Friday, September 01, 2006

Ollie's Folly

I had noted that I wouldn't be scared of this Rockies team unless John Elway grabbed a bat and emerged from the dugout. Well, I had the wrong quarterback in mind...because playing the part of Richard Todd tonight was Oliver Perez. No humidor in the world is going to help this guy right now as he battles so hard to find the strike zone that his pitches had no zip tonight. The proof? Twelve hits in three plus innings enough proof?

But what's the use in blasting this poor kid trying to make the transition from Mitch Williams to Greg Maddux? I'm certainly not going to blame him. And I can't even blame Willie Randolph for giving him an at bat in the top of the fourth after the Rockies had more hits than the Jackson Five. Heck, it was entertaining to watch Ollie swing for the fences and tie the game up in the fourth (although Randolph did announce after the game that Perez swung so hard, he aggravated Jose Valentin's hamstring.) You have to understand how hard it is to place blame on someone when your team is up by fifteen and a half games. Three games lead? You can get on Randolph. Fifteen and 1/2? No.

But you know who I do blame?

Victor Diaz.

Because if Victor Diaz hadn't sulked so much to the point of being a waste of space at the triple A level, then perhaps he could have been the right handed bat off the bench that the Mets needed and given them a power option against the portly Ray King. Instead, he's in Texas butchering fly balls for the Rangers while actually believing that he's a miniature sized version of Manny Ramirez...when in actuality, he's a supersized version of Manny Alexander.

Besides, it's easy to blame Victor Diaz...because he's not here to defend himself. And I could use an easy target right about now.

So it's on to Houston for the weekend as the magic number drops to fifteen after Marlon Anderson's winning run on a wild pitch handed the Phillies a loss (and what reward does Marlon get for his troubles? Show him what he's won: Why, it's a trade to the Dodgers!) Without having to face Andy Pettitte or his personal relationship with God, the Mets have a chance to end or severely damage the wild card hopes of FOX Sports' alternate darlings, the Houston Astros...hereby putting to bed this ridiculous talk of the Astros being the team nobody wants to face in the playoffs, and preventing the sure fire endless discussion of whether this will be Roger the Unconvicted Felon's final year. And when you think about the possibility of the Mets knocking Roger and his light hitting friends away from playoff contention, it makes you realize just how good a season this has been. I mean, let's put this in perspective:

The Mets are going to the playoffs.

And they still get to play spoiler.

It's like having your beer and drinking it too. The beers at Cooter's are on me.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you please explain the Andy Pettite and relationship with God reference.

Anonymous said...

the posts keep getting better on the road to october!!

The fortunes of the Mets & Metstra are inexorably linked.

Anonymous said...

Gonna be at the game on Saturday. Will be my first time in Minute Maid Enron Field.

I hope we can be part of not having to see the Astros in the playoffs again this year. I'd like to see the sad little faces all the way from Houston to Austin on my way home.

Anonymous said...

whoa! was that magic number: 15 sign at the braves giants game last night in turner field????

If seo, then AWESOME

Anonymous said...

Andy Petite is holier than you becuase he talks to God and amazingly they both agree on every issue!

God even told him to horde millions of dollars and live in a mansion while millions of americans sleep in the street!

Thank you SAINT ANDY for being such a great example of piety!

Anonymous said...

Wow. I had that exact thought about the "spoiler" stuff during last night's game. Stop copying my thoughts.

I'm just kidding. Never stop copying my thoughts. In fact, if I could choose someone to copy my thoughts, it would be you, MD. It would be you.

Ed in Westchester said...

adoniram - Minute Maid is a very nice park. I went a few years ago (I was in Houston on a business trip). I like the seats (good views, then again, I was about 10 rows behind Home Plate), and the restaraunt in right field was good.
The place is real sharp, except for that stupid flagpole in center.

Anonymous said...

Dude; that looks like Braden Looper....lol Nice job

Metstradamus said...

Anonymous number one: Andy Pettitte did commercials for some religious entity (I'm not sure which), where he starts off by saying "Hi, I'm Andy Pettitte. I'd like to tell you about my personal relationship with God."

Patona, don't feel bad. I got a Nady 22 shirt at that very same 75% discount. And Nady is a name less common.

Anonymous number two: not from last night's game. Just a lame attempt at photoshop.

Metstradamus said...

Anonymous number three:

That's actually John Elway.

Anonymous said...

Can someone please make Keith Hernandez delete the words "level swing" from his vocabulary?

michael