It's 2009 and Pedro Martinez is a Phillie. And he was doing this against the Mets. For what it's worth he did it in a game that officially eliminated the Mets from playoff contention.

Daniel Murphy bailed him out in the eight inning and continues to prove why the Mets should look to find another first baseman until Ike Davis is ready if they plan on contending. Youth is no excuse for his aggressiveness in trying to go to third on a pitch that barely bounced away. You're down a run in the 8th. You are already in scoring position. Ground ball specialist Jeremy Reed maybe just maybe finds a hole that can drive you home. As Torts said about the Dubi situation, "It's stupid." Murph can work as hard as he wants in the cage, on the field, and in the video room, but he's not the answer at first base.


It was nice to see John Maine in action in the first game of the doubleheader, albeit for only three innings. How about Josh Thole going 4-for4? Could he be the answer at catcher next season? Keep it up kid- if Omir Santos and his sub .300 on base percentage is our starting catcher next season, we're in trouble.

Both games saw the Mets not go quietly in the 9th against first Brad Lidge, then Ryan Madson in the second. Lidge was a bit shakier and Madson gave up a hit to Brian Schneider in what was an impressive at bat by him considering his situation. Angel Pagan unfortunately made the final out in both, more unlucky the second time, roping one down the line right where Pedro Feliz was standing.

Bullpen, You Have a Problem

The Mets probably got their most satisfying victory of the season late yesterday afternoon. Considering it's September and they are about 19 out, that's saying a lot.

We saw David Wright hit not one, but two homeruns, including one that put the Mets ahead over the Phillies in the top of the 9th, after being down to their last out with nobody on and trailing 9-8. Tatis single, Wright homerun. Phillie fans stunned.

The Phillies can compete with the Yankees (I can't believe I'm saying this) if they have Ryan Madson doing his thing in the 8th and if they had the Brad Lidge of last season. The problem is they don't Frankly I couldn't care less if they choke away the division to the Marlins (I can't believe I'm saying that).

A doubleheader sweep today would be nice, but I'm afraid it will be not the way we want it. At least we had one day to enjoy a sweet victory in this crap season.

*****

On Dubinsky: they give Callahan a decent raise and why shouldn't Dubi feel he deserves something similar? Sure, he did not have the season of growth we expected of him last season, but we see a worse season from Jagr in his last year without Dubi. The team put themselves in this position. They were shelling out millions to fourth liners the last couple of years and just a portion of that money could've been used to satisfy Dubi's demands. If this kid gets away, it will be a real shame.

How Fitting

Training camp opens today, and not a moment to soon. In a mere few days, there will be hockey played at Madison Square Garden, albeit the preseason variety. The way the Mets are going through the motions, just the sight of the Garden ice is something to look forward to.

I was not at Citi on Tuesday/Wednesday, but had the pleasure to be there Thursday, the most miserable of the three value dates. That place was dead (yet somehow in the middle of the game, the Shake Shack line was still wrapping around, just not outside the line barriers). If you wanted to go to the field seats late in the game, you could have. The staff almost felt sorry for us and were not checking tickets. Ah, the one benefit for your team stinking it up- good seats and small crowds. Still a few more home games to attend- is there anything to look forward to?

We can see Angel Pagan trotting out to the outfield day by day, with Jerry showing absolutely no discipline for each and every boneheaded mental mistake. I don't care if he's taking care of it in-house. Don't put him out there in the next inning. That's what we want to see. Are you worried about his confidence or that of Bobby Parnell, who continues to take a beating in his Bad Bobby starts. There were two Good Bobby starts, but a lot more the other way. He's making Oliver Perez look consistent.


Last night, you knew Cole Hamels would eventually shut down the Mets. The Mets knocked him around twice already this season. An outing like last night was bound to happen.

It's time someone just drills Chase Utley, making it count. This guy has been leaning over the plate forever and enjoys getting nicked on the elbow. What's there to lose? A pitcher getting thrown out? We have a deep (number of people, not talent) bullpen. Suspension? Who cares? Philly baserunners? We're going to lose anyway.

