Friday, October 20, 2006

Cruel Irony

I guess this is how a heart breaks.

Ironic, isn't it, that the team that lived on the swords of hitting and relief pitching, died tonight by those very same swords.

It was supposed to be the starting pitching sword that ended us.

It was supposed to be the injuries to Pedro and Orlando that did us in.

Nope, we died by the sword of our strengths.

The team that hit the cover off the ball all year, couldn't manage a hit from inning one until inning nine.

The team that had the best bullpen in the National League, and certainly the deepest bullpen in baseball, lost this game in the late innings to Yadier Molina, who moves up in the pantheon of all-time hateables...just above Terry Pendleton.

And when you die by your strengths, there really isn't much else to say, except to congratulate the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, is proof that baseball is always ready to provide you with something that you would never expect. Baseball fans after Tuesday generally thought that either the Cardinals would win in six games, or that the Mets would win in seven.

Of course, the other option was our fate.

The game is funny that way.

The game is cruel that way.

No, it's downright sickening.

It's sickening because there's no way the Mets should have lost after this:


But lose they did, in part because immediately following that catch, the Mets couldn't get a hit with the bases loaded and one out.

And that's why you don't depend on destiny. You don't depend on anniversaries, you don't depend on karma, you don't depend on superstitions. Because all of the aforementioned rituals are no substitute for hits.

To be a Met fan is to know and understand that when the chips are down in the last frame of the last game, the Mets will never, ever, go down without a fight. Win or lose, there will never be a one-two-three inning to end a big game. And the Mets did not disappoint in that regard.

But to be a Met fan is to also understand that those ninth inning rallies could always end badly. And that sickening games like the one you saw on Thursday are part of the deal.

Instead of Detroit, the Mets will head straight to the winter caravan. Six years after one big rival celebrates at Shea, the other big rival does the same. And it's another season where the only movement that Shea Stadium sees is right field sinking another foot along with the hearts of many Met fans.

And the only thing rising will be me up a tree as Tommy Lasorda tries to convince me to watch the World Series.

61 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll be up there in the tree, Metstra. Not sure I can stomach the series.

Helluva season by a helluva team. But, alas, the bats did not show up in 3 of the 4 losses, and the bullpen fell apart in the 4th.

But Perez & Maine gave me so hope for next year that I didn't quite have. Wouldn't it be something if the offense was a little weaker next year, but the pitching became the class of the NL?

Anonymous said...

Great season.

Y. Molina has an extra chromasone.

Darth Marc said...

Hi Metstra,

Remember me?

It's time for you to go to sleep.

Metsnarok has begun. Time to repent!

"The bottom line is this. [The Mets] are the red-headed step-children in this town until further notice. Deal with it."

-Darth Marc, July 13, 2006

Nuff said.

Survey says, you're dead!

Metstradamus said...

Survey also says, you lost one round earlier with twice the payroll.

Bite me, and repent this.

Darth Marc said...

You lost to a team that won 83 games that has Jeff Weaver as their number two starter and a rookie closer. In your house! Juan Encarnarcion as their cleanup guy!

When you win 97 games and have the fifth highest payroll, there are no moral victories.

Cliff Floyd as Kirk Gibson?

Maybe Debbie Gibson.....

Anonymous said...

As a long-time, out-of-town Mets fan (St. Paul, Minnesota, fan since 1967), I have really appreciated reading Metstradamus this season. It was a magical summer and fall and while this is going to hurt for a while, I will soon be looking forward to the 2007 season and my daily dose of Musings and Prophecies. Thanks!

David Woodard
St. Paul

Anonymous said...

Actually it doesn't matter which round you lose in...winning the top prize is all that counts. We got a little taste of being a front-runner, a favorite, was all about this year. We had no business losing to the Cardinals with Weaver and Suppan. They tailspun into the playoffs and almost blew their division. With 83 wins, they enter the World Series with the 2nd worst record IN HISTORY! We also had a pretty big payroll ourselves as well.

The team has a lot to look forward to with an exciting young team. As the other blogger mentioned, Maine and Oliver Perez added to that hope in the last couple of days.

Typical Mets....win in dramatic fashion, lose in dramatic fashion.

