Coming to Terms with Scott Kazmir

So who else saw the sports section in the New York Times today? Splashed across the top of the page was an article about a Mets prospect turned Major Leaguer, a prospect so highly regarded that he forced his way to the Majors before being legally allowed to purchase alcohol.

Lastings Milledge? On the day he debuted? Nah... too obvious.

Scott Kazmir? Ahh, there's the ticket!

As I gazed bleary-eyed at the lead article of the NYT sports section this morning (click the title above to read), I almost thought my buddy Nails had taken over as Sports Editor of the New York Times.

For those not personally familiar with Nails, he's basically your classic pissed off Mets fan, except that instead of being a Democrat, he's a frothing conservative.

More important than his political inclinations, however, is that he's a former employee of the Mets. In his one summer at Mets, Inc., Nails studied the reports from the Mets' minor league system, most likely because the product on display at Shea Stadium, in the summer of 2003, was simply too depressing.

All of us hardcore Mets fans had heard about Scott Kazmir by then. We'd been aware that the Mets had stolen the jewel of the pitching crop in that year's draft with the 15th overall pick in the draft, where Kazmir had fallen due to fears that his agent, Scott Boras, would seek undue compensation for his client's services.

But it wasn't until Nails started his summer at Shea that I began receiving my weekly e-mails about Kazmir's latest performances, complete with Nails' amateur scouting reports indicating that Kazmir had a plus-plus fastball, plus makeup, plus-plus muffin ass, etc., etc., etc.

Zoom forward to the present day and Nails no longer sends his scouting reports, but in the e-mails he sends every 5th day, he makes certain that none of the five or six Mets fans on his listserve ever escape into the ignorance is bliss camp vis-a-vis Scott Kazmir.

Reading the article, which was written by actual NYT Sports Editor Lee Jenkins and which quickly shot up to the No. 2 most e-mailed sports story on the Times' website (and will doubtless take over the top spot later in the day), you come to understand that perhaps it wasn't conceived as a cruel joke to be played on Mets fans, nor was it meant to rain on the Mets' Milledge parade.

Instead, the article casts the Kazmir trade as the monsoon before the blossoming Mets careers of Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, who were acquired, "in part," Jenkins writes, "because [the Mets] needed to restore credibility and regain fan confidence that had noticeably eroded after the Kazmir trade."

I'm not sure that anything can quite make up for the Kazmir trade. As I wrote to the Hound in an e-mail earlier today:

"At some point you've gotta realize that nothing is ever going to make you feel better about the trade. It was so ill-conceived on so many levels that even any silver lining will inevitably be obscured.

"However, if, 5 years from now, Lastings Milledge and Mike Pelfrey (the former of whom I'm convinced would have been traded at last year's deadline if not for the Kazmir deal, and not just because of this article) are established stars on the Mets, then perhaps a wrong would have helped make a right.

"If you've gotta think about the Kazmir trade, try and think of it that way."

That's a palliative cliche, sure, but that's really as good as you can do.

Take last night as an example. You can either look at it throught he prism of Alay Soler getting lit up and think, "If only Scott Kazmir was here," or you can look at it through the prism and think, "Well, if we had to trade Scott Kazmir to save Lastings Milledge, so be it."

It's fool's gold on some level, because really there's no reason that you shouldn't have them both, but try and remind yourself that a small part of the Scott Kazmir trade factored into the Lastings Milledge era, as we hope to call it some day.

As Lee observes, without the Kazmir trade, the Mets might well have traded Milledge for Manny Ramirez at the trade deadline last year. Now, that's a trade a lot of you would have been willing to make, but I'm willing to bet that 5 years from now Milledge looks a lot better than Manny does.

And last night at least, it looked like Milledge belonged.

As he swung his bat ferociously before the pitcher got set, he couldn't help but remind you of Gary Sheffield.

As he swung his bat ferociously through each hack at the ball, again he couldn't help but remind you of Sheffield.

As his massive wooden cross bobbed from side to side, he couldn't help but remind you of the man upstairs.

And as his major league career progresses, and as he hopefully becomes a premier player in the league, let his star remind you of the Kazmir trade, and let it remind you that sometimes a wrong can help make a right.

As a Mets fan watching the career of Scott Kazmir unfold, that's really the best you can do.

At least until free agency, at which point I insist that we break the bank to bring Kid K home.

- A.F.O.M.G.

The Perfect Win for Sip and Things Are Starting to Click

The Diamondbacks are in town which means one thing.

It's Byrnesy Time.



As many Y2k loyalists will remember, Eric Byrnes holds a huge piece of my heart as a sports fan. After an amazing night at an SF club followed by a freak run in at IHOP at 3 a.m. on a Thursday filled with conversations on 9/11, how he was just thankful that anyone in baseball would sign him and topped off with him pouring coffee on his pancakes because he thought it was the syrup, all I can say is that I love this guy.

I just spent a weekend in Vegas with my SF crew, the Big Fella taking the lead. Of course he took down 7 grand playing blackjack in like 2 hours after sitting down with $500 bucks. It just makes sense.

Vegas this weekend was a sports fan's paradise. I sat down at the tables with David Lee and Al Horford and hit the clubs with basically the entire NBA (Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, Josh Childress, Paul Pierce (sporting a XXXXXL shirt), Corey Maggete).



What I have learned about all these pros is that most of them are pretty good guys. They were dealt a really solid hand which in most cases causes some warranted cockiness.

But then there is Byrnesy. This guy is just in his own little planet. He is probably the most likable athlete a fan will ever meet and now he is at Shea Stadium.

So so far this year Byrnesy has been killing it. After a dreadful 2005, Byrnesy came to Shea hitting .322 with 6 dongs and 5 stolen bases. Not bad for a guy desperate for a job.

Which made tonight's game so enjoyable for me. In what seems to be 2000 all over again, The Mets pulled out another one in the 9th.

Paul Lo Duca had another great game. Between Me and Nails and a bunch of my inner circle, this guy is slowly becoming one of our favorite Mets. He just gets the job done. There is only word to describe this guy, professional.

The Mets moved to about 20 games over .500 in games that Kaz Matsui doesn't start.

And of course, my man Byrnesy earned his paycheck. The guy was the star of the game mashing two dongs and looking, as always, like the jack of spades.

But back to the Mets. Of late it really feels like this team is starting to role. El Duque got us a win in his first start and even before the game started it felt like we had a shot. That is all you can ask for from a 4-5 guy.



Now, today, Alay Soler makes start #2. After a miserable first inning in his first start, Soler looked great. Great enough to make Happy Will talk about the Mets' rotation being dominant for years to come with Soler now in the back.

Not too fast, H Man. Let's see what this guy can do in start 2 and start 3 and maybe even start 4 before we deem him as a worthy replacement for Jeremi "More of a Met than Randy Johnson is a Yankee" Gonzalez.

AND THEN THERE IS A-ROD

And speaking of the Yankees, I caught one of the best blurbs in last week's Sports Illustrated. There was a poll amongst Major Leaguers of the player that they would most like to see hit by a pitch.

The first three on the list went as expected.

AJ Pierzynski, Bonds, and Pedro.

Pierzynski is known throughout the league for being a giant asshole. He isolated himself from the entire Giants clubhouse which forced his departure to the Chi Sox.

Bonds is pretty obvious.

And Pedro is a guy who proudly hits people to intimidate them. In simple terms, he is the most likable ASSHOLE in the world.

The 4th guy on this list was what was the pleasant surprise.

#4: Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod is a guy that you wouldn't expect players to dislike. He is a cliched superstar that says the right thing. He is basically a textbook superstar.

So what is it? It must be that most players see what I see. Pure phoniness. The guy is probably a huge asshole on the field that turns into a statue the second the cameras get on him.

He is probably hated in the same way Gary Carter was. Mainly, the guy is a D-bag.

Throughout my years of Jeter bashing what always killed me is how much players throughout the league respected him. He was the leader of the best team in the game who just seemed like a phony. Yet throughout the league he was truly liked.

At last year's All Star Game players talked about how it didn't feel like an All Star Game cause Jeter wasn't there. That killed me.

For the first time, this year, I am starting to come around with this guy. He really just is that damn good. For 10 years he has been consistent and other than his annoying fist pump and bullshit interviews, the guy has never really done anything wrong.

I realize now that these Newer Yankees, those of the Yankees 2000 curse, are the ones to truly despise.

Most notably, the A-Rod's and Randy Johnson's of the world.

So to the players of MLB, well done. Between you guys and Met Killer Eric Byrnes, my respect for all of baseball is up a little bit in the last couple of days.

VCD,

SM

The 6 Positives of Going 7-8

Let me take you back to Monday, May 8. One day earlier, the Mets learned that their No. 4 starter, Victor Zambrano, would be lost for the season. Zambrano's injury came on the heels of Brian Bannister's hamstring injury two weeks earlier.

Uncertainty abounded as the Mets boarded the plain, train, or automobile that took them from scenic Shea to unfriendly Philly, where the Mets began their most trying stretch of the season to that point.

We had all heard the whispers of uncertainty. Yes, the Mets were 11 games over .500 to that point, but who had we beaten? Well, the Marlins and Nationals mostly, and a Braves team that stumbled out of the gate.

The next two weeks were to be the litmus test for this club. How would we fare on a tough two-week stretch against four of the better teams in baseball, played mostly in opposing parks?

Things started out poorly for the Mets, as they lost 2-of-3 in Philly, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, but the club rebounded to win the final two series' at home against the Yankees and Phillies.

All in all, it was a 7-8 stretch. Not normally the stuff that celebrations are made of, granted, but consider a few things:

1. The Mets ran Jose Lima and Jeremi Gonzalez out there for 4 of those games.

The Mets' record in those games? 1-3, and the one win (a week ago against the Yankees), could hardly be credited to Gonzalez.