Are we done with the red hats already? Seriously. How about next season we bring back those navy blues and teams have options to wear the red or the blue.

Curses

Seriously what did it? Was it really demolishing Shea Stadium? How could it be? It was the site of failure in recent seasons. Firing Willie Randolph after a win? Mishandling the health of a human being with his concussion by sticking him on a plane to Colorado? Something, something has cursed this franchise. Somebody please find me a team with more bad luck this season than this bunch in the history of team sports.

Why the agony after another expected loss against the Phillies, where Ryan Howard proved no park can hold him? Soon after the game it was revealed that Jeff Francoeur tore a ligament in his thumb. Several minutes later, Johan, the final major piece (we thought David's injury was the capper, but why stop at the hitters) of this team that was injury free now has to miss his next scheduled start to have his elbow examined. Seriously, this is a joke, right? Because you can't joke around like this.

The topping today was MLB's live look-in feature, a very nice addition I must say, which cut-in to the action for the bottom of the 9th. It's nice to see some of the afternoon action when you're stuck at the office. Problem is they were airing the Philly feed. The sound was muted, as I still had Howie and Wayne on Gameday Audio, but the video was enough to make me sick. Philly fans have taken over Citi Field and they were whooping it up for the final outs and CSN, whatever their network is, was showing you red in the stands between every pitch.

Ranger tickets will be ready for pickup next week for subscribers. We are counting down the days to training camp. This baseball season has to end.

Triple Play

Just when you thought you have seen it all with the 2009 Mets. For all the pain this season was, if you were watching that meaningless ninth inning and saw Eric Bruntlett boot one ball after another, you knew the Mets were coming back in this game. No fightin' Phillies here- it was role reversal. You got excited for that split second the ball rocketed off Jeff Francoeur's bat- then it landed right in Bruntlett's glove. Playing up the middle to cover second because the runners were on the move, the unassisted triple play he turned lasted a couple of seconds. Stunned.

You would think at this point nothing can hurt anymore. You actually laugh at the performance Oliver Perez put in and actually don't mind a decent outing from Pedro Martinez in his return. But that one stung. I don't know what the Mets or Mets fans did to deserve this, but it was something pretty bad.

All About 1969

A nice pregame ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Mets championship overshadowed a pretty insignificant game. After the pregame festivities, get a Shack burger, taco, or whatever the hell you want to eat, watch a few innings and go home.

It was Tim Redding vs J.A. Happ. What did you expect was going to happen? What we did not expect was Redding pitching great, five innings of one-hit ball, but his start was cut short because he's been in the bullpen. Would he have been pulled if he did not give up that cheap bloop hit to Utley the second time around in the order? Probably not.

Utley's next hit was anything but a cheap bloop. It was still more like a Citizen's Park special, as he once again manages to hit one over the wall in right field. Not quite the Utley's corner special, but a bridge shot it was not. And it was off Pat Misch, fresh up from Buffalo, pulling a Jon Switzer. Apparently any lefty other than Feliciano that the Mets throw at these guys get hammered.

Ah, Philadelphia. So classy, they even replay fights in the stands on their broadcast. Nice job, jerkoffs. I actually just might root for the Yankees if these two meet in the World Series. Perish the thought.

Same Start, Different Result

I'm watching this game from the Promenade last night and I got this feeling of deja vu. I flip back in the scorebook of games I attended this season to look at 6/10. Mike Pelfrey vs Cole Hamels- yep. Mets knocking around Hamels at a rate of two hits per inning, knocking him out after five- yep. 4-1 lead- yep. Blown save in the late innings- NO.

Pelfrey got hit by Hamels and it seemed to ignite the Mets. The team needs more of the response Pelfrey displayed. Just a little passion. You don't have to charge the mound. Just make sure the other team knows you're ticked off. Jerry went nuts too, arguing another pathetic call by an umpire this season. You gotta love it.

The Mets held on, and it was good that they did, considering how many Phillies fans were in the ballpark. There was even a strong "Let's Go Phillies" chant early on that had to be drowned out by boos. It helped the atmosphere though, big time. This was the most life Citi Field had all season and the Mets are pretty much out of it.