Also, who would have thought that the two teams that backed into the playoffs would be playing for it all....the Tigers blew their division by getting swept by the Royals and the Cards nearly blew theirs in historic fashion. The three tiers of playoffs has turned baseball into October Madness! Weaver vs The Gambler in Game 1 of the World Series? Who will Yankee and Met fans root for?

Anonymous said...

The Team. The Time. Not Now?

Anonymous said...

Metstradamus:
What a great gift you provided us Met fans all season long. I've enjoyed reading your enlightened commentaries. They took us deep into the 7th game of the championship series and played with great heart. Though the bats were silent when the pitching was great (in spite of all the injuries to our older arms), the season was a great success. What a great bunch of guys. Them Yanks could learn a thing or two about team dynamics!

!*#&@$ to The Darth Man who's team couldn't even muster a fight worthy of a $ 350 ticket in Bronx. Funny thing is, I think secretly HE's a wannabe MET FAN...might even wear METs underwear...but, no need to even go there.

Hats off to fabulous blogging, to Willie's and Omar's great season, and all those nights I fell asleep thinking they were losing for sure only to wake up to hear the winning score. I'm sure with a few new starters, we'll be right there next year.
And I hope Metstradamus will be there too!

Anonymous said...

Low blow Marc, low blow...Weren't the Tigers a Royals caliber team just yesterday?

Anonymous said...

"Evil never dies."

Apparently your memory doesn't allow you to recall the events of a particular ALDS series 2 weeks ago....one in which a team that represents all things evil was murdered by a team with about a third of their payroll.

Anonymous said...

Now that the 40-year-old virgin has been addressed, Thanks Metsra for a great year of blogging.

Your daily updates helped me get through the lows, and made the highs feel that much better. I look forward to an exciting offseason, and I'm sure that Omar the Great will pull another couples rabbits out of his hat to keep the Metropolitans in their rightful position as New York's team, a position that this team has clearly earned over the last several months.

Anonymous said...

Darth Marc:

I'm starting to believe you really are evil. I felt your hex when we got soooo close in that 9th inning. I was really hoping for some Kirk Gibson mojo when Floyd came up....and apologized profusely for booing Beltran earlier in the year when he slumped.

Who is more evil? The Gambler or Jeff Weaver?

Anonymous said...

Wagner needed to be on the hill in the 9th.

David Wright contributed very little in this series. Beltran did not go up to the plate with much of a plan in the bottom of the 9th.

Mets starting pitching was nothing short of fantastic, short of Trachsel.

The Cards are going to get eaten alive in Detroit. THink about this-- the only pitcher to beat the Detroit Tigers in this postseason is Chien Ming Wang. Wow.

I.M. Forme said...

"Evil never dies,"... but it does choke.

thanks for a great year mdms.

Darth Marc said...

Jabair...are we mad at me?

You have a wife? What's his name? Did you get married in Massachusetts?

The Team, The Time, The Cardinals!!!


Tiggers in five. Bank on it.

Because Tiggers are wonderful things.

Darth Marc said...

And at least we've lost to teams that have won the world series or were capable of doing so. No shame in losing to the best. It sucks, but at least you know you lost to the best.

83 wins? In the horrible NL Central? In your house?

No explaining away that one.

How awful will you feel when your conquerors get bitch-slapped in the Fall Classic?

And even if they don't...who cares? As long as you're not there!!!

Glorious! Thank you, baseball gods...

Anonymous said...

'Damus,

I was there. The place was filled with magic. Ollie Perez pitches the game of his life. Endy Chavez makes the play of his life. Our best hitter up in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded.

It felt like history.

Now it feels sort of like Mel Gibson getting executed at the end of Braveheart. The face paint, the charge, and now...your head on a pike.

A man was selling bootleg Mets 2006 NL Champion t-shirts. I bought one, for five dollars. I will wear it proudly, tomorrow. Because I still believe. I believe Beltran didn't strike out looking. I believe El Duque will be pitching Game One on Saturday. I believe we will win the series, and that when it happens, the ghosts of Pedro Martinez, Filthy Sanchez, and Xavier Nady will be dancing and smiling in the outfield, while Ewoks play Stormtrooper helmets like drums and pieces of the Death Star burn up in the atmosphere above. (How's that for a Star Wars metaphor, Darth Prick?)