Do the Mets win all these games if Lima or Gonzalez don't start? Can't make that conclusion. Would the Mets have had a better shot at winning had neither started? I'd say that conclusion is fair.

2. The Mets lost one game 2-0 in five innings.

I mean, salt, it happens, but not exactly representative.

3. The Mets won 5 of their games by 1 run.

Not sure this is worth mentioning, I mean, the bullpen is a minor part of a team after all, but this is still pretty impressive.

(For more on how unimportant the bullpen is, read Matt Gelb's article over at MetsGeek: http://www.metsgeek.com/articles/2006/05/26/a-real-relief/).

4. In 6 of their 8 losses, the Mets brought the tying run to the plate in their half of the 9th inning.

It's become a little cliched to note how this time never gives in, how it always keeps fighting, but that doesn't mean it's not true. The statistic above speaks for itself. Would it have been nice to get the big hit and to have won those games? Of course, but speaking of that...

5. The Mets erased early deficits to in 4 of their 7 games; 3 times that meant overcoming deficits of 3 or more runs.

... it turns out the Mets do get the big hits from time to time, but chances are you didn't need me to tell you that. Chances are you saw Mr. Glass get that clutch home run in the bottom of the 8th on Tuesday. Or you saw Delgado crack a 3-run homer against the Yankees on Sunday. Or you saw Beltran announce that the Mets weren't about to go quietly against the Deflating Unit last Friday.

There are qualities that latch on to a winning ball club. Winning the games you should. Playing hard for 27 outs, or more if necessary. Staging comebacks. Check, check, and check, for the most part, so far.

(For more on this, be sure to read Mike Lupica's excellent column in today's NY Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/421156p-355526c.html).

6. The Mets are still 4.0 games up on their closest NL East opponent.

This one's the real kicker for me. When we began this tough 15-game stretch, we owned a 4.0 game lead on the second place Phillies, who at that point had won 8 straight games. Today our lead on the Phils is likewise 4.0 games.

The Braves have made strides, we knew they would, and are now 4.5 games out of first, a difference of 3.5 half games from May 8, when they were 8.0 games out.

But all in all, the Mets just played through 5 tough series' against 4 tough teams, some of the best in baseball, at least among the teams the Mets will see in the regular season.

They are none the worse for wear, and now, having won 4 of their last 6 ballgames, having gained a No. 4 in Orlando Hernandez and having gained hope of a No. 5 in Alay Soler, you might say that the Mets are sitting a hell of a lot prettier than they were two weeks ago.

Tonight we're in Florida with our ace on the hill. Tomorrow we throw Tommy Glavine, who's matched Pedro pitch for pitch this year, or maybe bettered him. Then on Sunday El Duque makes his debut.

Having weathered the storm these past two weeks, it's time to take care of business in Miami.

And for a lot of us, it's time to take care of business on a 3-day weekend. So enjoy yourselves, Mets fans, and be sure to keep checking in with Y2K over the weekend -- you just never know.

- A.F.O.M.G.

No. 4 Starter? Check.

All I've been saying in this blog and to my friends is exactly what happened Wednesday.

The Mets traded a non-prospect for a starting pitcher that could fill our 4 or 5 spot.

Wednesday night the Mets traded Jorge Julio for Orlando Hernandez. Blockbuster? No...

But this trade does a couple of things.

First, We as fans and the Mets as a team feel that with El Duque, whatever he may have left, we are sending a #4 out there that has a shot to win.


Three starts and we gave that up with Lima.

It is definitely an important feeling.

Secondly, and what I believe is a very direct goal of this trade, was that Omar Minaya was saying, Aaron Heilman, you're in the pen.

By trading Julio all of a sudden the pen needs Heilman or at least a bit more than it did 24 hours ago.

Who's to say if this deal will work out. El Duque could absolutely stink. But I am of the school of thought that a pitcher coming to Shea can only get better. This guy has proven in the past that he can win and he could just be crafty enough to pull something off for us.

Most importantly, we didn't give up pretty much anything of value and we have another shot at a decent starter.

If one start is any indication for Alay Soler(which it clearly isn't) then we may have a 4/5 with this guy.

All it takes is one more and our rotation could fill out.

It is my opinion that we should go after every El Duque available, most notably the Reds Dave Williams and the Twins Kyle Lohse.

We only need 1 guy to step up and as long as that guy doesn't cost us anything, I say go for it.

For now though, be content with El Duque. We turned a guy we had no confidence in at all into our No. 4 starter, a guy who has thrived in New York before and thrived in big moments before.

It's starting to come together, Pepper, it's starting to come together.

VCD,

SM

Hillary Clinton: Not Just Salting Wild Bill's Game Anymore

Hey everyone, A Friend of Mr. Glass here with a minor morning update for you before today's posts about the El Duque trade and the game last night.

I was sent an article this morning by loyal Y2K reader Pootsum, in which New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton vociferously denied the charge that she was a Mets fan.

"I cannot let stand that I have ever, ever been a Mets fan: Let's set the record straight," Clinton said at the National Press Club on Tuesday.

Think about her phraseology there, particularly the repition of 'ever'. Saying it once dismisses the idea, saying it twice mocks it. "No, I have never been a Mets fan -- do you even have to ask that? What kind of jackass do you take me for?" she seems to be asking.

"The Cubs and the Yankees -- those were my teams and remained my teams growing up and now in my mature years," she insisted.

She was there, man! She's not your typical Midwestern transplant-turned-Yankee-fan. She was there as a youngster, living and dying with every pinstriped swing of the bat as she grew up in... Chicago.

Hey, makes enough sense to me.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Thanks also to Shabasito for sending word of this story along. If you want to read the article that these quotes come from, check it out here: http://www.amny.com/news/politics/am-hill0524,0,7592933.story?coll=am-topheadlines)

I Need Some Greenies

(Note: Two pieces about yesterday's game, the first by A.F.O.M.G., the second by Sippy Momo. Enjoy.)

Hey everyone, it's a very frail and tired A.F.O.M.G. coming at you today. Sip's already done a writeup of last night's dramatic 9-8 win, but I wanted to throw up some impressions of what the game was like from inside the stadium.

This isn't a full-fledged post from me, just some thoughts, observations, and questions for any readers out there who might be able to provide answers:

1. The biggest question I had was why on earth Willie decided to pinch hit Ramon Castro for Chad Bradford.

It had just taken Bradford 8 pitches to toss a scoreless 12th and he was our second to last reliever; granted the last reliever was the long man Darren Oliver, but still.

The pitching aspect aside, using Castro eliminated the team's backup backstop (the emergency catcher, Chris Woodward has been used, most effectively it should be noted, in the 8th inning). Using Castro in a bases empty situation, 1-out situation basically wasted our final pinch hitter.

I don't want to harp on this one, but I couldn't make sense of this move. Earlier today I checked the message boards at MetsGeek, where I expected to find a series of posts calling for Willie to be fired, or perhaps just calling him an idiot, but there were no such posts.

Was nobody else scratching their heads over this one, or was it just me and the Hound? Did Gary, Keith and Ron have any theories on the broadcast?

2. Billy Wagner did not throw a single warm-up pitch for a strike.

Not one. His line? 17 pitches thrown, 11 for strikes, 2 Ks, no hits, 1 scoreless inning.

3. The greatest pitcher the Hound has ever seen throw live was Doc Gooden.

Better than Seaver, if only for a short while. Meanwhile, I just learned that if you run a Google search for images of Doc Gooden, one in five is a mug shot.

4. Phillies fans, some of them at least, are going nuts about yesterday's game.

Reading some of the Philly message boards is really quite amusing

(Note: This is not something I normally do. I don't get some sort of schadenfreudic delight from reading about the misery of other teams' fans. I was just reading Buster Olney's blog this morning and I came across an article, then I came across a link, and then I came across the misery.)

At the Philadelpha Daily News (http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=371.3&nav=messages&webtag=kr-phillytm), MEG writes: "I am finished with this team. They're a bunch of gutless-pukes."

KEE writes: "Boy that 13-1 streak meant a lot didn't it? Same old Phils, same old bunch of losers."

Boycotter: "Now Playing: 2005 PHILLIES part II."

I think Phillies fans might be taking the loss a little too hard, but it's tough to blame them. They had last night's game in the bag and they let it slip away. When you're in second place and you're in a bit of a skid, that can be really infuriating.

5. They don't play "Lazy Mary" after the 14th inning stretch.

I had not known this.

6. The Braves lost last night as well.

Their game started at 10:05 and was over well before ours was. Nonetheless, the news of their loss was greeted warmly by the crowd.

7. Around the time of Chase Utley's walk-in hit-by-pitch, the crowd really started to turn on the umpires.

Question to those watching: was Utley's beaning really as absurd as it looked? From my vantage point down the third base line, it literally looked like he walked right into it.

In any event, one spirited individual had some funny cat calls to the third base umpire.

"You are a disgrace to umpiring!"

"Your refereeing is questionable!"

"Stand down, sir!"

"As a linesman you do not rank favorably!"

"You besmirch the legacy of Don Pollard, the greatest living umpire of our times!"

Reading these over now, I find that some are funnier that others, but it occurs to me that you all might find none of them amusing. By the 15th inning, a certain brand of cabin fever dementia begins to set in, and perhaps that explains why I was laughing my ass off.

8. After the Mets had been retired in the bottom of the 11th, Beltran nearly got thrown out of the game.

That inning he had been called out trying to advance to second when his hand slipped off the bag (evidently he was safe, as Lister informed me via text message), and when he walked out to centerfield, a shouting match erupted between him and the second base umpire, Andy Fletcher.