Jayson Werth has a smug look for his face shot that appears on the big screen for his at-bats. Jayson, it's ok to crack a smile. We'll settle for you going 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts.

I'm done with Anderson Hernandez. Unfortunately it's either him or Wilson Valdez the rest of the season. Joy.

We have now learned that the out-of-town scoreboard does not support anyone that scores 20. The Yankee 16-7 lead over Boston, suddenly was cut down to a 10-7 lead, then Boston had an 11-10 lead. WTF? The game was removed from the scoreboard shortly thereafter to prevent any further confusion. Of course, anyone who had been taking a peek at the scoreboard throughout the game knew exactly what happened. A 20-spot? It could be a long winter for Yankee haters in New York.

Hopeless

That about describes the Mets situation after being swept in a three game series in Philadelphia. With every runner the Mets put on base (not that there were many), you kind of waited for the rally-killer in the form of a double play or strikeout.

Johan was solid, only giving up the two solo homeruns, although he only had three strikeouts. I'll feel a lot better about him being back once the K's are back to the 5-10 per game level.

Despite being an absolute double play machine, you can't fault Tatis today. He hit that ball hard, and the Phillies defense is sucking everything up. Since when is Ryan Howard all of a sudden Keith Hernandez at first base?

If you are in a fantasy league and have unlimited transactions my advice to you is simply pick up the next starter vs the Mets. That means check for Kershaw, Kuroda and Wolf on the waiver wire this week.

Meager

Yet another inning where the Mets look like little leaguers. The problem here is you have Ryan Church, a regular, making an awful throw to allow a run to score. You have David Wright, a regular, allowing a foul pop up to fall in. And you have Omir Santos, one half of a platoon (so consider that a regular), drop a pop up. All in one inning. Do you really think this stuff gets fixed with the returns of all our injured players?

Jamie Moyer looked like the Jamie Moyer who stymied us last year. This time around it's a little easier. It's not surprising that the Mets might get out of a three-game series in Citizens Bank Park without hitting a homerun. Pathetic.

At this point, even if they get swept today, they will only be four games out. Keep telling yourself that. Reality will strike us in a few weeks when we're ten games behind the Marlins and the Braves. This team is weak. It's got nothing left. We got three guys in the lineup between Murphy, Tatis and Evans that do not have a position in the field. And you wonder why there are missed cutoffs and mental fielding errors? It's on the job training and it's not going to go swimmingly.

It was announced that Oliver Perez will return to the rotation this week. Is that anything to get excited about? He had no command whatsoever in his latest rehab start. I'm not sure if the Mets had any choice in terms of how long they can leave him down there "on rehab" but if he could've he should've stayed there until he had that real quality start. When Ollie gets knocked out in the third inning against the Dodgers after walking five, you'll wonder what the hell is the difference.

A Little Dose of 5th Starter Reality

Two games, two pitchers who were competing for the 5th starters job in Spring Training. The result? A lot of what we expected- not much.


Thursday:

Tim Redding was knocked out early, and the Mets were in a 5-0 hole in the third inning. This was Pittsburgh after all. However, the Mets came back with some small ball, tying the game. Fernando Tatis came back from the dead to be a star in this one. He homered to give the Mets an 8-5 lead, one they would blow in the 9th inning. Did I tell you we are going to see more K-Rod blown saves? However, Tatis took one for the team in the 10th, getting plunked, stealing second, and scoring on a Ryan Church single. K-Rod stayed in the game and almost threw as many pitches as Redding to hold on to the W. No more games during the work please. I don't know how Cub fans deal with all those afternoon starts.


Friday:

Livan Hernandez was throwing batting practice, plain and simple. Philly plays exactly like the team to beat, as proclaimed by me in their last meeting, despite the fact that they have lost just about every game since then. Rollins hits, Utley hits, Victorino drives us nuts and Werth plays like Barry Bonds in his heydey. To make matters worse, the Mets are wearing Philly-like red caps for the holiday weekend (although the don't look as bad as the Yankees do at home). Can this die next season please? Put a patch with an American flag on the caps and sleeves. Leave the team colors alone.

