Trick Or Treat From The New York Mets

Nobody has accumulated more treats than these guys. Trust me, they've been wearing masks since the beginning of the month.

Get Your Free 2008 Stuff

First off, I want to congratulate Dave Magadan and the Boston Red Sox for winning the World Championship, their second in four seasons. The Sox were the best team all season, and certainly had this coming to them. Congrats, boys!

By now, you probably are aware of what this title means...it means that because of a promotion by Jordan's furniture, Sox fans who bought their furniture during a two week stretch in April now have that furniture for free thanks to Boston's world championship.

To that end, the New York Mets are being creative for some of their promotions next season:

• Pokerstars.net is offering a promotion where you can play all you want in the month of April. If the Mets hire Rickey Henderson or Bobby Bonilla as coaches, all your losses during the month are covered.
• Along the same lines, Nathan's has a promotion where if Henderson, the world's biggest hot dog, returns to active duty with the Mets and steals a base, everyone in America will get a free hot dog! (But only if you go to Nathan's between 4 and 5 AM on December 25th, 2008.
• The courthouse in Kew Gardens is running an interesting promotion: If Willie Randolph is ejected from a game in 2008, your pending court cases in October will be, you guessed it, thrown out!
• Hey, seniors! Your AARP dues for 2008 will be waived if the Mets bring back Julio Franco (as a player, or a coach.)
• And finally, if the Mets choke away a bigger lead in '08 than they did in '07, just visit your neighborhood Kentucky Fried Chicken and get all the free chicken you can eat during the month of October (boneless, for your protection.)

So you see, with all the time off they've had this past month, the Mets have spent that time wisely to come up with some exciting promotions to enhance your enjoyment of the upcoming season. I for one can't wait.

They Sure Showed Me

What do I get for challenging Karma?

My computer gets zapped.

Karma truly is a bitch.

I've spent my time away from this blog productively. I looked under various rocks to see where the Mets organization might be hiding. I tried to crack nuclear physics. I held Kenny Lofton at third base in Boston. You know, fun stuff.

What I learned, among other things, is that 2008 might not be that much easier than 2007 was. Consider this recent development:

National crosschecker Chuck LaMar left the Nationals to become director of professional scouting with the Phillies on Thursday. LaMar will also work with director of Major League scouting Gordon Lakey and provide input on trades
for Phillies general manager Pat Gillick.

According to baseball sources, LaMar left Washington to take a better position and because of some philosophical differences with some members of the Nationals organization. LaMar, who was not available for comment, joined the Nationals last November.

LaMar is best remembered for being the general manager of the Devil Rays for 11 seasons.

No, Chuck LaMar is best remembered for ripping off a clueless organization of a top prospect.

Great, Chuck LaMar with the damn Phillies. Speaking of which, Jim Duquette is currently without a job. Maybe he can join the Phillies too so he and LaMar can take long scouting trips together in the middle of Wyoming while laughing their heads off at the Mets. Oh, I can picture it now...Lamar and Duquette practicing trades with each other:

"Ok Jim, I'll give you Pat Burrell, Tom Gordon, and a ham sandwich for Cole Hamels..."

"Deal!"

"No Jim, no. Let's try it again. I'll give you Wes Helms for..."

"Deal!"

"Jim, you're supposed to wait until I finished."

"Deal! Deal! Deal! Wait, I don't have to ask anyone's permission, right?"

Yes, they can talk about the old times, while resuming their tradition of driving back and forth over the Canadian border where the mounties repeatedly ask them if they have any firearms in the car.

Duquette always says yes to that one...but bless his heart he's working on it.

At Least There's Someone Who Can't Wait Until Next Year...

Your 21st century blogger is in the process of acquiring a 22nd century computer (the 21st century computer needs to be retired to "Safe Mode Stud"), so forgive me if you don't hear from me for a little while. Hopefully, I will make a grand return to blogging sometime in the middle of the World Series. Until then, and because there's been enough heartache in our lives, here's a reminder that it's all about the children:


As you can plainly see, she's more ready for 2008 than me. Zoe's got all the speed of her numbersake: Jose Reyes...without a pesky slump to hamper her. (Trust me on the speed part. She can be impossible to catch when she wants to be...or when she's not bored like Carlos Delgado.)