Both men had to be restrained, and it's a damn good thing Beltran, who was really in Fletcher's face, didn't get tossed, not least because of his heroics in the 16th inning. The Mets were out of outfielders at that point; they would have shifted Endy Chafez to center, but who would have played right? Tom Glavine? Pedro?

- A.F.O.M.G.

What a F***ing Game

16 innings, 8 glasses of water, 2 theraflus, 3 #1's, 1 very solid #2, 9 complaints from my roommate (all very much justified), 6 phone calls to my buddy pushing back the bbq, and 278 pitches caught by Paul Lo Duca later and the New Mets had their defining win of the season.

I remember sitting there in the 3rd inning after Shitty Trachsel got out of a bases loaded jam with the Mets down 2-1, thinking to myself, if the Mets go on to win this game, that may be the biggest inning of the season.

A huge strikeout to the very intimidating Ryan Howard followed by a ground ball to Shane Victorino and a fly out to David Bell and the Mets still had a shot. The game was not over in the 3rd inning.

The game went on. The highlight for the first half of the game at least was when the cameras caught Keith Hernandez eating popcorn and laughing at Garry Cohen as Ron Darling tried to continue with his point.

After a failed attempt, the Terrific Trio went off for about 2 minutes about Keith eating popcorn. Did I mention how I much I love these guys?


Then there was Jose Reyes, who did his best Phil Mickelson impression driving a ball in the dirt out of Shea to tie the game 8-8. There is not a single person who can swing at bad enough pitches to drive that ball out of the park. That, my fellow Mets fans, is why we love ourselves some Glass.

From there, the game very much resembled Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS, Robin's Grand Slam Single Game.

For 7 extra innings the game appeared like it would never end.

Darren Oliver, the 75 year old reincarnation of Octavio Dotel gave us the best 4 innings of his 28-year major league career. This guy really deserves a ton of credit.


One other group deserves a ton of credit. Throughout the course of the game our perfect broadcasters paid their respects to the fans that stuck it out.

We here at Y2K will do it again. Great job guys. It looked like about 10,000 stuck it out and that is just awesome. 1 of those 10,000, of course, was AFOMG. Wish I could have been there with you.

I thought back to the memorable day in October when Me and the Kid sat at the top of the upperdeck and watched Robin hit it out to give the Mets one last glimmer of hope.

I remembered my mother giving me the day off from school that Monday even before I asked. She really is a good shit.

So it was only fitting that my first postgame text message came from Timmy the Kid. Much love TK.

And then there was Carlos Beltran. This guy hasn't been what we would have hoped but he is starting to show signs.


If Julio Franco encouraging him to take that curtain call early in the season was step 1, then hopefully this will be step 2. If we can get this guy going, then watch out. Seriously, watch out.

I gotta say I am pretty drained. Six hours on the same recliner and even the laziest of the lazy start to get antsy.

This was a heck of a win.

As my good pal Goat added, "Thank goodness they won because as tired as I'm gonna be tomorrow it would be way worse after a loss."

Think about all your Yankee fan friends who have argued how long the season is or how they know they will be there in October.

Mets fans wait it out. God bless you all.

VCD,

SM

$155 Million Dollars Worth of Paris Hilton

So the Yankees marched into Shea this weekend. As always Derek Jeter led the way for our crosstown rival/nemesis/team we want to kill.

Only this team from the Bronx that showed up at Shea was far less intimididating. 1-3 the lineup was great.

Damon-Jeter-Giambi


Their 4 guy looks about as intimidating as Ross from Friends at a science lecture.

And their 5-8 Cano-Williams-Cabrera-Stinnett looked a ton like a decent AAA team.

Then there was the pitching. Johnson, Mussina and Small. It really just seemed like a bunch of pretty old guys in their last days.

So what was going on? These are the Yankees. The team that we all hate and fear. Couldn't be.

Then I realized, these weren't the Yankees that we all know and love (to despise).

These were the homeless Yankees.

This Yankees team only made roughly $155 million dollars!!!

To think that I could overlook this! With the $45 mil that makes up Matsui, Sheffield, Posada and Pavano, this Yankee team was so far from the $200 million behemoth that we've grown so accustomed to -- of course they wouldn't be intimidating.

Quoting Bobby from the Bronx, "These weren't the real Yankees. Maybe if we took Delgado and Beltran from the Mets it would be alright. But this game didn't even matter. Our payroll was only like $150 million."

So the Yankees were missing roughly $45 million (that's the D-Rays and Marlins combined, for those keeping score at home) and it showed. The best team money can buy all of a sudden seemed unimposing.

The fact is, only one player in this lineup scared me the entire weekend, Derek Jeter, which was really weird to think. I actually sat there and said to myself, "Good for this guy."


Ten years later and he is the only thing consistent to show of this team.

Damon swings like a girl and throws like a retarded girl.

Giambi is amazing at walking.

Then there is A-Rod. I was glad to see he went deep on Monday night against the Red Sox, leading the Yankees' charge down 9-0 in the 9th. This guy is just hateable. My god is he hateable.

Finally, the starting pitching. There just isn't a lot there anymore.

Randy Johnson is throwing 93 mph. That's not 98 mph. The result? All of a sudden dudes are crushing him.

As good as Mussina has been, he's getting up there.

And the rest of the staff just isn't good.

I think it is really important to realize how bad of a job Brian Cashman has done putting this team together. How can you have a $200 million payroll and not one dominant starting pitcher? Not one.

I don't know why it is that baseball insiders love this guy. He did nothing to put together the championship teams of the late 90's.

Fact is, this guy is about as good at putting together a baseball team as he looks like he would be. That is, he is an angry little man who doesn't belong in the game.

So over the course of the weekend it killed to me be watching the subway series games with 1 and 2 Yankee fans.

Jordan, a pretty solid Yankee fan, watches pretty much every game and knows his stuff. Then big Maciej, a diehard, who had the presence of mind to enter for the 9th inning of Sunday's game to throw in a couple of "good fights" during Miguel Cairo's AB against Wagner.

They were good fights. Kind of like the Mets "battling" on a daily basis, an Art Howe soundbite that always got Mets fans oozing with love for the old skipper, a guy named Bobby Valentine.

I knew that I hated the Yankees. I knew I hated their fans. I knew I hated everything about them.

Yet, when I tried to argue with my Yankee fan friends I found myself not being able to dominate the conversation. I was clearly right and they were clearly wrong as all readers of this site can agree, yet the words couldn't make it out of my mouth.

But then as I was watching E! it hit me as America's princess, Paris Hilton, mozied across the screen.


For some reason, despite bringing zero to the table and being very hateable, America loves this girl.

People like to talk about hating her yet she still is always there, always in the spotlight making tons of money. There are just enough shitty people that actually like her, that believe her autograph is worth seeking that she stays afloat.

She is famous being for famous.

The Yankees, my friends, are the Paris Hilton of baseball.

They are so hateable. They are loved for having more than everyone else. Yet there is nothing likeable about them. The team has no personality and certainly no heart.

They are simply the best thing money can buy and for America that is enough. That is why we see more Yankee hats than anyone else and why Yankee games are always sold out despite so many people finding the team truly wrong.

The Yankees are famous for being the Yankees. To the casual baseball fan/New York transplant, the Yankees are what is cool and hip about baseball. They are America's past time. For that reason, people like them.

I need more time to expand on this one and I would appreciate some feedback in the comments section, but I am pretty sure I hit this one on the nose here.

Whenever I need to tool a Yankee fan or just feel right and happy with the team that I will root for I will just think of Paris Hilton and everything will be ok.

Yeah the girl is hot, but would you ever be proud to bring her back to your mother? I know Mama Momo ain't having that, even if her name was Paris Hiltonsteinowitzberg.

VCD,

SM

Interleague Play, Reloaded

In the run-up to this past weekend, debate raged in broadcast, print, and blog media as to whether interleague play had worn out its welcome. "Just another series" was the oft-repeated mantra of many a Met, Yankee, journalist, and blogger.

We can all admit that the fever-pitch excitement that accompanied that first Mets-Yankees showdown in 1997 at Yankee Stadium is gone. To be honest, the Glass himself was beginning to worry about the relevance of interleague play.

I distinctly remember talking the matter over with friends last year, saying that the Mets and Yankees should get one crack at each other during the regular season. Why not have the Mets play 3 at Yankee Stadium one year, the Yanks play 3 at Shea the next, and then take the third year off?

I was pretty convinced at the time that tinkering with the formula was the only was to preserve the luster of Mets-Yankees baseball.

This past weekend changed my mind, and my sense is that it changed the minds of a lot of different people. I saw several media reports mention yesterday that for all the talk of interleague fatigue, attendance at each of the three games this weekend surpassed 56,000.

That's impressive enough, but speaking personally, it wasn't the fans I saw at the ballpark who put the jolt back into this series, it was the fans I saw out and about in the city of New York.

I graduated from college just short of a year ago now, and I've gotta tell you, the feeling of walking around town Friday night proudly displaying my orange Mets t-shirt was simply electric.

It was a feeling I hadn't had in a while. Everywhere I turned there was somebody new wearing Mets gear, even at a hipstered out nightspot in Alphabet City. With each of those people I shared a high five.

We reveled in talk about Carlos' blast in the first. Or Randy's implosion. Or Heilman's 3 shutout innings. Or Wagner striking out three of the Spanks' best hitters. Or, of course, your boy and mine, D-Wright hitting the game-winning double.

Friday night was perfect.

Saturday, not so much.

I sucked it up though and wore my Mets hat with pride around town. With my body language I tried to project an attitude announcing to all the people in Yankee hats, What? You think I lasted this long as a Mets fan without being able to stomatch a tough loss?