The Team to Beat

Usually we come off losses criticizing every single move our team's manager/coach made. Or chalk it up to a blown call.

The Phillies are just too good. Power? Check. Ibanez and Utley hitting homer after homer. Never mind Howard. Speed? Check. Rollins, Victorino, Werth (he who stole home earlier this season). Defense? Check. Every one of gets to anything questionable and Ibanez is throwing out everyone from left. Bullpen? Check. No Lidge, but the other guys, with the matchups they present, are right up there with the Mets pen as it currently stands. Starting pitching? Maybe we found something. However, if they acquire a stud via a trade this season, we're screwed and looking at the frightening possibility of a Philly-Yankee World Series come October (Yes, the Yanks are 0-8 vs the Sox, but after all that they are only two games out and are a Joba move to the pen away from fixing their mess).

Speaking of which, if you switched over to that Yankee game last night and all you heard was "this is the game C.C. was brought here to pitch," you had to feel a little bit better with the eventual result. Just a little bit. It all goes down the toilet if we have a bad weekend.

It does not matter who pitched that 10th inning last night. The result would have been the same.

John Maine is now on the DL. As Billy Wagner says, "F-n shocker." Who is the poor soul that will be taking his place in the cauldron that is the New Yankee Stadium?

David Wright had three hits again and the stats say he is on fire. All three hits came leading off an inning. He had another stolen base and is still stuck on four homers on the season. When the team gets healthy, that sounds like a number two hitter to me. Remember the spring training a couple of seasons ago? Maybe that spot in the lineup is not so farfetched for Wright after all.

Fernando Martinez has one last shot to prove he can stay, with Sheffield likely taking DH duties and fly balls to right that are homers in the Bronx.

Chase Phucking Utley

When you're at the game with your mother-in-law and it's still tied after nine innings and its pushing 10:30 on a worknight, you kind of know you have to go. Don't get me wrong, I've converted her to full blown die-hard (although she seems to be taking a fairweather liking to teams like the Red Sox and Red Wings). If the game was brisk and going into extras, maybe you get a 10th inning. As it was the Phillies were held scoreless during the walk to the car, but two of the biggest plays of the game were described by Wayne Hagin in the car- Jayson Werthless robbing David Wright and Chase Utley hitting his second homerun of the game in the Jody Gerut corner. They hit cheap homeruns at CBP and find a way to get them at Citi.

The bottom of the 11th was watched at home, always the weirdest feeling, one that I'm not used to and refuse to experience under any other circumstances. Sticking it out for the 16 inning classic back in May 2006 on a Tuesday night was one of the better recent experiences in Flushing. By the way, that walkoff homerun was against Ryan Madson, who shut the door last night.

I guess Charlie Manuel does not care too much about matchups. He stacks three lefties in the lineup, perfect for Pedro Feliciano in the 8th, and then keeps J.C. Romero in the game with 1st and 2nd one out in the 8th and Sheffield and Wright coming up. Speaking of Wright, there was a stat flashed on Citivision last night before that Wright at-bat that showed him hitting .370-something in the 7th or later. We are still waiting for that memorable hit late in the game.

One out of Five?

It's not good enough. Johan pitched yesterday. How many errors did he have to fight through for yet another start? There were another two from Ramon Martinez. Which leads us to the injury situation.

Jose Reyes continues to be out. Then last night, Carlos Beltran has some knee issues, giving us the adventures of Gary Sheffield in left field instead of DH. At least we did not lose much with Jeremy Reed in center field (who would have played left). He mad a nice play late in the game, bouncing himself off the big wall in left center after making a running catch.

I think Johan started that incident with Kevin Youkilis after hitting him in the elbow. Youk's elbow was clearly above home plate; the pitch was not even inside, it was just high. Johan was peeved and let him know it, which was good for him because he took that anger and shut everyone down the rest of the way. I still can't hate Youkilis. Must be that thing with the Yankees.