All Over October

Because having a Met free October has really given me nothing to do, and because I can't help but think that either Kaz Matsui or Tony Clark may...quite possibly...exit this 2007 baseball season with a ring, I did some research.

You wouldn't believe what I found.

And you wouldn't believe I found it because:

• somebody else didn't think of this first, or...
• Metstradamus has no life.

I wanted to find the last World Series Champion whose roster had been completely devoid, throughout their entire championship season, of a player who had previously spent time with the Mets. I figured it would be easy enough to find this out through the incomparable Baseball Reference website. You could have done this yourself, but you've most likely found better things to do than to wonder about such things.

Last season, we all bemoaned the fact that Braden Looper got himself a World Series ring.

In 2005, the White Sox featured Carl Everett and Timo Perez.

Yes, that Timo Perez.

The curse-breaking 2004 Red Sox had Pedro Astacio on their roster at some point...along with Jersey Bobby Jones for three games.

Surely, there had to be a recent team not to have an ex-Met on it, right?

2003 featured the Florida Marlins, with Lenny "Pork Chop" Harris.

The 2002 Rally Monkeys had Donne Wall in their bullpen.

All right, the 2001 Diamondbacks. They couldn't have had an ex-Met on their roster, right? Wrong...they had Armando Reynoso.

(Mind you, we're not talking about future Mets like Jay Bell and Mike DiFelice...only players who had already spent time in Flushing when they were on a team that went on to win the World Series.)

Uh-oh. Now I'm starting to get worried, because those Yankee teams featured plenty of ex-Mets, much to our chagrin...as Jose Vizcaino killed the Mets in the 2000 Series, 1999 featured David Cone, and 1998 had Darryl Strawberry. Even the '97 Marlins had Bobby Bonilla.

I think I'm starting to get sick.

The 1996 Yankees had Dwight Gooden along with Strawberry, which at the time was bad enough.

All right, the 1995 Braves...there's a team that couldn't have possibly had a former Met on it, right?

Oh damn, their back-up catcher was Charlie O'Brien. And they also had Alejandro Pena. (Yeesh!)

The 1993 Blue Jays had plenty of future Mets like Al Leiter, Shawn Green, and Carlos Delgado. But former Mets? Just one...Dick Schofield (yet one is enough).

The '92 Jays had our friend David Cone.

The Twins in 1991 were loaded with them, partly thanks to the Frank Viola trade, between Kevin Tapani and David West. They also had Tom Edens and Junior Ortiz. Remember those two? Edens pitched one game for the Mets, and I believe it was in Los Angeles...and he wore number 32. Why must God curse me with a memory full of useless things while I lose my house keys five times a day?

(Actually, he pitched two games for the Mets, so I don't feel too bad. But I was right about the Dodgers.)

The Reds in 1990 had Randy Myers and Herm Winningham.

The 1989 Athletics...and believe me, this is a stretch...but they did have ,for 79 very mediocre at bats, a guy named Billy Beane.

Don't remind me about 1988 and Dodger reliever Jesse Orosco.

The Twins in 1987? Would you believe Beane again? (Along with a guy named Jeff Reardon.)

And that brings us to 1986, our last title.

And wouldn't you know it, the 1985 Kansas City Royals featured nobody who had previously worn the Mets uniform.

So besides the fact that I have absolutely nothing to do with my time thanks to the collapse, it should tell you that the Red Sox shouldn't measure their fingers for rings just yet (the Red Sox are devoid of former Mets on their roster, while Cleveland features Chip Caray's favorite pitcher: Paul Byrd).

It should tell you that when the 2007 Mets' roster turns over, at least one of the jettisoned players will win a ring in '08 and make us sigh. (And it gives Tampa Bay some hope...Thanks again, Jim Duquette.)

And it tells us that the only way to break this cycle is for the Mets to win the series their own selves. Or else, the curse continues.

Always Something There To Remind Me

Thursday night's Game One of the NLCS featured a key play where Justin Upton got Augie Ojeda called out for interference on a slide at second base.

Gee, does that look familiar to you? They say that the great thing about baseball is that you may see something you've never seen before. Unfortunately, the seamy side of baseball is that you will probably see something that will refresh your memory like a ripped off band-aid.

It's like Total Recall, except Sharon Stone isn't in your bathroom taking a shower.

Damn you C.B. Bucknor.