If anyone asks me about the Mets loss, I will politely inform them that I'm not quite sure what they mean. I'll ask them if they were watching the same game that I was. 'Cause you've gotta believe.

Let's Go Mets.

Darth Marc said...

I don't parade around in Star Wars gear. But I will be parading around in a Cardinals hat and a minor league Bob Gibson jersey.

Happy Halloween, bitch-ass...always internet tough-guy. Nice to know some things never change. You Mutt fans should throw Jabair overboard. He knocks down your overall IQ by 20 points.

Sean,

I believe....that you are delusional. It's over!! Snap out of it! There is no tomorrow! There is no tomorrow!!!

Anonymous said...

Metstra,

Thanks for all the bloggy excellence this season...keep it up, please. Glad you got the jinx off your back before the cruelty started tonite.

michael

Metstradamus said...

You're right Darth. I must repent. I think I'll do that by reading all your gospel about the Yankees that you've written in the past week.

Oh wait, that's right! You haven't written anything there in the past week. Instead, you've used your time to write on THIS site, while your own blog is covered in dust and peat moss. Congratulations on continuing to be the class act you are.

Metstradamus said...

Darth aside (because he's irrelevant), thank you all for the kind words. I will use them to soothe my bruised spirit while I'm up in the tree.

Darth Marc said...

If I'm so irrelevant..then why haven't you ignored me?

This kicking folks when they're down is fun.

Metstradamus said...

Starting...now.

Anonymous said...

Hiya Metstradamus!
I'll be seeing you in that tree ... that is if I don't throw myself in front of an oncoming LIRR train first! I guess now we should start looking forward to the 2007 season to keep us from slitting our wrists.

Anonymous said...

Tough one. At this point, I can't even imagine starting all over again next year. But let's not forget we've got a real future - we'll be back for the next several years. Reyes, Wright, Maine and Perez got a nice taste of the psot-season this year. Valuable experience. Don;t forget Milledge, Pelfrey and Humber waiting in the wings.

And how about that Oliver Perez. Unbelievable performance - almost as unbelieveable as Chavez's catch, which caused me to dance around like a complete maniac.

Which again shows why baseball is the greatest game. Totally unpredictable - ALL of the so called analysts were wrong about everything. Baseball is the sport with a penchant for the dramatic. What a game - I thought something amazing was going to happen in the bottomw of the 9th - not to be. Tip your cap to the Cards, especially to Suppon - he held us in check.

MD - I'm so glad I came across your blog this year. It provided me with great laughs - I looked forward to reading it at the start of my work day. I will truly miss it. Are you posting any other blogs about any other subjects? You're an excellent writer- keep it up.

Anonymous said...

I thought I was going to be ok last night, but man, I am really losing it this morning. Bawling like a baby. Ah well.. what's that quote from the Wizard of Oz? "Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable".. something like that?

Anyway, I hope fans don't blame Aaron for the loss.. he really pitched so well the second half of the year, and as we all know having Wagner in is no guarantee either.

Also.. I can't help hoping this isn't the end of Cliff Floyd's career as a Met. He's done too much and been too important for us to leave it like this. We love ya, Cliffy.

Metstra, I think "broken hearts" should be an honorary entry on the hate list, every day from now until Spring training.

Anonymous said...

Hi Metradamus- Once again very well put.
I have to say though I was upset immediately after the game last night, I am OK with everything. It was a great season, and exciting play off run right until the very end. I have no regrets about this season at all.

Yadiar Molina took the role of Mike Scoiscia in 1988.
Funny how a guy who hit .216 all season with a total og 6 HRs is the hitting star for the Cardinals.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're here, Darth. You can tell us how to cope with one of these losses...

Anonymous said...

Pitchers and catchers report in 117 days...

Toasty Joe said...

Matstra - A big "thank you" for all you've given us to read this year. You did a great job and made the whole ride that much more enjoyable. You gotta believe in 2007!

Ed in Westchester said...

Metstra - We fans are sad this morning. But we see hope for next year. There is youth. There are new found starters. There are veterans to guide them.
Thanks for the reads this year. I second Toasty, you made it more fun (as did he).

Pitchers and catchers in 4 months.

Anonymous said...

