Not So Amazing

Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins points skyward after hitting a triple in the first inning of a baseball game with the Washington Nationals, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 6-1 taking the Eastern Division Championship.(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Well, the greatest collapse in regular season history now belongs to the Mets. The game was over in the top of the first, as Glavine only recorded one out and gave up a whopping 7 earned runs. If not for a wild pitch by Dontrelle Willis, the Mets would've been shut out.

There will be some riveting radio tonight (and for months to come, I expect) about what went wrong with the Mets, whose fault this is and what should be done for next year. There'll be a lot of talk about firing Willie Randolph. This collapse isn't his fault. If you have a bullpen that can't hold a 5-run lead, what are you supposed to do? Every single pitcher in that pen went south in September. No one could be trusted.

If you have starting pitchers and position players in their 40's, how much can you expect from them? This is not unlike what the Yankees went through, but they had young arms in the minors that were able to rescue the club. This looks more like a GM issue, but even there it's not clear how much Omar Minaya could do, especially mid-season when it was clear that they needed pitching help, but so did every other team.

As for the one-game tie-breaker tomorrow for the NL Wildcard, I'm picking the Rockies. They are tough at Coors Field (they swept both the Mets and Yankees there in June/July) and they're a better offensive team than the Padres.

Man Up!

Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez (L), New York Mets Jose Reyes (2nd L), third base coach Sandy Alomar, Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera, Dan Uggla (2nd R) and Miguel Olivo (R) scuffle on the field in the fifth inning of their MLB National League baseball game at Shea Stadium in New York September 29, 2007. (Jeff Zelevansky/Reuters)

It took a near no-hitter to do it, (and two brawls) but the Mets managed to live another day as they blanked the Marlins and the Phillies fell to the pesky Nats.

I smell a tie-breaker on Monday. I hope it goes down to that. Hell, I'm hoping for a four-way tie so there's a double elimination scenario -- Met vs. Phillies and Rockies vs. Padres on Monday with the loser of Mets/Philles playing the winner of Roclies/Padres on Tuesday.

I'd like the Phillies to take the East and the Mets to win the Wildcard to set up a HUGE seven game NLCS if they both get past the first round.

BTW, seemingly forgotten in the Mets 13-0 blowout of the Marlins was the fact that in the 3rd inning before Milledge's second homer, Jose Reyes stood at the plate and watched a pop up, failed to run to first, and was called out. With their fucking season on the line! What's in his head? It was only the third inning and the Marlins have already showed in the last ten days that they're perfectly capable of putting a ten-spot on the board.

Unbelievable!

Have we settled the "who's the best shortstop in New York" question yet? Jeter would pull that shit. Hell, what about who's the best shortstop in the NL question, for that matter? Jimmy Rollins wouldn't have done that. They booed Reyes' ass the next time up, and rightly so. In the instant poll the broadcasters set up, 80% of the viewers said Randolph should've benched him. That wasn't going to happen, of course.

Meet The Mess

New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca hangs his head in the dugout after after the Mets lost 3-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, at Shea Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Ed Betz)

The Mets (87-72) were ahead by seven games with 17 remaining but have lost 10 of 14 overall and seven straight at home. No major league team has failed to finish first after having at least a seven-game lead with 17 to play.

Whoa! Shit is hitting the fan in Queens.

I can't believe this team is underachieving like this. Actually, the Mets are not unlike the Yankees, but unfortunately for them, they've chosen to bite the big one at the end of the season, not at the beginning.

Metstradamus, who writes a very entertaining Mets blog has been chronicling the agony:

Hope? Not for me. We're done. I'll pray I'm proven wrong. It will be futile. Any team that lets a first inning error by their second baseman, and a journeyman pitcher who was picked up off the scrap heap by a team that's out of the money dictate their night is exhibiting the classic signs of a team that is playing nervous, scared, whatever you want to call it. I'll go so far to say that if you used the C-word in this instance, you wouldn't be wrong. And any fan base that sings the "Jose Jose Jose" like it was a funeral march knows exactly what's going on.

Read more...

Unlike him, I think they'll be fine. It'll probably come down to a one-game tie-breaker on Monday, but they'll be fine.

On another note, I have to say I'm very impressed with the Phillies. Such heart! And the Rockies have won 11 in a row. How. HOW??

Sweet

New York Yankees' Joba Chamberlain, right, and Alex Rodriguez celebrate after the team clinched a playoff berth with a 12-4 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

What a crazy season! I freely admit that I did not think I'd be posting the above picture when we were 14.5 games out on May 29. That's about the time that I stopped doing my podcast. However, I should know by now that you can never count out the "evil empire."

This picture, however, is pushing it:

Link swiped from Can't Stop the Bleeding.

Funny Clemens Commercial

Fall 2007 TV Season

OMG, I can hardly find time to post on this blog any more! :(

Anyway, the new Fall TV season is here, and there are a few shows to catch up on. I spent the weekend watching most of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. I have about four episodes left.

Man, did that season suck. I stopped watching in November and I didn't miss much. More on that later.

I see that they're remaking the Bionic Woman. I have a bad feeling about that show (that it will be sleazy), but I will watch the pilot.

As for Heroes, I hated the season finale, but I will continue watching just to see if it gets better.

There's a new vampire show, I think on CBS. How can that NOT be terrible?

Looks like a wasteland for fantasy and sci-fi TV this season...