I shared conciliatory glances with the men and women wearing Mets gear that evening. That sucked, we said, but look, we still got a chance to win this series tomorrow!

And then we did, somehow.

We did it in spite of a less than stellar day of Mets pitching, a day on which saw four of our best horses (Tommy, Heilman, Suaner, and Wagner) allowed Yankee batters to reach second base in 8 of 9 innings.

We did it in spite of being on the ropes all night.

We did it in spite of the fact that no one had confidence in Billy Wagner anymore.

And it was glorious. And it was glorious again today.

As I rode the subway to work today I heard pockets of people talking about the game last night. When I got to work all the same conversations were going on on my floor. When I got to my desk no less than 6 people came by immediately to talk it over. When I climbed the stairs to lunch 20 minutes ago I heard people several floors up talking about Delgado's 3-run blast.

For the fans in the thick of New York, interleague play was most definitely back. Had it ever left? I can't say really. I was gone the last 4 years, and watching these games on a television far away from the five boroughs just can't compare.

Don't get me wrong, it still meant the world to me when the Mets swept the Yankees in 2004, but when it was over and I walked outside, I saw a lot of people who just didn't care. I can't fault them for that, but that was my reality.

Being back in the city changed all that, and it changed my impression of Mets-Yankees back to what it should have been all along.

That doesn't mean interleague play is perfect. All you had to do was monitor this past weekend's Blue Jays-Rockies grudge match to know that not all is right with this sytem.

But in this city at least, the formula works. It works because of the people in the Mets and Yankees hats you see roaming the streets, huddling in subway cars, happily greeting each other in bars throughout the town, or dissecting each moment at work.

It's a special feeling.

And it doesn't hurt that the Mets took 2 of 3.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Three Days in May

Baseball’s a funny game. For 3 days the Mets and Yankees fought tooth and nail through 29 innings. When it was over, the Mets had scored 15 runs and the Yankees 14.

On Friday the Mets erased a 4-run deficit and beat the Yankees’ prized closer.

On Saturday the Yankees erased a 4-run deficit against the Mets’ prized closer.

On Saturday the Yankees won a game they had every reason to lose. On Sunday the Mets won a game they had every reason to lose, or at least 15 reasons to lose – 15 being the number of runners Yankee batters left on base.

So go figure all of that. Somehow when all was said and done the Mets had taken 2 out of 3.

It’s tempting now to say that we should have won all 3. Resist that urge. Resist that urge no matter how devastating Saturday’s loss was when it happened.

After the game on Saturday I wrote the following:

In the end, we decide how heavily this loss will weigh on us. The decision is ours, not the Yankees', not their fans'. Ours.

And you know what? It's just one loss. Today is just one day. Tomorrow we wake and the season begins again.

I was proud of how the team played yesterday. I don’t think there’s one player you could point to on our roster and say that he played well. Glavine? Gutsy, sure, but not well – this wasn’t vintage Glavine.

Heilman? Not quite. Duaner? Definitely not. Wagner? Wright? Delgado? They had big moments, but yesterday was no tour de force for a one of them.

And yet somehow we found a way to win the ballgame. And in doing so, we decided the worth of Saturday’s loss. It sucked, yes. There’s a feeling of missed opportunity, sure. But having won last night, that’s the end of it. The negative thoughts about Saturday subside, replaced by the ultimate satisfaction of a series won on Sunday.

I’m emotionally drained right now, just totally exhausted after 3 days of gut-wrenching baseball. I’ll try and get something a bit more coherent up later in the day today, but for now that’s all I got. For now, I dream the dreams of a happy Mets fan.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Game Log: Mets-Yankees - May 21

8:00 - Alright, that broad with the "Certified Yankee Hater" is officially Little Miss Shea Stadium for the night of May 21... and we're off. Glad to have you here.

8:03 - I like that the Mets are playing Star Wars music in the background. I'm a sucker for orchestral shit. It pumps me up. I'm nonetheless embarrassed to say that I know the name of that song. "Battle of the Heroes". Salt.

8:09 - Alright, Tommy. We need a big start. You know it. We know it. Deliver.

8:10 - Billy Wagner is in the background every time the camera hits on Johnny Damon. I still feel sick.

8:10 - Love to start a big game with the other team getting a little piece of crap single.

8:11 - We have not done a good enough job holding baserunners in this series. One of the papers made a good point about that 11th inning yesterday. Miguel Cairo walked and got to third via two uncontested stolen bases. It's not good enough to just let the other team waltz around the bases. I mean, isn't that why we didn't reup with the Monster?

8:12 - Deej.

8:13 - And there's a stolen base.

8:14 - Just got him - great play. No jumpman bullshit. Well executed, M.G.

8:15 - One of the most welcome aspects of SNY broadcasts are the overhead camera angles that show you exactly where a pitch is vis-a-vis the plate. I'm not exactly pissed about the strike zone yet, but I have been missing that angle on a couple of these pitches.

8:17 - Who else is certain that A-Rod is now going to get a base hit here?

8:19 - Glavine is missing down in the zone, a lot. It's better than missing up, but 11 of 20 pitches for balls isn't gonna cut it.

8:23 - You know, a lot of people are down on interleague play. They think the idea is oversaturated. I understand their beef on some level, but I'll say this.

Few things are so enjoyable for me as walking around with my Mets hat on or a Mets t-shirt on during a Mets-Yankees series. You pass someone with Mets gear you share a look, a "Let's go Mets", a "New Mets!" -- it's special. You pass a Yankee fan, you share a dirty look, or give a little smile. It's a feeling you don't get when you play even your biggest division rival.

8:25 - Keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn!

8:27 - Did it seem to anyone else that a piece of debris was floating around the infield that entire first inning or was it just me?

8:28 - If you don't have an all new 2007 Chevy Avalanche you're nothing to me, you're less than nothing to me.

8:29 - It bears mentioning that both the Braves and Phillies won today. The H is O.

8:31 - Hmm... walk Stinnett here? Not in the 1st I guess.

8:32 - Let's go Tommy, get tough.

8:33 - THERE YOU GO TOMMY!!!!!!!!! Good time to get that first low strike.

8:36 - That 7 train is really taking its sweet time, isn't it?

8:37 - Shit. The old Jeromy Burnitz Special. RIP, J-Burn.

8:38 - Those bags floating around the infield are beautiful.

8:39 - Aaron Small has had a LOT of movement on his curveball so far.

8:42 – PSA: I should mention that blogger.com is susceptible to technical difficulties. I encountered these yesterday. If we go like 10 minutes without an update, it doesn’t mean I’ve stopped.

8:42 – Boy did Melky Cabrera misplay that one.

8:43 – Good call by the announcers, the wind looks brutal out there.

8:43 - He made it look easy, yes. Perhaps because that play never looked difficult. Maybe I'm just bitter.

8:46 - I was a lot more worried about Aaron Small after the 1st inning than I am now. Two real hard hit balls by Cliffy and Delgado.

8:47 - I don't know that I've seen Reyes make a ton of spectacular plays necessarily, but he's looked much surer-handed out there this year than he did in 2005, at least in my opinion.

8:48 - Jon Miller just touched on an important point. What makes the Yankees different from any other team in baseball is that if the Mets, say, or the Red Sox, lost one of their best bats, they'd be fucked. The Yankees? You lose Shef and Hideki Matsui and you've still got Giambi, A-Rod, Jeter, Damon...

8:50 - Funny thing about A-Rod. When he's up in a pressure spot, I never worry about him coming through. Consider that I'm perpetually convinced that something bad is going to happen against the Yankees and that really says a lot about his performance.

Watch A-Rod get the gamewinner today. Fuck. You really put yourself in a bad position when you're doing one of these things.

8:53 - These grapes I'm eating right now really go way beyond the call of duty. Really phenomenol.

8:53 - First strike against ESPN's broadcast: No Kaz Matsui theme music.

8:58 - On a somewhat unrelated topic, in case you didn't know, Alay Soler has been called up to start in place of Jose Lima. Lime Time, is officially over.

8:59 - Nice throw, Paul.

9:00 - Yes Glavine has been in trouble each of the first three innings, but there haven't been any particularly hard hit balls I'd say. Any port in the storm.

9:01 - Unbelievably pathetic. Ugh.

9:01 - Yeah, really great to see Miller. Hmm, where the fuck was that pitch?

9:02 - Nice. I couldn't overemphasize how important it is for a pitcher to maintain his composure after a bad break like Bernie's "double". Accept it, suck it up, get back to work. So far so good.

9:03 - Terrence Long? Richard Hidalgo? It's a regular who's who of shitty Mets outfielders over in that Yankee farm system isn't it?

9:04 - Not a good spot to walk the 8 hitter.

9:05 - Am I wrong or have they had first and second in each of the first 4 innings now?

9:06 - Fuck me. Second batter in a week to make absolutely no effort to get out of the way of a Glavine pitch. FUCK.

9:07 – File Jeter under “Yankees I always expect to get a hit in a big spot”.

9:08 – God damn it. God damn it. Think about what’s happened this inning. Bernie leads off with a 15 foot double. Glavine walks the 8 hitter. Beans a guy. 2 runs in on an error. Aye-aye-aye.

9:09 – Wait. I couldn’t have possibly heard that correctly. They gave Jeter a base hit there?

9:09 – Uhh, yeah. I think I speak for all Mets fans: that play should have been made. What aspect of that play shouldn’t have been made?

9:10 – 73 pitches for Glavine. 3.2 innings. Jeezum Crow.

9:11 – Jesus does Glavine look old. Physically I mean. He looks old.

9:11 – Well that wasn’t confidence-inspiring, now was it?

9:12 - That was a really bad time to go dark. Thanks, Blogger.