I'm with Gary on his opinion of the Yankees-Phillies series. I could not care less because it's May. Part of me was happy the Yanks finally lost after how many games already. But then there were the Phillies, who slugged their way to another victory. They hit some bombs in that park last night.

I Hate L.A.

At least the Mets don't have to go there anymore, unless there's a postseason encounter a la 2006.

J.J. Putz continues to look ordinary and not the lights out reliever we anticipated. The more he's out there, the less you are confident. The guy had two seasons of 70+ innings pitched where his walk totals were 13 for each season. He has 12 in 23 innings so far this season.

With a steady backup like Alex Cora out, the last thing we need is Jose Reyes to miss any time. After leaving the game and heading back to New York for an MRI, it revealed only tendinitis. Ramon Martinez is an automatic out and it's time to explore other options down on the farm if this continues.

Now it's time for three games at Boston, with our buddies from Philadelphia in town to play the Yankees. A rare few days where Met and Yankee fans are united. By the way, how many homeruns do you think you are going to see in that series? For that matter, when was the last time a Met hit a homerun?

Werthless: Mets 7, Phillies 5

The difference is we have a bullpen now. Sure, Pedro Feliciano gave up a two-run homerun to Jayson Werth in the 8th inning, but it was an at-bat Werth should never have had. That pain in the ass Shane Victorino intentionally threw himself at Jose Reyes in the middle of a rundown and got the call from umpire, interference on Jose, allowing the pest to go to second and avoid the double play. Jerry Manual argued, his third beef of the night and finally got tossed, something you knew was coming.

Kudos to the Pepsi Porch, Mo-Zone, or whoever came up with that Jay-son Werth-less chant late in the game. Nice and audible on TV.

It was nice to see the Mets hit some homeruns in Citi Field for a change. Ryan Howard hit a bomb, though- if he wanted to prove this park can't hold him, he did it by going to the deepest part of the park. Now do it in over the left-center wall.

Bring on Pittsburgh. Stay thirsty my friends.

Welcome to Citi Field: Mets 1, Phillies 0

Johan vs Chan Ho. Sounds like trouble. How many times to you see a lopsided pitching matchup like this one but it never turns out the way it is supposed to? But Johan did what he's been doing all season, and you have to go back to a game last July before you find a less than stellar start from him.

Chan Ho Park however, was nothing like his last start vs the Mets last week. Five innings of no-hit ball?

Why the hell does Jose Reyes continue to slide headfirst into firstbase? The day will happen- following the slide, the trainer will come out, he's out of the game, we find out about a fracture or torn ligament the next day, and he's out several weeks.

Chase Utley hit a ball that was clearly out in Citizens Bank Park, but a harmless flyout yesterday. Take that!

For the second straight day, the Mets benefit from a throwing error by the opposing thirdbaseman, this time scoring the only run they needed in the 9th inning. Thank you Pedro Feliz.

Great job by Pedro Feliciano in the 8th inning with JJ Putz not available, striking out Ryan Howard. Other than the K, a flyout to the warning track in left field would have been just as nice.

Walk- Phillies 6, Mets 5

August 30, 2008 and May 2, 2009, Aaron Heilman or Sean Green, the result the same. The Mets lose on a walkoff walk.

Awful performances by the pitching staff at the start and finish overshadowed what was an impressive effort in the middle by the bullpen, with the exception of a Pedro Feliciano pitch to Raul Ibanez. It was the second straight night our lefty specialist gave up a homerun to a lefty. Oliver Perez was a disaster again. Ken Takahashi was great as a long, going 2.2 scoreless. He could be making the next Perez-scheduled start on Thursday. Bobby Parnell and JJ Putz pitched three scoreless. Green was awful, loading the bases, then walking in the winning run in the 10th and that was it.

Just when it looked like the Mets were going to go another game without solving Jamie Moyer, Daniel Murphy and Ramon Castro hit back to back homeruns to tie the game in the 6th.

Jose Reyes is mired in a deep slump. After Alex Cora led off the 10th with a single, Reyes could not even get a bunt down. How long before we see Cora spot Reyes a game at short?

