Meaningful Games
(Note: Yankees 2000 will be updated by the normal time on Monday, Sept. 4.)
Thought you’d seen the last of them until October, did you? Wake me up when September ends, you say? What fun would that be?
True, there will be no thrilling playoff race for the Mets this year. Good news though that is, it would seem to leave us with a rather dull final month of basebal.
Sure, we're all interested in how many homers Beltran will end up with, or how many stolen bases and triples Mr. Glass can tally before regular season's end. And yes, the night the Mets clinch their first playoff berth since 2006 (please let it happen at home, and please let me be there) will be unreal. And there's always the health situation of Pedro and Tommy the Spy to monitor.
But other than that, it's easy to look at this September as rather meaningless. The 15.5 games separating the Mets from the Phillies in the National League East obcures the fact that the Mets still have plenty to play for in this final month of the season, however.
Most important is the role the Mets can play in deciding the NL Wild Card. The Mets will end the season with the best record in the National League, which entitles us to play the Wild Card team provided that team does not come from the NL East.
The Mets have 30 games left, 10 of which are essentially meaningless (7 games against the Nationals, 3 against the Pirates -- RIP X-Man).
Of the remaining 20, 3 are against the Astros (2.5 GB of the Wild Card) 6 are against the Bravos (4.5 GB), 7 are against the Marlins (3 GB), and 4 are against the Dodgers (currently leading the NL West by 3 games over San Diego, the current NL Wild Card leader).
Let's consider each of these sets individually:
1. Three days in Houston.
The three most important games remaining as far as I'm concerned, the series kicks off tonight as Tom Glavine takes the ball against Wandy Rodriguez.
The Astros are famous for their ability to lose games 1-0 or 2-1, but that propensity highlights the gift and the curse of the 2006 Houston Astros: they can pitch the lights but can't hit a lick.
That all said, nobody, not nobody wants to stare down Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and (to a lesser extent) Andy Pettitte in a 5-game playoff series.
It's been said several times here at Y2K in recent weeks -- the Mets win games with their bats. Houston has the one pitching staff that can neutralize our assault. Luckily, the Mets won't draw Clemens or Oswalt in this series.
Facing the soft underbelly of the Astros' dominant rotation in a hitter's park, the Mets are in position to set Houston back. The 'Stros have won 6 straight entering play tonight so we'll have our work cut out for us, but a series win here, or better yet, a sweep, could really do wonders for us come October.
2. Fuck the Fish.
Not gonna lie, there's something about the Florida Marlins I really resent. I know I should be happy that they beat the Yankees in 2003, and I am, but the idea that this franchise has won two championships in 13 years, all for the benefit of their 14 fans, really drives me up a wall.
Moreover, the Marlins kind of frieghten me. Maybe I've seen too many "Mighty Ducks" sequels. Whatever it is, I don't want to face Florida in the playoffs. Let's send them reeling (har har har).
3. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Ah, Atlanta. Winners of 14 consecutive division titles. Proud employers of racists (John Rocker), homophobes (John Smoltz) and bastard sires (Chipper) alike (an equal opportunity employer, how nice!). Mets fans have been waiting for this for a long time.
I'm not sure if Andruw Jones still thinks this is the Braves' division to lose, but they still have a small chance at the Wild Card. We won't get the delight that narrowly edging the Braves for the division title would have provided, but for me, eliminating their playoff hopes would be a fine substitute.
4. LAD of LA: It's on.
The Dodgers are officially the "it-team" for NL pennant upset speculators -- they're the ones most people project as the only team currently qualifying for a playoff spot that could beat the Mets.
In fairness to that school of thought, the Dodgers could well be the second best team in the National League. I might have said "probably are" instead of "could well be" just then, but no team that loses 11 straight games qualifies as a sure thing in my book, Greg Maddux or no Greg Maddux.
The last time we faced LA we took two of three and we were spurred on to the 8-game winning streak that was the beginning of the end for the rest of the division. They're a different team now. They're a better team now.
We've got four games against them on our home turf. I'm not sure if even a sweep would put the kibosh on their playoff hopes, but I sure wouldn't mind showing them who this league belongs to.
* * * * *
Anyway, that's all I got. Long weekend here at Y2K means no Sunday post from Cheddar Ben, but we'll be back with you on Monday. Have a good weekend everybody, and Los Mets, get your game faces on.
- A.F.O.M.G.
Thought you’d seen the last of them until October, did you? Wake me up when September ends, you say? What fun would that be?
True, there will be no thrilling playoff race for the Mets this year. Good news though that is, it would seem to leave us with a rather dull final month of basebal.
Sure, we're all interested in how many homers Beltran will end up with, or how many stolen bases and triples Mr. Glass can tally before regular season's end. And yes, the night the Mets clinch their first playoff berth since 2006 (please let it happen at home, and please let me be there) will be unreal. And there's always the health situation of Pedro and Tommy the Spy to monitor.
But other than that, it's easy to look at this September as rather meaningless. The 15.5 games separating the Mets from the Phillies in the National League East obcures the fact that the Mets still have plenty to play for in this final month of the season, however.Most important is the role the Mets can play in deciding the NL Wild Card. The Mets will end the season with the best record in the National League, which entitles us to play the Wild Card team provided that team does not come from the NL East.
The Mets have 30 games left, 10 of which are essentially meaningless (7 games against the Nationals, 3 against the Pirates -- RIP X-Man).