9:13 - OK. What do you say we answer here, Mets? Give us a little something to be confident about here (cuz lord knows Glavine isn't providing it on the hill).

9:14 - Know what I take absolutely no solace in? The fact that the winners of the first two games came from behind.

9:15 - Does Paul Lo Duca really swing and miss that infrequently? I mean, he's got great bat control, I'll grant it, but are we really at a point where it's newsworthy every time he swings and misses?

9:16 - There you go, Paulie. Seems like he always gets a hit in a spot like this. Pretty vague, but that's as precise as I can get right now. He just seems to come up with a big AB when you feel like the team could use a lift.

9:18 - Question: What happens to Beltran in years 5, 6 and 7 of Beltran's contract after Delgado's deal expires?

9:18 - 2009 can wait -- atta boy Beltran!

9:19 – Come on Delgado. Really important to answer here.

9:19 – GET OUT!!!!!! GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

3-2 Mets – LET’S GOOOOO!!!!!

9:20 - GET GOING!!!!!!!!!!! GET GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"He's feeling a little better about that play in the field now I'll bet." - The Hound.

9:22 - So much for Aaron Small pulling a Dave Mlicki. OK. Le's go baby!!!!!!

9:23 - Interesting point about Aaron Small here. He was just moved out of the bullpen to the rotation. Don't want to make more of this than there is, but, well, let's just say I'm thinking of another Aaron we know. Before I get lit up on the comment board by Happy Will, et al, let me just say that I am certain Aaron Heilman is a better pitcher than Aaron Small.

9:25 - That Reyes-Wright handshake wasn't Reyes-Anderson Hernandez cool, but it was pretty dope in its own right.

9:25 - What do you think, any chance Kaz jacks one here?

9:26 - In a word... no. I accept full jinx responsibility. But OK!!!!!!!!!! 4-2!!!!!!!! Come on Glavine, settle down some.

9:27 - I'm gonna say it now. I want Wagner to enter this game. I want him to enter this game so he can have the chance to shut the Yankees down like he did on Friday. Call me crazy.

9:28 - OK. Deej's "I live for this" commercial? Not nearly as cool as Pedro's.

9:31 - This would be a good time to get your first 1-2-3 inning Glavine.

9:31 - THE WARRIOR!

9:32 - The 1-2-3 inning will have to wait. What are we looking at here from Glavine tonight? 6 innings? Discuss.

9:34 - WOAH THAT WAS A NICE DOUBLE PLAY! Was that Kaz Matsui!!!!???!!!!!

9:37 - I hate Miguel Cairo.

9:39 - Like I really hate Miguel Cairo.

9:39 - Alright M.G.!

9:40 - Reyes has not gotten good jumps in this series. Just by the way.

9:41 - Ahh yes, the Verizon Business K-Zone.

9:42 - Anyone have a thought as to whether Heilman would be at full capacity today after going 3 innings on Friday?

9:42 - Oh boy was he out.

9:44 - Great point by the Hound: we've gotten screwed by the umps enough times this year for me to not feel bad about one Jose Reyes stolen base.

9:45 - Remember when Willie Randolph was an idiot for batting Lo Duca second and Beltran three?

9:45 - Yo, this Yankee bullpen is stretched pretty damn thin.

9:48 - I know I said I wanted Wagner to get a chance in this game. Fuck that. Let's park one here, Carlos.

9:51 - Can't say I like this matchup of lefty-with-funky-delivery against Delgado.

9:53 - I mean, that's just a tough matchup for Delgado there. Oh well.

9:54 - Any chance they ask Willie about bringing Wagner into that game yesterday?

9:56 - You know, say what you want about Wagner's performance yesterday, but I feel certain that he wants to be in this game today, and that's not something I'd have said about Braden Looper or Armando Benitez the past several years.

9:58 - "Oh, shit!" - Tom Glavine. Yeah, that's not what he wanted to do here. Come on, Tommy, 2 more outs.

10:00 - Come on Tommy, get tough. Pick yourself up here.

10:01 - Glavine's "out" pitches are just not going to fool anyone right now.

10:02 - Fucking huge. Just absolutely huge. Thank god. Alright, Tommy, not your best outing, you labored, but you persevered. Good work.

Now let's get us a run or two here, huh?

10:06 - Is Colter Bean looking to get moisture on his fingers or get bulemic out there?

10:09 - Fight him, X.

10:09 - There's that theme music. Nice.

10:10 - The end of Peter Gammons' report was music to my ears. And Nails' too I'm sure. Meanwhile, I cannot believe X just stole a base.

10:12 - Alright. Heilman to Sanchez to Wagner. Now let's get it done.

10:13 - Any chance Angelina Jolie makes a cameo in "The Breakup"? Anyone ever realize that Vince Vaughn played Brad Pitt's best friend in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"? AWKWARD!!

10:15 - On a night of extreme winds like this, it wouldn't take much to convince me that Endy Chavez should be subbed in for Nady here.

10:17 - 96 MPH from Heilman, huh?

10:20 - OK, Aaron. Come on now, put him away.

10:21 - For fuck's sake, Paul.

10:21 - For fuck's sake, Aaron.

10:23 - Wait, didn't we see this act yesterday?

10:25 - Thank god he called that a strike. Thank. God.

10:26 - Excuse me: THANK GOD!!!!!!

10:28 - Heilman to Sanchez to Wagner. Heilman - Check.

10:29 - Glad to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman taking someone's seat at Shea. Go Orioles!

10:30 - Know who doesn't think it would have been a better fit for A-Rod to go to the Red Sox? Red Sox fans.

10:31 - New Jose Valentin! This is a no-brainer situation to bunt with Reyes here as far as I'm concerned.

10:32 - Wow, Joe Torre really looks like shit. What happened to his leg?

10:35 - You really don't see the mid-at-bat pitching change very often do you?

10:37 – Nice pitch selection on those bunt attempts, Jose.

10:37 – NEW JOSE VALENTIN!!!!!!! NICE PLAY!

10:38 - Wow did Reyes look bad in that at-bat. Wow.

10:40 - See that look in Glavine's eye? It's the fear of 2-8-2 being blown by Billy Wags.

10:41 – No!!!!!!!! Get it off!!! Get it off!!!!!!!! Please, I can’t take this abuse. Anything but Scott Kazmir's stats!!

10:44 - Alright, Duaner. Here's looking at you, pal.

10:46 - Not sure you can say that this umpire has been consistent with his strike zone here today. Meanwhile, I swear to god don't walk Miguel Cairo.

10:48 - For fuck's sake. For. Fuck's. Sake.

10:49 - Oh fuck.

10:51 – Fuck.

10:53 – OK. Think of it this way. We’re a sac fly and a ground ball away from being out of this jam. Just bear down, Duaner.

10:54 - Come on, Duaner. Come on, Duaner.

10:56 - Just re-read my post at 8:50. Fuck.

10:57 - I. Could. Not. Possibly. Be. Happier. 8:50.

10:59 - I wonder what every Yankee fan watching this game right now is thinking. Alright, this is what I asked for: Wagner in the game to hold a lead.

11:00 - OK. I want to ask for another run. Or 3. Just so I'm on the record with that.

11:01 - Scott Erickson. Jesus.

11:03 - Hear those A-Rod chants in the background?

11:03 - Come on David. Come on David. Please.

11:04 - Needless to say, we're all thinking about the top of the 9th inning with Wagner right? Hey, at least it's 5-6-7 coming up for the Yanks.

11:06 - Give credit where it's due: That was a nice grab by Cano.

11:07 - No fear, Billy. No fear.

11:08 - Meanwhile, the right side of my right wrist is hurting. Carpel tunnel. That's the price I pay to bring you this game log. Extreme blogging!

11:10 - I mean, somehow you knew it would come to this, didn't you? Mets with a 1-run lead in the 9th, Wagner on the hill? Somehow you knew.

11:10 - Strike 1. Strike 2. Strike 3. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

11:13 - Fuck X. Fuck. Pick your fucking game up out there.

11:14 - Oh my god. 2 pieces of crap. 2 pieces of crap.

11:15 - I've got MY razorblade.

11:16 - Bear. Fucking. Down.

11:16 - YES!!!!!!!!!

11:16 - Miguel Cairo.

11:16 - For the love of god, please.

11:18 - Thank God. Thank God. I am emotionally drained. What a win. What a series. Thank you, Billy. Thank you, Miguel. Thank you, A-Rod.

Follow Tonight's Game With Y2K

Dear Readers,

As some of you know, we chronicled yesterday's game with a running game log. For those interested, I will be doing the same again tonight during the rubber game of the series -- hope you tune in to check it out. The site will be updated constantly throughout the game, so keep reloading the page after 8 p.m. if you want to follow along with Y2K.

Meanwhile, the Phils and the Braves both lost yesterday, so the question of the day is whether you're a glass half-empty or a glass half-full kind of feller. Did the Mets blow a really, really good opportunity to pick up a game on their division rivals or did they drop a tough one and come away unscathed divisionally? You decide.

One way or another, we can all agree that we should be thankful as shit that yesterday's disaster didn't come at the expense of a game in the standings.

So yeah, I don't know about the rest of you, but that glass looks half full to me.

- A.F.O.M.G.

As All Things Do, This Too Shall Pass

I want all the readers to do one thing tonight. Forget about this game today. Just forget about it. Don't use it as a reason to get in a fight. Don't use it as a reason to get sloppy drunk. Don't use it as a reason to hammer your girlfriend in an overly aggressive manner. Just forget about it.

Tomorrow the Mets and Yankees will play again. On Friday the Yankees blew a 4-run lead. Today we blew a 4-run lead. I won't say it's entirely the same, but try and think of it that way.