Perez, 25
Maine, 25
Bannister, 25
Humber, 23
Pelfrey, 22

kevin mulvey, 21

Anonymous said...

OJ did it! OJ did it! He is the 'real killer'!

The glove does fit!!! He was not framed by Mark Foreman. He did it himself! Why don't you see this!!?

The Metmaster said...

My Brothers and Sisters:

We fought the good fight and came up short. Such is life. It was a good season, the future is bright. We have nothing to be ashamed about.

Unfortunately, the time has come when something must be done about Darth Marc. He has shown his true colors with this Pearl Harbor-like attack this morning. His team went down in flames last week and was treated with the common courtesy due a baseball fan by other fans. He skulked into the office and offered his hand wishing the Mets good luck. But courtesy and good taste are foreign to him and his kind. Like the Japanese 64-years ago, while shaking the right hand, the left is stabbing you in the back. So I suggest the following action Brothers and Sisters... The Amish form of punishment towards members who offend the community is called shunning. They are completely ignored. The shunned are not spoken to or acknowledged until they prostrate themselves before the community. This is what I suggest we do with Darth Marc. Shun him. Ignore him. Cast him out of our community. Metstradamus, you have the power to expunge his comments from your site. Do it. Do it now. I make this declaration to DM (I can no longer even speak his name)....you may speak to me about any other subject; the weather, politics, religion, football, anything. But I will not speak to you about anything related to baseball; past, present or future. The subject is taboo. I recommend the rest of us do the same. He can talk baseball until he is blue in the face to the oher Yankee cretins from here to Wisconsin. He can write to his heart's content on his own blog, the one NOBODY reads. He can talk to himself if he chooses. But he will not talk baseball with us again. Those of us of Irish descent are blessed/cursed with incredibly long, freaking memories when we are wronged. We have been wronged.

You're dead to me Lisa......

beezermess said...

Hey Metstradamus….

I have slept only two hours since the instant classic of game seven ended (how the fu*k can I say it is a classic if my team lost) and I have watched, re-watched and did some more watching of this game because I can not accept what happened. So, if you are not going to write a hate list for today, I will write it for you.
1. Carlos Beltran: For the entire series, all I heard from the biggest homer this side of Michael Kay was that you kill Cardinal Pitching in the playoffs. Two out, bottom of the ninth inning, bases loaded. You are in that moment. A moment that kids dream about and you had that chance. You were given an opportunity and what did you do? Good Morning (Strike one), Good Afternoon (Strike two swinging) and Good Night (Strike three). You have to be kidding me, right Carlos? You get paid millions of dollars and you had your chance to live in Mets folklore and what did you do? You kept the bat on your fu*king shoulders! Your punishment is to get tips from Keith Hernandez and read his book, “How to hit with two strikes and protect the plate!” Are you still wondering why you get booed at Shea, Carlos?
2. Aaron Heilman: You were not facing Bengie or Jose Molina; instead you were facing Yadier, a .216 hitter in the regular season and you give up the biggest home run since Dwight Gooden served one up to Mike Scioscia in Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS (I still blame Davey Johnson for that one as Randy Myers was ready!!!!!!!) My advice to you is to start looking into the Real Estate Market…I hear homes in Kansas City are pretty reasonable you gutless wonder.
3. Billy “Country Time” Wagner: Are you having nightmares about So Taguchi? Are you waking up in cold sweats about him? That is the reason why you are NOT going to be on my fantasy team next season….well, maybe you are but, dammit, you couldn’t get the fu*ker out?
4. Steve Traschel: I mention you because I say Goodbye. I am sick and tired of you. I do not care if you won 15 games; you could not get out of the second inning until you were mercifully knocked out. I have had enough of your four hour games where you struggle to get through the fifth inning. You have to go…you are the weakest link…you are done….
5. Endy Chavez: You made the best catch of the year, hands down. It should be nominated for a goddamn ESPY. You were clutch….on defense. You are on the list because you were 0-12 with runners in scoring position. You are not Willie Mays, you are Willie Mays Hayes. Hit the ball on the fu*king ground!!!! Your punishment is twenty pushups each time you pop the ball up. You know, you did hit over .300 this season…..
6. David Wright: You looked absolutely horrible this series. You looked overmatched against Jeff Weaver….JEFF FU*KING WEAVER!!! This man got booted by the Angels by his brother and you couldn’t hit him, or Jeff Suppan or Chris Carpenter. You even looked lost on your home run swing. Your punishment is to study video of the way you hit during the first half of the year that made you a MVP candidate and you need to watch video of how Scott Rolen (sans the throwing error) plays defense at third. You want to be the best, learn from him.
Biggest need at this moment for the Mets is:
1. A bat in the outfield. You have to decide if you are going to keep Cliff Floyd or make the commitment to Lastings; either way they need to make sure they keep Green to protect the middle of the order and they need to make sure that Chavez is not your everyday left fielder.
2. The most important one….AN ACE and his name is Barry Zito. You have no choice. You must pay for him. You must overpay if you have to. With Pedro on the shelf until June (at the earliest), El Duque being 65 years old and Glavine being 40, you need a pitcher to be here for the next five years…You have Rick Peterson to get him back to Cy Young Status. With him and Oliver Perez, who deserves a shot to be in the rotation and John Maine, you have three starters under the age of thirty…re-sign Glavine to give him a shot to win 300 as a Met and you have a good pitching staff until Pedro heals….
I am done…it is now Giants/Rangers season….I really feel sick to my stomach.