Luis Castillo made his return to the lineup and was removed in a double-switch in the 6th. If he keeps sliding like he slid into home in the 3rd, we're going to see a lot less of him. That was a tumble that looked like nothing but hurt for the 33-year old who looks like he's 43.

The Sportsync radio worked like a charm today. Fox's HD-feed was 8 seconds slower than the radio call, just enough to delay the handy radio to the max 8 seconds and be able to watch while listening to Howie on the Fan.

He Slid! Mets 7, Phillies 4

A game is never over in Citizens Bank Park. The Mets have been blowing multiple-run leads in pitcher's parks. What's there to feel safe about a 5-0 lead in that place? As the lead was cut to 5-3 you were thinking this is awfully familiar, but it was a pleasant surprise to see them hold on.

Parks like this is just what the doctor ordered. Daniel Murphy hit a first inning homerun, and David Wright had a couple of hits. One of those hits scored Carlos Beltran, who in a close play at the plate actually slid into home!

Chan Ho Park continues to look like the guy who was one and done with the Mets two seasons ago. Since he's on the Phillies, that's a good thing. How long will he be on the Phillies is another story.

Whether it's his penchant for not moving a muscle if a pitch comes close to him, hitting a homerun vs the Mets, or his greasy hair, I can't stand Chase Utley.

I know KRod has to live on the edge, but would it be too much just to see one 1-2-3 inning? OK, to be fair, ball 4 on Utley should have been strike 3.

Off to Spain

There will be no updates on the blog for over a week, as I am off for spring break to Spain. Four Ranger games that I will miss. That will still leave 11 when I return. It's not like I'm leaving with the Rangers having a 12 point lead over the 9th seed with 16 games left and I return with 3 games left in the season. Let me explain.

2007. September. Not much more you can say. A vacation in Croatia, along the coast, while the weather was still warm. A seven game lead with 17 to play. The Mets had a weekend series with the Phillies at Shea. They lose the Friday night game. My flight was on Saturday. The lead was down to 5 1/2. A two week vacation would bring me back in time to see the final weekend series vs the Florida Marlins. No sweat, but damn why couldn't they win that Friday night game?

Since I was going to a place that had zero interest in baseball I decided to completely forget about all things American, including baseball, and simply catch up when I return. A bunch of Mets FastForward's were set on the DVR, waiting for me. While I was away I could not help but think a week or so into the trip: have the Mets clinched the division?

Arriving back in the States on Friday, September 28th, I turned away from every newsstand I passed at JFK, avoiding headlines. Same on the buses- don't look at the newspaper the person across from you is reading. Made it home with no clue as to what transpired the past couple of weeks. Turned on the TV first thing and brought up the DVR menu. All the Mets FastForwards were there. Let's watch two weeks of baseball in a matter of a few hours leading right up to the first pitch of that Friday night Marlins series opener.

While I was away, I was expecting playoff tickets to arrive, with my mother-in-law, a converted pessimistic Mets fan since I came into the picture, on hand to receive the pickup. She was at work when we arrived. My wife calls her to let her know we made it back. I'm watching the Saturday 9/15 Phillies game, right where I left off two weeks ago, the Mets comfortably ahead 5 1/2 with two more games to put a nail in the Phillies coffin.

"Did the tickets arrive?" my wife says to her mother on the phone.

A pause. A gasp from my wife.

"Oh my God." That's all it took.

I watch now fully expecting the Mets to blow a 3-2 lead late in that Saturday game and they did. Then a Sunday loss to complete the sweep. I breeze through ever disaster against the Nationals and Marlins. Joel Pineiro absolutely shutting down the Mets in a makeup game vs the Cardinals. I returned to find the Mets in a tie with the Phillies for the division with three games to play.

The moral of the story is if you care about your team, don't go on vacation at the end of the season. For me I don't know what was worse- the absolute shock to go from 5 1/2 up to tied in the standings, or the slow torture that was Mets baseball those two weeks. Maybe I was better off.