And try to remember how good Tom Glavine has been all year. If you weren't going to have Pedro going the next day after a game like this, you'd sure as hell want Glavine.

In the end, we decide how heavily this loss will weigh on us. The decision is ours, not the Yankees', not their fans'. Ours.

And you know what? It's just one loss. Today is just one day. Tomorrow we wake and the season begins again.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Game Log: Mets-Yankees - May 20, aka, The Scroll of Agony

(Note: First running game log here at Y2K. Continuously updated during the game so refresh this page if you're reading this as the game is played. Also, be sure to read Sip's recap of last night's classic win over the Spanks. Enjoy.)

1:19 – FOX leads off with a pair of decidedly weak intro pump-up montages. The first is basically an instance of corporate prostitution, as FOX sells itself like a common street whore by mixing clips of Mets/Yankees and White Sox/Cubs in with dialogue from X-Men III – The Last Stand. If I were an X-Men fan, the image of Pedro Martinez standing next to Wolverine or A-Rod having light beams coming out of his eyes like whatshisname might have been fun. As it is, I’m not, and this montage sucks.

Lamer still was the official intro to the Mets-Yankees game narrated by Joe Buck. There was mention of the 2000 World Series and how now, 6 years later with new faces and whatnot, there is excitement in New York again with both teams doing well.

The truth is, I generally despise FOX. I would much, much rather listen to Gary Cohen and the boys at SNY than Buck and his partner in Yankee jocking, Tim McCarver. But I’m normally a sucker for those intro montages. FOX just mailed it in this time. This broadcast just blew what figured to be its finest moment.

1:21 – Joe Buck appears to be wearing an orange “Let’s go kids!” Mets bracelet.

1:27 – Pedro’s fastball is coming in at 91 today. I read in a notebook this morning that Guy Conti says his arm strength is now at full bore. 91 is a lot better than 89, even if it doesn’t sound like it. It only improves the differential on his off-speed stuff; definitely a positive development.

1:28 – Jason Giambi is such a bitch. I can’t remember who it was, but some blogger noted recently that it’s gotten to the point where umpires don’t call strikes on pitches he doesn’t swing at, and that he feels entitled to determine himself what is a ball and what is a strike. That is, if he doesn’t swing and it’s a called strike, he’ll turn to the umpire and pout about the call. Maybe it’s flaxseed rage.

1:30 – Pedro fans A-Rod to retire the side. FOX has redeeming moment as Buck says “You know how Pedro wants this first half inning to end…” pitch is thrown, strike three called… “Like that”. Buck’s not as bad as McCarver.

1:33 – Oh my god, 2-0 on Reyes. You know, he’s walking more this year, but I still never expect him to actually walk. And I say this a day after he walked twice. Maybe it’s not fair.

1:34 – Great statistic. In games we win, Reyes hits .339. In games we lose, Reyes hits .098. Say what you want about the kid, but as he goes, so goes the team. Oh, and leadoff single. LET’S GO@!!!!

1:35 – Kaz Matsui’s intro music is truly awesome. During the game last night, me, Lister, Steve and Jewbiscuit would turn the music up as loud as possible every time he came to the plate.

1:36 – Moose has now fallen behind the first two batters 2-0

1:37 – Just to recap. This inning, Reyes reached base on a nubber to third and forced an error with his speed. Reyes breaks for second, steals the bag, goes to third as throw goes into centerfield. Kid just makes it happen, I’m happy we’re friends.

1:38 – Kaz strikes out in a big spot. Does not give the patented Kaz Matsui spin-around strikeout. Maybe next time.

1:39 – This fucker Beltran better get this run home.

1:39 – LET’S GOOO@!! 1-0 Mets.

1:40 – Best part of that play? Miguel Cairo misplaying the ball in left. Would have been a hit either way, Beltran might have had 2 either way, but either way, I’m really, really glad that Cairo looked retarded out there. I’ve hated Cairo from that first day in spring training 2005 when he rolled in with his Yankee duffle bag, and let’s just say his futility in the 2-hole last season didn't endear him to me any more.

1:41 – Nice hand for David Wright. Good to see. Earlier today, my mother announced that she feels like Wright never does anything clutch. What can I say, you don’t choose these people in your life (love you mom).

1:44 – I am so happy Johnny Damon misplayed that ball. You all know how we feel about that asshole here at Y2K. Mr. Unclutch just got another clutch hit, good thing my mother isn’t here to see it – 2-0 Mets.

1:49 – This Pedro commercial for MLB is awesome. The way it ends with him fleefully pointing at the camera and saying the tagline “I live for this” is perfect.

Meanwhile, I’m just gonna say it, I miss Pedro’s Jheri-curl. The puff tuft he’s sporting this year is pretty dope in its own right, but it’s just not the same. Oh well.

1:56 – The Burkger King Have it your way Home Advantage is exactly the sort of thing I hate about watching sports on FOX. A song plays in the background as the announcers tell you nothing at all about the stadium. Just completely worthless.

1:57 – The Mets seem to have unveiled new seating on the grassy knolls in the right and left field corners. I have 3 seasons left to sit in one of those seats. This is a must.

1:58 – McCarver has revealed that it is possible to be eccentric by doing crossword puzzles. Did I mention this guy is an idiot?

2:03 – Buck snaps at McCarver when the latter again calls Mussina eccentric for doing crossword puzzles. Maybe he hates him as much as I do.

2:04 – Holy shit. Michael Barrett just duffed AJ Pierzynski out in Chicago. I understand he just got nailed at the plate, but Pierzynski’s play was clean – shame on Michael Barrett.

2:07 – I hate to offer any semblance of a compliment to Johnny Damon, but sometimes when he’s at bat you get the feeling he could just foul off pitches all day long.

2:08 – Buck announces this is a situation in which Derek Jeter, Deej, always comes up big.

2:09 – 3-0 count on Deej, Damon now on third. I’m nervous. The fact is that this whole ballpark expects DJ to get a hit right here. Except maybe the guy on the mound.

2:11 – YES!!!!! FUCKING HUGE@!!!!!! SUCK IT BUCK!!!!!!!!!! Meanwhile, I swear to god I wrote that last bit about “except maybe the guy on the mound” at 2:09 when the count was 3-0. No revisionism here.

2:15 – Hmm, tough Capital One Trivia Question here. Who was the last Mets pitcher to fan 200 batters in his first season with the Mets? I’m gonna guess Al Leiter, although I suppose it might have been old number 3-2: Mike Hampton.

2:16 – Sometimes I see Kaz Matsui swing and wonder how he ever gets a hit.

2:18 – Soothing guitar strumming sends us off into commercial. Why not?

2:22 – A strikeout looking on Giambi is becoming one of my favorite things in the game. Sit down, Creamer.

2:23 – Having now seen the replay of the collision in Chicago, I now better understand why Barrett took a swing. Pierzynski didn’t just bowl him over, he showed him up by slapping his hand down hard on the plate. Not saying it’s the right move for Barrett to punch him in the face, but the slap of the plate is an important angle here.

2:27 – Your Capital One Trivia Answer: Doc Gooden. Go figure. Meanwhile, checking ESPN.com just now I learn that Leiter struck out 174 and Hampton 177 in their first seasons (and only, as the case may be) with the Mets. Hampton has never struck out 200 in a season, while Leiter did so once: he struck out an even 200 in the year 2000. Sigh.

2:32 – Wow. From the other room I hear the Hound utter a “Holy Shit!” as Delgado’s arm flick swing lands over the fence in left-centerfield. In one of those what can you do situations, the TV in the kitchen, where the Hound is, seems to be about 5 seconds ahead of the one in the living room, where I am. This makes for a series of drama-killing hollers from the other room. Salt. Oh, 3-0 Mets.

Meanwhile, I love it that David Wright comes to the plate sometimes with “Brass Monkey” by the Beastie Boys playing in the background. Like to see that New York styling.

2:34 – As Delgado and Reyes play wrestling in the dugout, I hold my breath and pray that Reyes won’t get hurt.

2:37 – Roger Clemens… True Yankee?

2:39 – The Burger King commercial with the father-son hamburgers is almost good enough to make up for the Burger King Have It Your Way Home Advantage segment earlier in the game. “I wish I’d never been broiled!” the son says. I love that adolescent drama shit!

2:40 – Melky Cabrera breaks his bat. How awesome would it be if one of Giambi’s bats cracked open to reveal a massive syringe-shaped cork?

2:42 – Pedro’s thrown 71 pitches through 5.1 innings, and the fact is that he seems to be losing his command a little bit. You really want to see him get through 7 today before handing it over to the bullpen.

2:43 – Cliff flies into the stands to make a catch. Maybe they’ll still be talking about this one 2 years from now, too. Incidentally, I was wrong about Pedro’s command.

2:45 – I hate to write a negative word about 24, but that line “Right here, right now you are going to face justice!” can’t help but sound lame on a commercial. THERE ISN’T ENOUGH TIME!!!!

2:47 – I read on MetsBlog that the Mets have called up Anderson Garcia to take over Lima Time (http://www.metsblog.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/20/1971907.html). Interesting thing to note here: Garcia is a reliever. Heilman to the starting rotation, anyone?
2:48 – I like watching Pedro run to first base. He really more kind of skips than runs. Gotta love Pedro.

2:49 – EVERYBODY CLAP YO HANDS!!!!!!!!!

2:50 – For a second time today, Reyes’ speed makes all the difference in the world. Botched routine grounder to first base ends up a 2-base hit for Reyes. Let’s see if Kazuo can make good on this RBI chance (not bloody likely).

2:55 – I have no words for what I’m seeing right now. There is an artist’s rendition of Tim McCarver with Johnny Damon-with-Red Sox hair and beard. Did I mention I hate FOX?