The Metmaster said...

Beezermess:

They need to get Barry Zito in the rotation and Soriano at second. Both free agents. It's only money, which they will have a ton of. Say bye-bye to Trachsel and Floyd. The are free of Kaz Matsui and Art Howe's dough. Shit-can Zambrano. I worked the numbers on the money they will be free of and it should be enough for these two players. Keep Endy in left. Valentin is 37 and his expiration date is about due. With that kind of firepower from the infield you can live with Endy and Green in left and right. Talk about strength up the middle!
I'd then package Milledge, Heilman and Humber for a top flight starter. I think Milledge does not fit here, Heilman is never going to be happy in the pen, and word is that Humber is an asshole.
But I'll tell you what....Maine and Perez impressed the shit out of me the last two days.

beezermess said...

Metmaster,

I like Soriano but I also think that if you are going to go after him, he should be willing to play in the outfield. He was a better outfielder as the year went on and I think the fact that he went 40-40 helps him big time. I think I could live with an Anderson Hernandez/Jose Valentin platoon situation and Soriano in left. Chavez is not a starter, he is the perfect #4 outfielder....

Anonymous said...

I'm opting for the kitchen cabinet myself, because I don't want to see or hear anyone remind me that we should have been there.

Even the notes of condolence are irking me, and I know they just MEAN well.

On a semi-serious note, I did write yesterday about people who felt the need to dog the Mets and how it points to their own insecurities.

Is it too early to be planning my Spring Training trip? Or is that just a symptom of denial?

The Metmaster said...

Beezermess:

It's a win/win for the Mets if we get him for either position. How many stolen bases would the Mets have with that kind of speed? I think he still has the burning desire to play on the big stage in New York again. The Yankees will not be a player in the Soriano market because they have no place to put him, so the Mets would be a perfect place for him to thumb his nose at the Bronx.

The Metmaster said...

Ed:

I heard it from someone who knew something about that Rice team. Maybe he's grown up some since then. Major arm surgery can be a humbling experience.

Ed in Westchester said...

metmaster - thanks. I hope so. I have high hopes for him. I would prefer to not trade him, as he has a very high upside.

Blogger.com sucks today.

beezermess said...

Metmaster....

I agree...it is a win-win situation but I think that the Mets need to ensure they have an Ace on their staff before they go after more offense. As much as we are going to say that the offense let us down, good pitching beats good hitting and we needed someone...Oliver Perez and John Maine stepped up...who better than Zito and you sprinkle a little Glavine in too...I like that and that means that you do not have to rush Pedro or El Duque...and you get younger....

Mookie McFly said...

This was on Hot Foot today and I think it is something everyone should read.

Let It Out
by Hot Foot on Fri 20 Oct 2006 12:07 AM EDT

"Be upset.

Be disappointed.

Be furious.

Be exhausted.

Be disgusted.

But please, don't forget about where we have come from, just two years ago.

Be proud.

Be patient.

Be excited about our future.

and always, always

Believe.