Of the remaining 20, 3 are against the Astros (2.5 GB of the Wild Card) 6 are against the Bravos (4.5 GB), 7 are against the Marlins (3 GB), and 4 are against the Dodgers (currently leading the NL West by 3 games over San Diego, the current NL Wild Card leader).
Let's consider each of these sets individually:
1. Three days in Houston.
The three most important games remaining as far as I'm concerned, the series kicks off tonight as Tom Glavine takes the ball against Wandy Rodriguez.
The Astros are famous for their ability to lose games 1-0 or 2-1, but that propensity highlights the gift and the curse of the 2006 Houston Astros: they can pitch the lights but can't hit a lick.
That all said, nobody, not nobody wants to stare down Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and (to a lesser extent) Andy Pettitte in a 5-game playoff series.It's been said several times here at Y2K in recent weeks -- the Mets win games with their bats. Houston has the one pitching staff that can neutralize our assault. Luckily, the Mets won't draw Clemens or Oswalt in this series.
Facing the soft underbelly of the Astros' dominant rotation in a hitter's park, the Mets are in position to set Houston back. The 'Stros have won 6 straight entering play tonight so we'll have our work cut out for us, but a series win here, or better yet, a sweep, could really do wonders for us come October.
2. Fuck the Fish.
Not gonna lie, there's something about the Florida Marlins I really resent. I know I should be happy that they beat the Yankees in 2003, and I am, but the idea that this franchise has won two championships in 13 years, all for the benefit of their 14 fans, really drives me up a wall.
Moreover, the Marlins kind of frieghten me. Maybe I've seen too many "Mighty Ducks" sequels. Whatever it is, I don't want to face Florida in the playoffs. Let's send them reeling (har har har).3. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Ah, Atlanta. Winners of 14 consecutive division titles. Proud employers of racists (John Rocker), homophobes (John Smoltz) and bastard sires (Chipper) alike (an equal opportunity employer, how nice!). Mets fans have been waiting for this for a long time.
I'm not sure if Andruw Jones still thinks this is the Braves' division to lose, but they still have a small chance at the Wild Card. We won't get the delight that narrowly edging the Braves for the division title would have provided, but for me, eliminating their playoff hopes would be a fine substitute.4. LAD of LA: It's on.
The Dodgers are officially the "it-team" for NL pennant upset speculators -- they're the ones most people project as the only team currently qualifying for a playoff spot that could beat the Mets.
In fairness to that school of thought, the Dodgers could well be the second best team in the National League. I might have said "probably are" instead of "could well be" just then, but no team that loses 11 straight games qualifies as a sure thing in my book, Greg Maddux or no Greg Maddux.
The last time we faced LA we took two of three and we were spurred on to the 8-game winning streak that was the beginning of the end for the rest of the division. They're a different team now. They're a better team now.We've got four games against them on our home turf. I'm not sure if even a sweep would put the kibosh on their playoff hopes, but I sure wouldn't mind showing them who this league belongs to.
* * * * *
Anyway, that's all I got. Long weekend here at Y2K means no Sunday post from Cheddar Ben, but we'll be back with you on Monday. Have a good weekend everybody, and Los Mets, get your game faces on.
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 1:26 PM
2 Comments:
"Ah, Atlanta. Winners of 14 consecutive division titles. Proud employers of racists (John Rocker), homophobes (John Smoltz) and bastard sires (Chipper) alike (an equal opportunity employer, how nice!)."
Have to say, AFOMG, you kind of throw away your moral high ground with the last comment there - not that I feel morality should play into Brave-hating in the first place. If you are indeed at odds with the homophobes and racists of the world, I find it hard to see how you can justify an ad hominem attack on a "bastard sire". Chipper hits homeruns against us, do we need to hate him for reasons other than that? You know I want to vomit on the Braves as much as aNYone, and likewise I know you are writing tongue-in-cheek here, that you're working to create a little Friday-afternoon levity, but I'd just as soon fence in my Brave-hating only as far as it concerns baseball, and not the people beneath the ballcaps. If it's about personal digs, then the Mets have as long a history of 'flawed' personnel as anyone, not to mention the Knicks, Giants, and countless other teams we both root for. I might copy this post into MS Word and mail it to the Post while I'm at it.
Did you hear that the "Snake on a plane: Jonbenet 'Killer' lands in US Jail" didn't actually kill Jonbenet? Man, that was a surprise.
Lister:
Let me assure you it was just a joke. I didn't mean to equate being a racist/homophobe with being a bastard sire (or child for that matter) -- the two aren't even remotely comparable, and I thought that went without saying.
In truth, I think you should lighten up a bit. I wasn't going for any moral high ground; I was really just trying to make a list of three (sounds better than two). I could have said that Bobby Cox molests collies or that Jeff Franceour likes East German men (oh relax, it's a Naked Gun reference), but I guess Chipper better encapsulates the Braves' dominance of the Mets better than those two in my mind.
Anyway, I'm aware that plenty of Mets, Giants, Knicks, etc. have the exact same personality "flaw" that Chipper's got. I know these guys aren't saints. I guess I just find it amusing that good old country boy Chipper Jones should have all the same faults as the godless liberals up in New York City.
That said, sorry to anyone I offended, there was no offense intended. My hatred of Chipper Jones has nothing to do with his personal life, and everything to do with his ability to beat the Mets 14 years in a row.
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