Vindication Has Its Price

Welcome back to MLB Network, I'm Bob Costas with our continuing coverage of the Mark McGwire steroid admission. We sit down now with the man who gave up McGwire's record breaking 62nd home run in 1998. Steve Trachsel, welcome.

Thanks, Bob.

So you have to be vindicated now that Mark McGwire has admitted that he cheated.

Gee, he cheated? Never would have guessed it.

Well you don't have to be so sarcastic about it.

You wanna take about the past, Bob? Let's talk about the past. Mark f^$*#ing McGwire hit .375 off me ... six for sixteen with three home runs. All tainted.

I'm aware ...

Yeah, well are you aware that he hit an historic life changing home run off me? Of course you are. Everyone is! And every time that s**t goes on television there's my sorry butt throwing that pitch. And you know what? It wasn't a bad pitch. By his ankles. And that Frankenstein hits it out. And the whole country is like "Aaaah we love you Mark" and all that crap and there I am on the mound for a half hour watching that freak do hand gestures with Sammy Sosa, and he didn't even like Sosa.

But Steve ...

I was on commemorative posters. And coffee mugs. And my name was on plaques that were sold for sixty-two bucks. Ha-ha, really f***ing funny! Except that my lame ass is captured for all eternity on plaques and mugs and posters and Sports Illustrated ... forever! And now you're going to tell me that it was steroids that did it? Well shiver me f***ing timbers, Batman! He cheated. I'm vindicated. Big deal!!!

Well doesn't that make you feel good?

Yeah, except now my family has to watch that home run two hundred and forty six more times in the next week. There I am standing on the mound all over again. Yaaaaaaaaay Trachsel!!! Whoop de damn do! You know what, screw McGwire ... I'm sorry I played in the steroid era!!!

Then how do you explain Brad Ausmus' .476 lifetime average and 1.402 OPS against you?

It was the era. Send Ausmus to congress too.

Or Delino DeShields' .408 lifetime average against you?

Roids. All roids.

Roids? He was 170 pounds!

Greenies?

Or what about Jeff Suppan's home run in Game 3 of ...

Y'know Bob?

Yes?

I'm not here to talk about the past.

Losing My Religion

With an 0-2 record and a 12.91 ERA, where would one go for help? Most pitchers find a pitching coach. Jeff Suppan, fittingly, seeks out a Cardinal and a Brewer fan in Mets clothing. It worked as heaven's apparent favorite son defeated purgatory's official team 4-2 on Sunday.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Then, God flipped his remote long enough to find that Todd Coffey was doing most of the work with a 2 2/3 inning save, prompting the masses to wonder where all the specialization has come from, and curse Tony La Russa under his breath.

Blueprint

Seeing Livan Hernandez and Dave Bush go at it Friday night was like watching slow pitch softball with their 60 mph dipsy doos and their fastballs that would make Reid Cornelius laugh. Saturday was fast pitch. And then faster pitch, as Johan Santana and Yovani Gallardo matched each other pitch for pitch, K for K.

The difference today, as was the difference last season, as the Mets hope will be the difference in a different way this season, was the bullpen, as Putz and Frankie out-foxed Carlos Villanueva out of the bullpen, albeit barely as the Mets scored their only run on a walk, and error, and a fielders choice. Put it all together, you have the first 1-0 Mets win since Paul LoDuca had to be convinced that Wyoming wasn't a country.

The blueprint for Mets success so far, at least when Santana on the mound, is working. When Johan starts, he gets the game to the brand new bullpen and the machine hums like a Harley. When anyone else starts, the vehicle is more like a Wild Wacky Action Bike. (Almost impossible to steer, and on certain nights when David Wright drinks a little too much Vitamin Water, glows in the dark.)

Now, the Mets have their foots on the necks of the Brewers, poised to sweep. It was frequently an issue for the Willie Randolph Mets to put the clamps down on a sweep game. Maybe now that the Mets are against Willie they'll put the hammer down, especially going against a pitcher who's 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA. However, that pitcher's name is Jeff Suppan, so maybe he's just saving the most gratifying win of his career for Sunday.

Beginnings of What, Exactly?

They played the wrong Chicago song.

When Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza reprised their first pitch from Shea Stadium's last pitch tonight at the brand new Citi Field, "Beginnings" was blaring over the sound system. In the reality we know as Mets baseball, "Old Days" would have been a better choice for this 6-5 historical blemish. Too many eerie reminders of the old days.

First off ... a cat? Come on. Waaaaaaaaaaay too convenient. Waaaaaaaaaaay too coincidental. You tell me that that by chance there was a cat roaming the field to open up the new stadium on Opening Night when one of the signature moments of Shea Stadium involved a cat? Yeah, I'm sure some cats made the trip ... but Opening Night? Please. If there weren't so many flight restrictions in New York there would have been a parachutist in the second inning. Somebody set that up.

Then, let's return to older days like ... last season, as in Jody Gerut becoming the first player ever ... ever ... to open a new stadium with a home run, a stadium that's supposed to be impossible to hit a home run in, or at least Gerut-proof just as Shea was supposedly "Gerut-proof" last season. Somehow, that wasn't a coincidence either.