3:00 – Last night, Lister pointed me towards a video I had never seen before. I won’t explain it to you, just watch:



There were 2 outs when that play happened. The Nationals went on to score 4 runs after that play (Play-by-play link: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playbyplay?gameId=260514115). That clip’s a week old but you still gotta love it. Fuck the Braves.

3:06 -- Not sure which I hate to see more: a lead-off single by A-Rod or the FOX Pepsi Fan Cam. Come on, Van Morrison, you're better than this.

3:07 -- That's how you execute a rundown, BIOTCH!!!

3:10 -- Shit. The key here is for Pedro to forget about the error on Cairo's piece of crap. Kelly Stinnett is up. Pedro has thrown 97 pitches. This will be his last batter. Come on, Pedro.

3:11 -- "Come on, strike this bum out!" - the Hound.

3:12 -- Come on Pedro!

3:13 -- 101 pitches thrown. Stinnet steps out. Bitch.

3:13 -- YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! "DELAYED CALL BUT WE LIKE IT!!!!!!!!" - THE HOUND. Remember when those "Who's Your Daddy" chants used to follow Pedro around when he pitched against the Yankees? Yeah, so do I.

3:14 -- Burger King is now 2-for-2 with these burger family commercials. "Pull your head out of your bun!" Classic. Almost enough to make me not miss The King.

3:16 -- Love that celebration from Pedro!! I love that kind of shit.

3:17 -- LET'S GO CLIFF!!!!!!!! THAT'S HOW YOU KEEP OUT OF A PLATTOON, CLIFFY, YOU SACK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3:22 -- My holler of "Take 4, Julio" goes for naught as Old Man Franco trots into 2nd. Oh well.

3:26 -- There is nothing I want to see less than for Duaner Sanchez to walk the lead off guy.

3:27 -- Not a walk but instead the first career hit for Kevin Reese. Had to happen sometime.

3:28 -- Huge double play. The truth is I was startng to feel nervous about young Duaner. Let's get Deej here and turn the ball over to Wags.

3:30 -- Awesome. 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th. Good to see Duaner back to his old self after that rough patch. We've been leaning on the guy all season, but if Heillman moves back into the rotation we're going to need him to be as automatic as he was that first week of the season. That 8th inning was a good sign.

3:31 -- Yo, Mandy Moore is not as hot as the animators on The Simpsons are making her out to be. Don't get me wrong, she's still a Y2K all-star ever since a friend of B.O.A.F.O.M.G.'s dated her years ago, but still, ya know?

3:33 -- For all the discussion about Billy Wagner using "Enter Sandman" as his entry song, I was stunned that there was no real reaction to him entering the game. I feel certain they would have mentioned it if the Yankee fans had booed or taunted Wagner's use of "Mariano's song", but no such mention was made. No big shock I guess. Wouldn't be the first time Mike and the Mad Dog made a mountain of a mole hill.

3:35 -- I really wish I'd told people I was gonna be doing this. Oh well.

3:37 -- Like that heads up baserunning from Kazuo there. Another run here would be really nice.

3:39 -- Damn it, Delgado.

3:40 -- Come on Cliff. Channel The Power of Positive Thinking. A base hit and I go nuts.

3:41 – Alright, fair enough. He put a good swing on that ball. Yankee fans will have nightmares tonight of an outfield containing Miguel Cairo, who looks almost as lost out there as Roger Cedeno used to. I can live with that. 4-0 lead – let’s go.

3:45 – HOUSE!!!

3:45 – Come on Billy, throw strikes.

3:45 – McCarver: That’s baseball’s form of plagiarism isn’t it? Rivera had it first! Now Wagner’s got it!

So fucking wrong, really just shameful that FOX runs this clown out there for these important ballgames. Ugh.

3:47 – Seriously, Billy, throw strikes, huh?

3:48 – Oh come on, what bullshit. Where the hell was that pitch? Shit like that can really turn an inning.

3:48.21 – Fuck.

3:48.34 – Fuck.

3:48.42 – Fuck.

3:49 – Shit. This is bad. This is really bad. At least Miguel Cairo has never had an RBI. This is really counterproductive, but just think of how different everything would have been A-Rod had been called out like he should have been. Hate to blame the umps but shit.

3:50 – I will be devastated if he blows this win for Pedro. Devastated.

3:51 – He is just not getting that inside corner. I’m not sure how close these pitchers really are, but fuck.

3:51 – Good old Cairo. One down, two to go.

3:52.08 – Strike 1.

3:52.20 – Strike 2.

3:53 – I got one thing to say to you, Wagner. Strike this motherfucker out!

3:54 – Buck notes the uneasy feel among Mets fans. Uhh, yeah.

3:55 – COME ON!!!!! FUCKKKKKKKK, GIVE HIM THE FUCKING STRIKE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!

3:55 – I am getting a really, really bad feeling here. Really, really, really, really bad.

3:56 – Shit.

3:56 – If he blows this, I venture to say it would be worse than anything Braden Looper ever did.

3:57 – For christ’s sake. It’s Kelly Stinnett, throw him a fucking strike.

3:57 – Wow. This just won’t work. I see no way he can get out of this inning.

3:58 – I can hardly watch.

3:58 – Three balls, zero strikes. Against Kelly Stinnett. Unbelievable.

3:58 – Walks in a run. A single ties the game. This is unbelievable.

3:59 – OK. This is a new batter. Just focus here Billy. Just focus on Bernie.

3:59 – Unbelievable. Just unbelievable. I can’t believe how quickly this game unraveled.

4:00 – I don’t know what I’ll do if we lose this game. Even a double play ball right now won’t excite me. I am simply numb. My fingers are shaking and my extremities feel cold.

4:02 -- OK. Strike 1.

4:03 -- COME ON. COME ON. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

4:03 -- Just unbelievable.

4:06 – OK. Forget what’s happened. Put it out of your mind. Chad. Just get this motherfucker out.

4:07 – Chad. What are we doing here?

4:08 – 2 balls, 2 strikes. Please.

4:08 – Are you there God? It’s me, AFOMG.

4:08 – I was certain Kaz would boot that ball. I feel no happiness. I feel nothing.

4:09 – “Alright, time to show some character!” – The Hound. He’s right.

4:09 – I ask myself if I’ll be happy if we win this game. I ask myself if I’ll weep if we lose. I can’t answer the first. As for the second, I don’t think I’ll cry. I think I’ll shut down. Picture the mother of the bag guy in American Beauty. Simply not there.

4:11 – If X jacks one, I wouldn’t shout anything out. I am emotionally drained without any conclusion reached.

4:13 -- 4 runs on 2 hits in the top of the inning. Unbelievable. Come on Blastro.

4:14 -- Somehow, Scott Proctor is dealing.

4:14 -- It occurs to me now that I will never feel confident with Billy Wagner on the hill against the Yankees. Their players will never feel out of it. Some things you never live down.

4:15 -- New Jose Valentin? Maybe? Beuller?

4:17 -- Hmm, well that was a fat pitch.

4:20 -- New Jorge Julio?

4:21 -- Let's just say this is not an auspicious start.

4:22 -- In fairness, I was just thinking that. Why didn't they just leave Sanchez out there? You keep Wagner fresh for Sunday (remember, back before this happened that's something you would have been happy about).

4:24 -- Well I certainly didn't see that coming. A-Rod. Mr. March. Long live The Curse.

4:25 -- If I were my father, I'd be worried about my son's emotional well-being.

4:26 -- New Jorge Julio. No exclamation point. The world is dead to me.

4:28 -- Remember the bottom of the 8th when we had a runner on third with 1 out and Delgado up? Shit on me.

4:29 -- This is interesting, Reyes batting Rivera from the right side as opposed to the left.

4:30 -- I just re-read what I wrote around 3:30. I was so happy then.

4:31 -- OK Kaz. OK.

4:32 -- Barry Bonds has hit home run No. 714. I used to not like the idea of him passing Ruth, but somehow this game has me thinking differently.

4:34 -- Oh boy. If he gets a gamewinner here and I'm a Yankee fan, I'm really pissed.

4:34 -- Hmm, no such luck. Come on Delgado.

4:36 -- I wonder if I would be so depressed if I hadn't written this game log.

4:41 -- WHERE THE FUCK WAS THAT PITCH? WHAT THE FUCK??>?

4:41 -- By this point I'm really less watching the game as I am staring at my computer, seeing pitching movements out of the corner of my eye, cringing, and waiting to hear what the announcers say before looking up.

4:44 -- By this point I'm not even upset when close pitches aren't called strikes. Whatever.

4:45 -- Interesting that we just surrendered the bag there. I mean, the strikeout is no better than a bunt.

4:48 -- New Jorge Julio. No exclamation point.

4:49 -- I'm glad he didn't throw there, but I'm also nervous as shit now.

4:49 -- And we're losing.

4:52 -- I'm considering changing my voicemail message to "You've reached AFOMG. Whatever."

4:53 -- Is there anything on David's mind here other than hitting a homerun?

4:55 -- Cliff.

4:56 -- I remember when the Red Sox lost Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (the Aaron Boone game). I was at college in Massachusetts, lot of Red Sox fans but a number of Yankee fans too. The day after the Yankees beat the Red Sox, the Yankee fans didn't rub it in. They knew that doing so just wasn't right, like being happy when your worst enemy dies. I wonder if this will be the same.

5:00 -- I mean, this isn't the playoffs or anything. Maybe that comparison isn't fair.

5:01 -- Seamus O'Toole. Let's get drunk.

An Instant Classic

Jeremi Gonzalez took the mound in the first inning. 10 minutes later and we were down 4-0. Young Sip caught this entire inning...VIA GAMECAST.

