Friday
As I mentioned in my previous post, I took a subway ride back home for the weekend for a couple of reasons. One reason I didn't mention was that it makes sense to go back to Queens when I need to get my nails done every other weekend because it costs half as much as it would in Manhattan. My mother may have her qualms with the fashion statement I chose to make, but how could I pick any other colors this October?
(Hey, the last time the Mets were in the playoffs, I still had braces on my teeth and sported blue and orange rubber bands. There are certain times when wearing a cap and shirt with the Mets logo just isn't enough.)
It's always fun to be able to watch a game on my brother's flat-screen TV, but sometimes it might be more fun if I didn't have to watch with my sibling. Lil' Bro tends to be a pessimist, and he has the annoying habit of picking out one player on the opposing team to hate, usually because of that guy's pesky Met-killer tendencies. This weekend, Nationals outfielder Ryan Church was the object of his wrath, thanks to Church's robbery catches and home run on Friday night. The fact that the Mets came back to win in spite of this didn't stop my brother from grumbling and ranting for the remainder of the weekend every time Church came to bat or handled a ball in the field.
Saturday
I knew I wouldn't be able to watch or listen to Saturday's game once my father agreed to go out for dinner to celebrate his upcoming birthday, sufficiently convinced we did not have another surprise party up our sleeves. (Highly Abridged Background Info: My family has thrown 2 surprise parties for my father, the first when he turned 40, the second last year for his 49th birthday. At last year's party, he broke his ankle in 2 places. Dad tends to be highly cynical, suspicious of everyone and everything, and was also afraid that he would look foolish if his family managed to pull off another surprise party on him.) Before we went out to dinner, we gathered around to watch the Phillies-Marlins game on FOX, hoping for a Phillies loss that would close the door on their miniscule playoff hopes, groaning as what looked like a Dan Uggla walk-off landed in Shane Victorino's glove thanks to that weird triangle that makes up the deepest part of Dolphins Stadium. Once at the restaurant, I couldn't help but check the score on my cell phone and smile as the bats kept pouring it on and Glavine put up zero after zero even though the Mets had given him the lead. I then took a peek at the top news stories on MLB.com, only to immediately wish I hadn't. Losing an injured, ineffective Pedro for the playoffs is one thing, but finding out the extent of his injuries is far greater than previously thought and that he won't be back until halfway through next season if he comes back at all is another. Signing Zito went from something I wasn't sure I wanted the Mets to do to something they probably have to do. One of the greatest pitchers of all time may never take the mound again. Even if I hadn't indulged in beverages of the fermented-grape variety, I still would have felt a bit queasy upon reading that.
Sunday
It seems like just yesterday that I came home from class on Opening Day and flipped on the radio to hear Paul LoDuca tagging out Alfonso Soriano at home plate, and now the Mets and Nationals were getting ready to play the final game of the regular season. Before the game began, there was a beautiful ceremony in honor of Frank Robinson's final game as the Washington manager, celebrating his many accomplishments as both a Hall Of Fame player and barrier-breaking manager. During the game, which looked and felt like a spring-training game, one last tune-up for the Mets before the playoffs, one last chance for fans of the Nationals to cheer for Alfonso Soriano as he left the field, Gary and Keith and Ron took the time to thank various people involved with the successful first season of SNY. Watching the last few innings, as regulars were removed and the pieces of the post-season puzzle were assembled with each final score, felt very much like sticking around after the end of a movie to watch the credits, wondering if there would be some special onscreen treat to reward those who stuck around. When the credits actually did roll after the final out, amidst a medley of great Mets moments from the past 6 months, I remembered that there's another movie, one that starts in a couple of days. I hope this is one sequel that's better than the original.
Observations/Odds & Ends:
- Serious clubhouse problem, hazing ritual misunderstood by the media, or minor event being blown out of proportion because controversy magnet Lastings Milledge is involved? You decide. (I'm leaning towards #3.)
- Remember the Jason Grimsley affidavit? Some of the blacked-out names have been revealed, and they're not particularly surprising.
- Remember all of the arguments on Baseball Tonight over the past couple of weeks about whether or not the Twins should have Johan Santana start the final game of the season if they had a chance to win the division? The debate over whether home-field advantage was more beneficial than having the best pitcher in baseball on the mound for games 1 and 5? What will Jeff Brantley and John Kruk bellow about now since the Twins won the division on the final day of the season without using Santana?
- As I was typing this post, I got the answer to that question during the big special season wrap-up of BBTN. I think I may have lost valuable brain cells as those two attempted to shout down Steve Phillips's case for Justin Morneau as AL MVP. According to the dynamic duo, "JUSTIN MORNEAU IS NOT A CLUTCH HITTER!!!!!!!!!" and his big numbers in his team's victories must mean he was a bad player in the games they lost, and they lost more games than the Yankees did, so the same argument can't be applied to Derek Jeter. If that segment finds its way on to YouTube, it's a must-watch just to marvel at the sheer stupidity and immaturity on display (Kruk was literally screaming at the rest of the panel).