Or, let's go back in time to ... yesterday, as in another outfielder having a ball go right off his glove and helping to bring in the winning run which, if it wasn't balked home, it would have been driven home by David Eckstein. You remember Eckstein from 2006 when he was being a general pain in the ass during the NLCS, never to be seen or heard from again until the next momentous moment in Mets history, the opening of a new park. Of course Eckstein would be around to screw that up by driving in two runs with three hits. What, the Padres couldn't trade for Yadier Molina and Jeff Suppan?

No, they decided instead to get two former Mets to close out this game for the Padres. Filthy Sanchez and Heath Bell. Six up, six down. First game ever at Citi Field, and it's closed out by Sanchez and Bell ... from the old days. Heath not only was dreaming about this moment, but he got it to come to fruition with a 1-2-3 ninth. Awesome. Just awesome.

And I'll state the obvious: if this is what we are to expect from Mike Pelfrey over the coming weeks, then Citi Field is going to turn into the House of Angst for a New Millennium. Oliver Perez goes on Wednesday for the Mets. Maybe the appropriate Chicago song will reflect the final score ... as in 25 or 6 to 4. And we'll have endings before the beginnings actually begin.

Fitness Protection Program

Rumor has it that after Sunday's 9-7 Brewer victory over the Mets, Gabe Kapler, a one-time fitness magazine cover boy and a minor league manager at this time last year, snuck into the Citi Field construction site and buried one of his pectoral muscles underneath one of the concrete pillars, further cursing the Mets beyond what he did today, which was homer, double twice, and knock home three runs.

As if the Mets need any more curses, between scoring six runs off of Jeff Suppan when they could have used those runs the last time Suppan faced Oliver Perez in Shea Stadium ... and still not being able to take advantage of it.

Speaking of Perez, how is Willie Randolph feeling right now? He blasted Perez for throwing five and two thirds shutout innings after his last start, so I have a feeling that right about now Perez is being sent to bed without dinner and playtime, and has lost his internet privileges for a week. In fairness, as ridiculous as it sounds to blast Ollie for throwing shutout ball (and it is), Perez is past the point where we give him a cookie and a pat on the back for not walking 79 batters (he had three today), no matter what else he did. Perez is past the point of being a reclamation project ... he's a viable major league pitcher now. So blowing a 6-2 lead and getting hit hard is no longer acceptable.

"Bad Ollie ... bad! Go to your room!"

Maybe Willie Randolph will bury Ollie Perez's toys underneath Citi Field's bullpen, just to teach him a lesson.

And then there were those pesky five double plays in a row, including the last one in the eighth when a certain fan favorite was on the mound struggling and refused to throw the ball over the plate, including the ball that Carlos Delgado popped up with two outs and the bases loaded, prompting Guillermo Mota to pump his fist as if it was, oh I don't know ... Game Two of the NLCS?

Perhaps Mota can bury his leftover HGH underneath the Citi Field mound. That oughta seal the Mets fate for decades to come.

Setting Pace

Surely you heard the news today that iPods can disturb the rhythm of your pacemaker.

I wonder if there's scientific proof that watching Aaron Heilman pitch can do the same?

Heilman made a 5-2 game into a 5-4 game with one swing of the bat, but settled down in time to hand the ball to Country Time Billy Wagner for a six pitch save in a one run victory over Jeff Suppan and the Brewers.

Aah, Jeff Suppan. The Mets scored four runs off of him in the fourth inning, and of course the inevitable question popped in: "Where was this in Game 7?" But at least Suppan is having a somewhat decent season. You know what really depresses me? It depresses me that Jeff Flippin' Weaver, who basically shut the Mets down in Games 1 and 5 in last season's NLCS, is 0-6 with a 14.32 ERA. Do you know how bad that is? His last start for Seattle saw him give up six runs in five innings...and his ERA went down! Now, Weaver is now on the disabled list for Seattle, and is a candidate to be either sent to the bullpen or released upon his return.

The same Jeff Weaver we couldn't hit in the playoffs last year.

That's depressing. It's about as depressing as thinking that Heilman has turned the corner with sixteen straight outs, but then he gives up a home run to J.J. Hardy to make things more difficult.

But let's look at the bright side:

• Heilman did straighten out in time to get three outs before getting that third run
• David Wright and Carlos Delgado both cranked home runs (Delgado's to the opposite field) to hopefully put them or keep them on the road to recovery. Damion Easley also hit another home run which turned out to be the winning run (thanks to Heilman).
• Jorge Sosa was good again for the Mets. The home run bug hit him in the fifth and sixth as Geoff Jenkins and Prince Fielder touched him up. But between the two of them and J.J. Hardy, we're not exactly talking about giving up long balls to Rafael Belliard, Frank Taveras, and Buddy Biancalana. This is a good Brewers team, which brings me to the next point:
• This is a good Brewers team. (Redundant? Redundant? Redundant?) This was the series known as the litmus test for us and for them. The Mets took round one, which is huge considering tomorrow's pitching matchup (Ben Sheets vs. Mike Pelfrey) doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

So sit back and enjoy a cold brew tomorrow (that is, if alcohol hasn't been banned from your clubhouse yet) and enjoy a game that would merely be the foam off the top if the Mets can pull off the win.