Trust me, I know you may not want to hear this right now, but it is not the end, it is only the beginning."

Metstra, like everyone else I am grateful for all the posts you wrote this season. You made me laugh when I needed it & you reigned me in when I got too cocky. More than that though, you were always a great fan of the team. You don't have to take shit from anyone least of all from a guy who still doesn't realize that his team only gets worse every year. Thanks a lot dude. I look forward to some good hot stove talk, of course the 2007 season, and our third World Series Title.

PS - Despite being at the game last night I made it to work today even though I am depressed. Surrounded by reminders of the season, I have chosen to hide under my desk. I'd be up in a tree too but there was no room with all the Yankee fans up there already.

Ed in Westchester said...

See, now I think this is a time we should embrace Darth Marc. I mean, who better to help us learn how to deal with an upset than a Yankee fan. Let's take a look at the past 6 years, shall we:

2001 - Lose to D-Backs. Mariano Chokes.
2002 - Lose to Angels in first round.
2003 - Lose Game 7 to Wild Card Winner Marlins
2004 - BIGGEST.CHOKE.EVER.
2005 - Lose to those pesky Angels, again
2006 - Lose to the Tigers, who had just been swept by the Royals.

Irony is personified in Darth, the man who posted here about how Met fans relish Yankee defeats so much. Pot, meet kettle.

Anonymous said...

1) Since I forgot to mention it in my above comment, I'd like to thank you, Metstradamus, for a wonderful year. I often found myself compulsively refreshing my browser after games, waiting for your post. So, thanks for the good times. (If I'd have been at Game Six, I *might've* asked for your autograph...)

2)Soriano is an amazing player, and the idea of him playing at second does make my mouth water. But can we trust him not to be a cancer to our remarkably harmonious clubhouse? Part of what made the Mets so great this year was chemistry, the sense that these guys really operated as a unit. Are 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases worth losing some of that? Maybe, since chemistry without production won't get one anywhere. Just something I think we ought to be keeping in mind.

3) Thank you, Mets. Seriously. Thank you Ollie Perez, and thank you Endy Chavez; even though we lost, being at that game was still among the more amazing experiences of my life. The heartbreak of the 9th inning can never take away the magic that preceded it. Hats off.

Ed in Westchester said...

beezermess - I just can't sit here and try to pin this on any one person. The whole lineup, top to bottom, failed. They had 2 good games, 1 win, 1 loss.
I'm just not the type to point a finger at 1 or two guys. They win as a team, they lose as a team. Yep, I'm dissapointed in the guys you mentioned, but I'm not going to blast them yet. I'm still too pissed off, and I tend to overstate things at that point.

As for next steps -
We need an ACE. Do not count on Pedro until July or August. Glavine can come back, but he is a 2 at best. Maine is my #3, left Pelfrey and Perez and others battle for 4 & 5.
They need another bat, either left field or second base (Stache, you can stay to back up, but that's it). Get a 2nd baseman, let Milledge play, unless you can flip him for a starter if they lose out on Zito.

Stay away from the Japanese guy. Why pay him in essense $58 million (4 yrs $7 m, $30 m to TALK to him first) when he is unproven, when you can get Zito for the same or a little less.

As of my last post, I am joining with The Metmaster in the shunning.

Anonymous said...

Bezzermess-

Fellow Met fan here, so let's keep it civil. But I find your hate list to be a bit . . . rash.

Beltran??? The guy who only had one of the two or three greatest seasons in Met history? Who hit 3 HRs this series? Who scored the only run last night? Who played flawless D every game?

He took a tough curveball on a count where you'd expect Wainwright to waste one.

And calling Heilman a "gutless wonder"??? Have you not been watching the same playoffs I have?

And Chavez, who only made the greatest catch I've ever seen and singled to put two on with no outs in the 9th last night??? Please.

I know you're hurting today, because I've got the same hurt for the same reason. But coming here and dumping that crap about Beltran, Heilman & Chavez is as bad an attack on most Met fans as the idiotic trolling of one Yankee fan we all need to ignore.

Losses are tough. But don't lose sight that Beltran and Heilman are key cogs in the machine. They both played great this year and we need more next year.