- It's not going to get much attention since the team in question won 95 games and made the playoffs, but the Tigers put on a pretty impressive choke act down the stretch. They had a double-digit lead in their division in August and squandered it. They got swept at home by the Royals in the final series of the season when winning just 1 of those 3 games would have been enough to take the division title. They led the final game by 6-0 at one point and wound up losing in extra innings (Kenny Rogers came on in relief and walked in a run. I'd crack a joke, but the punchline would hurt too much.)
The playoffs begin for the Mets at 4 PM on Wednesday. I'll be at Shea for Game 1, and I can't wait.
3 comments:
Jessica,
Nice nails. Everyone will have to do the same now. :)
Lastings Milledge. Overblown. I still think that he is going to be a good player. It is funny how everyone is willing to dismiss him after 150 or so ABs.
I have been bothering all of my friends for years about my belief that Clemens has been on steroids. Tejada and Roberts. Hey, didn't Palmeiro finger them too.
On BBTN, I find the show unwatchable because 1)Kruk and Brantley are just truly morons and 2) Gammons and Co. feel it so necessary to defend Clemens while they are so willing to trash Bonds. They spent their comments discrediting Grimsley instead of commenting on the possibilities. Also, Gammons suggested that Grimsley needs to speak publicly now. Apparently, Peter is unaware of how grand jury testimony works. Grimsley did not leak this, and he has no legal responsibility beyond the testimony that he has given. I also miss Harold Reyonolds. I do not know what he did to get fired, but unless it involved a dead girl or a live boy, he should have been retained. Vernon Wells was interesting tho.
And haven't I been preaching for weeks about Zito? Welcome to the dark side. I would also go after Daisuke Matsuzaka. A rotation of Zito, Matsuzaka, Glavine, Heilman, and Maine would be strong and getting younger. I would leave Pelfrey in AAA to develop the breaking pitch and Humber to just get innings. By the way, I also think that Glavine's option just went up in price because it is clear that we need him.
Jeter is a massively overrated fielder who is having a nice season with great protection in the lineup. Mauer and Morneau carried the Twins with Santana. Their achievements are so much more noteworthy. And Hafner is a damn good hitter. I would place Jeter 4th in a vote.
You know, in a 5 game series, the Tigers will get to throw Robertson and Verlander 4 times. They did not finish hot, but I would not write them off either.
I also have more comments on the balanced sked but I will do that later in a shorter comment.
Cheers. I hope to be at Game 2!
I know what you mean about the BBTN idiots. I thought that everything that came out of Jeff Brantley's mouth was truly stupid...with the one notable exception of him predicting the Mets to defeat the Yankees in the World Series.
Smart man. :)
Lastings Milledge. Overblown. I still think that he is going to be a good player. It is funny how everyone is willing to dismiss him after 150 or so ABs.
Agreed. Sometimes it seems like a million years ago that Mets fans were so excited to see the team's top prospect play in the big leagues for the first time, and it makes me sad to see how fast some have turned on him.
I was surprised that Roberts hadn't come under more suspicion prior to this given his significant power spike last year.
The difference in the way the Bonds and Clemens allegations were treated on BBTN rubs me the wrong way as well. Let's just say that for as much as Jose Canseco is an attention-seeking fuckup, there are a couple of things in that book he wrote that are a lot truer than they should be in this day and age.
BBTN went downhill in a big way when Reynolds was fired - to me, he was the anchor of that show. He always came across as easygoing and comfortable with being on camera (unlike, say, Tino Martinez and Orestes Destrade), and he wasn't prone to wild outbursts a la Kruk and Brantley. I've heard that Brantley won't be back next year because he took a job as an announcer for the Reds, so at least one of the worst ones will be gone.
I guess I am on the dark side now, and I agree that Glavine just became more expensive for next year because the Mets will really need him. Matsuzaka is an intriguing option, although the high fee a team will have to pay just to negotiate with him could make him prohibitively expensive. I do think the Mets need to improve their scouting operations in Japan - there have been quite a few Japanese players who have made a nice impact in the big leagues, but the ones the Mets sign tend to be spare parts at bets, vortexes of suck at worst.
I get the feeling that the big 3 in Minnesota will split votes, resulting in Jeter taking the MVP. Blech.
I'm not writing off Robertson and Verlander entirely, but Verlander has already pitched 186 innings this year (33 more than he pitched in '05) at the age of 23 and has looked like a victim of rookie fatigue in his last few starts. Robertson's not a bad pitcher by any means, but Bonderman is better and would be pitching at most 1 out of the 5 games.
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