You Like Me...You Really Really Like Me

It started just as any other day started in prophet-ville. Wake up, feed the cat, log on the computer and check to see the pounding my fantasy baseball team is taking despite having Mark Texeira, Adam Dunn, and Jake Peavy on it. Oh yeah, and make sure there's no comments on this blog that hawk "chinese cooking" blogs and stock option related stuff.

Imagine my surprise as I hear from Matt over at Metsblog...the premier Mets blog. And that's when I visit his site and discover the news:

I won an award.

Me?

Wait wait wait...back up. I was named as Matt's favorite Mets related blog besides his own...with the powerhouse Mets blogs out there? Me?

Did Jack Palance read my name by mistake?

Nope, it's true. I still can't believe it. I started this here blog because I was causing e-mail boxes to be flooded and arguments started over spelling errors. So, I figured I'd streamline the rants and have my very own website. Now, my friends don't have to call me anymore to yell about the Mets...they can yell at me on the website.

So what started to happen was, the audience got wider, people started to notice, and now I have an award.

So many people to thank.

First and foremost, thanks to the academy (Matt) for the award. As I've said, there are so many great Mets blogs out there, and not a day goes by when I don't read something on one of them and think "damn, I should have thought of that." And I know I've caught on to something when the site counter goes up by 500 in 10 minutes which means that Matt linked to me. And some of those folks even stuck around and became regulars. For that I am greatful, because it tells me that I'm not chasing windmills by staying up typing until 3:30 in the morning (only 12:30 in Vegas). So thanks to you.

(sniff sniff...I promised Mess I wouldn't do this...)

Thanks to those who visit regularly. Erik Love, and Kyle from Virginia, Joe and jdon, and all of the anonymouses out there. If I forgot you, it's because I'm old.

A special thank you to the bloggers out there who have visited and shown their love. Andrew from Chuck and Duck, Mark Simon from Mets Walkoffs, Greg and Jason from Faith and Fear in Flushing, Dave Murray from Mets Guy in Michigan, Michael Oliver from The Metropolitans, Jaap Still from Archie Bunker's Army, Gail from Mets Fan, the boys at Misery Loves Company, Mr. Know it All at It's Mets for Me, Shari from 7 Train, Vinny at No Joy in Metsville, the Mets Analyst, and all the rest over on the right hand side...home team and visitors. I stand in reverence of all of you and I will always consider myself the new kid on the block. I'm truly not worthy.

Thanks to the Dodger Blues website...the undisputed king of acerbic wit, for inspiration. I am a mere imposter.

Thanks to my wife, who doesn't complain when I crawl into bed at 4 in the morning.

Thank you to Art Howe. Your ineptitude and inability to manage a game spurred me to start this blog. Thank you.

(piano starts playing, cueing me to wrap this up...)

Thanks to Doug Mientkiewicz for all the quotes...

Thanks to Nostradamus, for not coming back from the dead to sue for copyright infringment on the name.

Thank you Omar for the transcripts.

And thank you to Warren Beatty. Thank you so much for being my mentor and believing in me. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

***

Was there a game tonight?

Oh yeah, there was. And guess what? After an 11-0 win, the Mets have 81 wins! You know what that means. Personally, my magic number is 83...which is the mininum number of victories that I predicted for them this season. 83-87 is what I thought was reasonable and attainable for this team after all of the changes. With three more against the Rockies at Shea, that number is more than attainable.

If you want to cheer for .500, cheer for Tom Glavine going .500 on the season (13-13) after starting out with an ERA which hovered around 7, and this genius proclaiming he was done. And cheer for the Rockies who are obviously anxious to get the season over with...9 strikeouts swinging against Tom Glavine? Now, it doesn't seem so bad that Glavine's option kicked in and that he's going to be a Met next year.

Of course, another 1-4 start and he'll be done again. And I'll probably be the first fool to write it.

***

If you want to complain about the Padres winning their division while perhaps finishing under .500, you have every right to. It's tough to take when the Mets, who will finish in the bottom three of their division, may wind up with a better record than a team that is going to the playoffs. But it also would mean that the records in the East would have been inflated by pounding on the teams in the West, no?

But consider this...the Mets did their job against the West going 18-11 against them so far on the year. In fact, the Braves have only gone 13-17 against the West. The Mets have a better record against teams in the East and West divisions of the N.L. (56-47) than the Braves do (55-47). You want to point to something which killed the Mets this season? The N.L. Central. The Braves pounded that division, going 28-14, including 6-1 vs. the Cubs, 7-3 vs. the Reds, and 5-1 vs. the Astros. The Mets meanwhile, have a 20-21 record against the Central which includes 4-2 against the Cubs, 3-3 against the Reds, and 5-5 against Houston.

Which begs the question: How the hell did the Braves get four extra games against Cincinnati while the Mets got four extra games against Houston? I guess the schedule maker was too worried about which holidays and important dates to schedule Yankee/Red Sox games for to worry about being fair.

***

"You don't win 96 games by accident...you don't win 96 games by luck...you win 96 games because dammit, you're a good team."--White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson after the Sox clinched the A.L. Central division.

Or was that Stuart Smalley?

My guess is, if you have to have a daily affirmation to justify your team getting in the playoffs after turning a 15 game lead into a 1.5 game lead, them most likely you're out in the first round.

But damn, that's pretty rip roaring funny!

***

This isn't funny.

The Red Sox traded two warm bodies for Mike Stanton, who can only pitch for them through the next three games. (Can Tony Clark back in a Yankee uniform be far behind?) Boy, the Red Sox are making it extremely tough for a Met fan and a Yankee hater to root for them. So the question is: do I update postseason scoring system, since Mike Stanton will not pitch in the playoffs? Or do I take into account that he's a member of the organization? Here would be the updated totals:

San Diego Padres: -2
Los Angeles Angels: -3
Philadelphia Phillies: -3
St. Louis Cardinals: -3
Cleveland Indians: -4
Chicago White Sox: -4
Houston Astros: -6
Boston Red Sox: -8
New York Yankees: -41
Atlanta Braves: -45

Don't forget: Stanton is a former Yankee, a former Brave, and a member of the hall of hate...a charter member. The only way he could be a more abominable human being is if he threw sea otters off the Empire State Building.

I don't think Stanton would do that.

I do, however, think he would sautee them in relish and bake them with potatoes before eating a whole one in a sitting.

Fat bastard.