And no matter how the game ended, I'll never forget seeing Endy's play. Like seeing a beautiful work of art, you just have to admire it, no matter the circumstances.

beezermess said...

Ed...
Don't put Pelfrey in the rotation just yet....
I agree with you...I am pissed off at the whole team, but those six individuals are the main culprits...and sometimes it is good to express disgust...ask Metstradamus--he seems to think that I have a really dark chi

Toasty Joe said...

Ed, I'm pretty sure the Yankees lost the 2003 WS in six games, not seven. For whatever that's worth.

beezermess said...

Mike...
I am angry yes..but I also think what I said is valid...I don't care that Beltran hit 41 home runs...and yeah it was a great curveball, but if you ever played baseball, if you have two strikes, you have to protect the plate. You have to swing at pitches that are close because you do not want to get caught sleeping...Beltran did and I can not accept it. Hell, the Cardinals, specifically David Eckstein, Albert Pujols and Ron Belliard extended at bats against the Mets bullpen...do you remember seeing that?
Yes, I will call Heilman gutless since that was probably his last pitch as a Met. He was snubbed as a starter and basically had to be coaxed into doing this job. Maybe calling him gutless is harsh, but I can not forgive him for giving it up to the third Molina brother...
Chavez...probably was way too harsh on him because of the catch...but he had runners in scoring position including the bases loaded and he pooped up twice...c'mon...catch or no catch--unforgiveable...

Anonymous said...

Can't see putting Beltran in Trachs's class, or Heilman in Wagner's, but that's just my opinion.

Since neither of us (presumably) has Omar's ear, who gives a rat's ass what either of us thinks.

Great season, tough loss. That's how it goes. Every year the fans of 29-out of-20 teams ends up sad or angry.

Anonymous said...

I had a great time. Congrats on covering a beautiful year as entertaininly as you covered a crappy year (2005). I'll see you Next Time. Same Team (I hope).

K.nn

Ed in Westchester said...

toasty - ah well, the point is still the same.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how anyone can blame the pitching (esp. Heilman). The offense was DEAD sans the 12-5 win.

D. Wright, love him to death, but he better spend less time with the planes, Letterman, image b/s and more time on the game. There's no doubt that after the All-Star break, his plate became more full, and it showed. He can say anything he wants about it not affecting him, but actions speak louder than words, and he showed that in the second half.

And Looper started the "Jose Jose Jose" chant in the clubhouse after the game. Friends, forget the Braves, hatred for the Cards is fashionable again.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I saw Lasorda on Northern Blvd. telling the fans that there's still a reason to watch despite the Mets being out of it; to root against the Cards.

Then they shot him.

Anonymous said...

Here's something that will cheer you up. Check out Gary Cohen's radio call of Chavez's catch on mets.com. Brought tears to my eyes.

Ed in Westchester said...

Looper? Is he kidding me? Look, he may feel hurt because he pitched hurt last year and we booed him, and then we boo him every time he is here, but here's the thing, Jose has not part in that, so for him to lead the charge is bullshit. Frankly, for the Cardinals to do that is bullshit. It's bush. It's a chant that the fans bestow upon a skilled player (unlike Card fans who celebrate Spiezio, a piece of crap).
Now, I know the dances and stuff annoy fans of other teams, too bad. Those same fans would be happy as a pig in shit if there team did stuff like that. They are probably happy when their football team celebrates. So piss off.
Is some of it a bit much, maybe, but they are having fun. I don't recall bitching over the bash brothers, do any of you? As for a new rivalry, some of the Cards near free agency, or in danger of being traded, they might not be worth the effort.
Anyhow, lets rest and get ready for hot stove. We got some fixing to do. In Omar I Trust.

Anonymous said...

20 years and counting...... Metstra - how about adding Weaver and Kenny Rogers to the hate list? Something all New Yorkers can agree on. There's been too much pain over the past five/six years in New York baseball. We need to hold on to each other. Feel the pain...give in to it.

Metstradamus said...

I don't agree with all New Yorkers.

Anonymous said...

I've been a Mets fan since I knew what baseball was, that's what Doc and Darryl will do for a kid who has no team to root for in his state.

Anyways, I loved the blog this year, I read it almost every day, and I can't wait for next year.

Our Team. Our Time.

it feels more like:

Out Team. Our Time?

d