As Good as 24 Hours Can Get Without Jack Bauer

Hey everyone, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. A whirlwind couple of days culminated yesterday in an orgiastic celebration atop home plate, where members of the Mets celebrated with Carlos Beltran, whose game-winnig home run was the cherry on top of an unbelievable day.

There were three major headlines out of Shea Stadium yesterday. Let's touch 'em all.

1. Blood clots. One bad. Several good.

... Or something like that.

Look, I'm not a doctor. I won't pretend to understand the science behind why Tom Glavine is alright, all I care about is that he's healthy and he'll be back on the mound in 7-10 days.

After news broke of Glavine's condition Sunday night, Sip and I took turns arguing that all was not lost. I particularly liked Sip's point about how the Mets win games, which he articulated thusly: "The fact is, the Mets were never going to out-pitch anyone. At least not from innings 1-6... The Mets win games with their bats. They win games at the end of the games."

Conceding that point, I think I speak for Sip, Cheddar and everyone else out there when I say that the Mets' playoff chances improve with Glavine in the fold.

In a year when the Mets' starting rotation has been racked with injuries, Glavine has been the constant. Sure, Steve Trachsel has been there too, but it was Glavine who set the tone for this club early in the year when he raced out to an 11-2 record through June.

Since then he hasn't been the same. He struggled mightily in July when he went 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA. August has been a little better, 1-2, 3.60 ERA.

But his numbers in the dog days of the season won't quantify what it'll mean for this team to have him starting Game 2, to have John Maine as a long relief option next to Darren Oliver.

Maine may yet earn the start in Game 4 of a series, incidentally, but as it is, Pedro/Glavine/El Duque looks a lot better than Pedro/El Duque/Trachsel.

So Tommy, glav (har har har!) to have you back.

2. A late-season Greenie.

After countless articles were posted in Buster Olney's weblog and various allegations were levied that the Mets were acting just like the Yankees by pursuing the Diamondbacks' Shawn Green, the Mets finally completed their trade for the former juiced up superstar/current juiced out capable veteran.

I like the trade a lot. For the same reason that the Mets are better off with Glavine out there in Game 2 rather than Maine, so are they better off with Shawn Green out there rather than Lastings Milledge.

Like Glavine, Green's been to the circus. He's seen the sights. He won't get the deer in headlights look that we saw from Milledge in front of the Green Monster. Milledge is certainly entitled to working through his growing pains like everyone else.

As has been said before, however, the difference between Milledge and David Wright/Jose Reyes' growing pains is that the latter's were worked out in the midst of dreadful season, while Milledge's are being worked through in the midst of what is potentially a championship season.

A converted centerfielder, Milledge just doesn't get great reads on balls off the bat yet. It's why he looks so tentative out there, why he's always a split second too slow to the ball. Basically, he's not the guy you want out there in the World Series.

For his part, Green is not the player he once was, but he lends stability to the outfield, greater credibility to the lineup (now 6 players deep again) and divine favorability to the Mets should the one true God be He worshipped in the Jewish faith.

At about $6.2 million, Green is not a particularly expensive upgrade, sorry Yankee fans. This isn't the same as taking on $15 million worth of Bobby Abreu. It's also not the same as taking on however much money Jose Canseco was due back when the Yankees acquired him for no other reason than to prevent a rival from doing so.

With the X-Man gone and Cliffy once again perpetually injury prone, this was just a sound baseball move. It gives our team a nice little boost in an area of need (no offense, Michael Tucker). Nicely done, Omar.

3. Buy one Carlos, get one free.

Confession time: I didn't see last night's game live. I caught most of it on DVR last night and then on Mets Fast Forward this morning (no I didn't wake up at 5 a.m., thank goodness for DVR).

What I didn't miss was a series of text messages from my co-bloggers.

Cheddar Ben (9:30 p.m.): A looper. A caddy, a pro, a jock. You know, a looper.

I knew two things. The game was close, and Braden Looper had made his return to Shea Stadium. In my mind I heard lusty boos, I saw bottle caps thrown, I saw... an obscured scoreboard. This was the scene as I waited endlessly for the crosstown bus, until...

Sippy Momo (9:48 p.m.): New mets!

The Mets had won the ball game. You all know how it ended, with a no-doubt-about-it line drive to right field from Beltran, with Gary Cohen's irreplaceable call: "One swing could win it for New York... HE RIPS IT TO DEEP RIGHT, AND IT'S OUTTA HERE!!!! OUTTA HERE!!!!! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME!!!!!!!!!!!! BELTRAN WITH A WALK OFF TWO-RUN HOMER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE NINTH!!!!!!!!"

So great to see. It's what we love about this team, isn't it? The way it always keeps fighting. The way you can never count it out. For me, the day began with me realizing how the Cardinals, nor any other team in the National League, don't scare me; it ended with a thorough reminder of why that's the case.

It's like Sip said. We don't win ballgames with our starting pitchers. We win them with our bats and with our bullpen (4 scoreless innings last night). But guess what? Yesterday our postseason pitching got better, and so did our lineup.

Hell of a win. Hell of a day.

- A.F.O.M.G.