Of course Comcast decided not to show this game on the league pass and MACs decided that they don't like MLB TV.

So, gamecast it was.

Happy Will was snickering, I told you so, as Jeremi Gonzalez tanked and Aaron Heilman sat in the bullpen.

A 3 run ding dong by Carlos Beltran instilled some hope in us. Beltran 2k6 sure is an improvement. My confidence level is at about 7.

So the game went back and for till the 5th inning. The Mets were down 6-5.

Proctor-Farnsworth-Rivera vs. Heilman-Sanchez-Wagner.

Vegas opened the line at Mets -1.5 +100.

Controversial Aaron went on to dominate innings 6-8. I've never seen ESPN Gamecast move so quickly. I could only imagine what it was like in person.

6-6 going into the top of the 9th after the first clutch hit of Kazuo's life and in comes Billy. His first test in Mets-Banks. Looper and Benitez combined for an 18.00 ERA against the assholes from the Bronx.

Again, Gamecast looked really really pretty. Three strikeouts in a row and the battle for Enter Sandman took a 1-0 lead for the New Mets.

So then came the bottom of the 9th. This isn't 2000 anymore. Mariano Rivera, one of the two best baseball players we have ever seen, has lost a step. He has shown he is human many a time in many big games. The 2001 WS against Arizona, 2004 against the Sox and though far less significant, 2006.


A double to Lo Duca on an ill-advised fastball that caught too much plate was followed by a Beltran strikeout and an intentional walk to Delgado. The scene was set.

D Wright.

I had spent most of the game talking to my good pal Kenny from Camp (who I went to college with). Kman is one of the best, a good friend and loyal Mets fan. We have always been known to argue about a lot of things, the most recent being the Heilman situation, but that isn't the point.

We have been talking a lot of late about how 9th inning D Wright has really been struggling. K Man has been really down on the young one of late and I have been trying to restore faith.

I always tell people down on the young phenom that he is 23 and that all players go in slumps. Meanwhile the dude is still hitting .300.

Here was our online convo.

Kenny from Camp (7:15:14 PM): BIG test coming up
Young Sip (7:15:33 PM): tell me about it
Young Sip (7:15:39 PM): this would be one word...
Young Sip (7:15:41 PM): Nice
Kenny from Camp (7:16:31 PM): he needs to do this
Kenny from Camp (7:16:33 PM): for me
Young Sip (7:16:43 PM): for us
Kenny from Camp (7:18:26 PM): hmmm.....
Kenny from Camp (7:19:01 PM): see it....
Young Sip (7:19:41 PM): NEW METS!!!!!!!
Kenny from Camp (7:19:47 PM): NEW WRIGHT!

It took me a while to find that word, "nice." But that's what it was. Like when you say something that you realize reminds you of your father, something that he would say, this was just one of those good things.


Our young guy, who bleeds orange and blue but has been struggling in these situations coming through in the absolute biggest moment against our hated crosstown rival.

Nice...

I gotta say I am in great spirits.

A game like this is really hard to lose, but really sweet to win.

Some other notes from the game.

Yankee fans will crush Randy Johnson for the rest of the year and that is awesome. This guy demanded a trade to the Yankees, the 26-time champion, highest payroll, always competitive Yankees. He asked for this and deserves everything and more that comes to him.

You can make a couple of arguments about Aaron Heilman in this game. I still want him in the pen. With him in the pen we will dominate the 6-9 innings.

I'm not saying that a move shouldn't be made, but I still don't want to move Heilman. The Frenchmen suggested Kyle Lohse. Truth is, I would take a flier on anyone. Pitching in Shea, despite Minnesota being a pitchers park, is often a fresh beginning for pitchers.

Yes, Heilman went 3 innings, which is 3 short of 6. But remember this, His 93-94 mph fastball could easily slip a few ticks if he is throwing 100 pitches. That is a huge difference for a guy that relies on a fastball/changeup.

Can't say enough about Billy Wagner. His adrenaline must have been at an all time high. We needed him to dominate.

Now we have Glavine and Pedro going these next two games. Could be sweet. As I said before, for any momentum to truly transfer in this city the Mets need to sweep the Yankees this year. Otherwise, this will remain the Yankees' town.

Great Win.

SM

Not The Same

(Note: Double the content for you today. First up, a piece by Sippy Momo about the Mets-Yankees series that begins tonight. The second, by A.F.O.M.G., is a piece pleading for Jose Lima to be replaced by Aaron Heilman in the starting rotation. Enjoy.)

I remember the night the Mets clinched a trip to the World Series. I couldn't sleep that entire night, I was so excited. And I remember the following day when the Yankees beat the Mariners, clinching a Subway Series. I still couldn't sleep.

I spent the next 24 hours writing e-mails to a giant chain of Mets fans. Anyone I knew who was connected to the Mets was involved.

I remember writing my Jerry Maguire mission statement. It was somethiing like 7 pages of why if there was a god, the Mets would win the World Series. Unfortunately AOL couldn't save this piece and my attempt at duplicating it fell short.


But I was truly convinced.

I had seen so many movies where the underdog beat the giant and everything was just right. It all made too much sense.

So when I watched the Monster's fly ball float into the glove of Bernie Williams from the third highest row at Shea, I kind of lost faith in a lot of things.

It just felt like the wrong thing happened. Like when Kelly 'chose me.' I just felt empty.


Since then I've been to a ton of Mets-Yankees games. Going back to before the actual Subway Series, I caught the first ever Mets-Yankees game with the real Momo and big Jour when Dave Mlicki threw the one good start of his Mets career.

I was there for 2 of the 3 games of the 4th of July sweep a couple of years back.

But since 2000, it hasn't been the same. I don't remember what year this series switched from 3 games to 6, but the year baseball made that switch, for clear financial reasons, I feel like this series changed a little bit.

I think this subway series has been worn out.

There is only one thing that can be done to change how I feel about this. And what we need is not going to happen.

We would need to win 6 games from this team.

Anything short and the Bankee fans can resort to 2000 and I will grow sick inside. I will want to fight people, and I do not like to fight.

So it all starts tonight, Big Unit vs....uh oh. Jeremi Gonzalez.

Honest truth, this is the best matchup we will have all weekend.

For the same reason that I felt like the Mets should win the 2000 World Series, I believe that there is something so fundamentally wrong with Randy Johnson in pinstripes.


This guy being a Yankee is the one thing that truly embodies what makes baseball an imperfect game.

This guy, forcing a trade to the Yanks, over all things, is what took the sail out of my wings. It put me over the top. Baseball was a business of sad players as opposed to a game of Wannabe Heroes.

So Gonzalez vs. The Unit.

The journeyman vs. the biggest sellout/coward in the game. Not even Yankee fans can root for this guy.

So take it down Jeremi.

I can proudly say that after 1 start, Jeremi Gonzalez is more of a Met than Randy Johnson will ever be a Yankee.

Let's get one tonight.

NEW METS!!!

VCD,

SM

And remember, if you get bored, the FMC is playing Point Break not once, not twice, but three times in a row tonight, so enjoy.

I've Seen Enough; RIP Get Up Kids

In college I covered the men's soccer team for 4 years. We had one of the best men's soccer programs in the country; I was used to covering a winner.

But naturally, every now and then the team would stumble. Our winning percentage in those years must have been over .800, but when we lost I wouldn't sugarcoat it in the newspaper or in the articles I wrote for our Sports Information service. If the team played like shit, I let the audience know.

That said, I had a policy of reserving my harsher critiques for losses that came at home, losses I had actually seen. You can learn a lot from reading box scores and gathering quotes from the head coach, but you just can't muster the authority to really rip the team when it suffered a loss you didn't see first-hand.

I mention this all because I haven't seen a single start of Jose Lima's. I DVR'ed the first one, a Sunday game against the Braves, but didn't watch because the Mets got blown out and I didn't want to spoil a good weekend.

The second was a Friday night game against the Brewers which I didn't DVR because I wasn't going to be able to watch it on account of my brother's graduation from law school.

And then the third was yesterday, which I experienced through Gamecast but did not see a moment of.

So I haven't seen Lima Time pitch. But I do know this: something is seriously, seriously wrong when you can allow 4 earned runs in 4.2 innings and see your ERA go down.

Something is seriously, seriously wrong when your ERA goes down and it's still at 8.79.

Something is seriously, seriously wrong when a starter fails to go more than 5 innings in any start.

Something is seriously, seriously wrong when a pitcher has 1.81 WHIP and a .305 batting average against.

So I'm breaking with the deal I struck between myself and the team I covered in college: Jose Lima should not, given the current circumstances, get another start with the Mets. I haven't seen him pitch, but I've seen the box scores and I've seen enough.

So send him back to Norfolk. If he goes on some sort of Drysdale streak of scoreless innings, we'll talk. Until then, he has no business being on a major league team with pennant aspirations, he's proven an automatic loss.

The worst news of the day yesterday wasn't that Lima Time lost again, however, it was that Brian Bannister made it through 5 pitches before being sidelined due to pain in his injured hammy.

So you can cross Bannister off the savior list, and now that means the best option is Aaron Heilman. The only other viable options to take over the starting job are Alay Soler and Mike Pelfrey, both of whom could use more seasoning as far as I can tell.

Readers of this site know that I don't consider Heilman a sure thing as a starter. The numbers he's put up in his career are simply not good.

People point to his 1-hitter against the Marlins as proof of his potential. I don't want to discredit his potential, but Glendon Rusch also threw a 1-hitter once upon a time.

Steve Trachsel won consecutive 1-0 ballgames against Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez to become the first American League pitcher in 24 years to accomplish the feat.

I'm not saying none of that is important, nor am I saying that Heilman doesn't have a higher ceiling than either Tr