TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

Let’s see how “.500 Season 2008″ goes. As a quick update, my cobbled together line-up went to 4-0 last week even though worthless Pierre Thomas managed 1 carry for 1 yard. This week, we’re calling on Warrick Dunn @Denver and Mushin Muhammed @KC to bring the Superstars to a 5-0 start.

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Indianapolis Colts -3 at Houston Texans: The Colts are favored because of reputation, nothing else. Steve Slaton is going to rush for somewhere between 100 and 7,000 yards and 9 touchdowns. Texans outright.

Tennessee Titans -3 at Baltimore Ravens: The battle of undefeated teams. Also, the battle of teams that I never, ever choose correctly. Here, I also have no idea, so I’ll go with the home team. Ravens outright.

San Diego Chargers -7 at Miami Dolphins: This game would probably be +10 if not for the Dolphins stunning performance against the Patriots last week. If the Dolphins weren’t home, I wouldn’t even consider taking the Dolphins here, but a large spread coming off a huge win and a fired up crowd. I think this game is going to be a lot closer than people think. Dolphins +7

Kansas City Chiefs +10 at Carolina Panthers: If the Chiefs are getting 10 after actually winning last week, what would this spread have been if they lost? That said, the Panthers are home and the Chiefs defense is not holding down Steve Smith. On the other hand, I give Julius Peppers the nod at holding LJ down until the Chiefs have to go to their disastrous passing game. Panthers cover.

Washington Redskins +6 at Philadelphia Eagles: Not only would I take the Redskins here just because it’s more than my 3 point NFC East rule, but I’m not quite so sure that the Redskins aren’t going to win this outright. The Eagles plan to have Westbrook back but Donovan McNabb is still proving that he has some fourth quarter performance anxiety. If the Eagles had no answer for Romo/TO/Barber, I’m not sure why anyone is convinced they have an answer for Campbell/Moss/Portis. Redskins +6.

Chicago Bears -3 at Detroit Lions: At least the chance to improve is in sight, Lions’ fans. Bears cover.

Atlanta Falcons +10 at Green Bay Packers: Just last week I said that I wasn’t going to pick the Falcons on the road. But, then again, the Packers have seemed exceptional at home. Packers cover.

Seattle Seahawks at New York Giants: The Giants are historically awful after a bye week. They don’t have their best receiver which means it’s going to be relatively difficult for them to put a team away. If the Giants win this by a touchdown, I’ll be surprised. Seahawks +9

Tampa Bay Bucs at Denver Broncos: Tampa is obviously better than I thought. Denver is not. Bucs outright.

New England Patriots -3.5 at San Francisco 49ers: Belicheck had a reputation for destroying his teams off losses. If the lackluster defense the Patriots brought against the Dolphins is any indication, the Patriots are going to be in rare form this week. If they’re not, we might have to re-address the Patriots as a “good” team and remember that they’re a defense built to play with a lead brought by a great passing offense…. who has neither a good passer or a decent runner to fall back on. Patriots cover.

Buffalo Bills +1.5 at Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals are favored here for 3 reasons. 1) The aggregate record of NFL teams after giving up 50 points the week before is like 1,000-2. 2) The Cards have been really good at home this year. 3) It’s a huge game for the Cardinals. If they don’t respond to a whuppin’ they won’t respond. The Bills have been blessed the last couple of weeks and the karma has to run out at some point. Cardinals cover.

Cincinnati Bengals +14 at Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys will come out and blow the doors off a bad team and the national media will all start fellating them again. We’ll immediately forget that they have no defense to speak of and that the Bengals are playing either a gimpy QB or a back-up QB. All will be right with the world again. Then just wait until they destroy the Rams last week. They’ll be the best team in the universe!! Cowboys cover.

Pittsburgh Steelers +3 at Jacksonville Jaguars: The Jags, at some point, snuck over the line to “good team” from “underachieving team” when no one was paying attention. The Steelers seem to be just struggling by. The Steelers blitz will probably be neutered by Fred Taylor. Jags cover.

Monday
Minnesota Vikings +3.5 at New Orleans Saints: Spreads on the Vikings are going to be very odd this year because Adrian Peterson is one of those guys who can pop-off for a 300 yard night on any given Sunday. But… with Deuce back I think the Saints are going to be very difficult to beat. Also, this is the third consecutive week that the Monday night game has featured huge fantasy football guys. Saints cover.

Five Good Spreads

5 - Washington +6 over Philly
4 - Panthers -10 over Chiefs
3 - Bears -3 over Detroit
2 - Seahawks +9 over Giants
1 - Cowboys -14 over Bengals

Last week I had to travel up to Albany because Copier Company X put on a booze cruise for our branch. While I was up there, I was talking with one of my friends how I can’t get better than 9 wins this season. That led us to decide that you could probably win a pool if you could average 8 or 9 wins a week and avoid the one catastrophic 4-win week that invariably kicks you out of contention that almost always occurs in the last four weeks.

I think I may have gotten it out of the way much earlier this year.

L/L - Chiefs +9.5 over Broncos, 33-19, Broncos cover: As I was filling my picks in to Sportsline on Friday, I specifically looked at this game and thought “man, this is the definition of a bad bet.” You had, likely, 80% of the money on the Broncos, a team that was obviously going to give a chirpy LJ the ball a lot against a team that really hasn’t proven it has a run defense, and a quarterback with inflated stats going on the road. Then I picked the Broncos anyway. Stupid.

L/L - Browns +3.5 over Bengals, 20-12, Bengals cover: The Bengals played the game of their lives against the Giants and lost. Cleveland was going to play the game of their lives against a team that had already played the game of their lives. Stupid again.

W/L - Jaguars -7 over Texans, 30-27, Jags cover: I didn’t expect to win this, so I’m fine with it.

W/W - Jets -3 over Cardinals, 56-35, Jets cover: Strap in, Favre-haters. The Favrelatio will be stunning this week. On the bright side, one former Shea Stadium tenant decided to send the old girl out with honor.

W/W - Saints -7 over Niners, 31-17, Saints cover: The Pierre Thomas pick-up for the Ms. L Superstars did not go as planned with his 1 run for 1 yard. However, We still won thanks to Jason Campbell and Santana Moss.

W/W - Panthers -7 over Falcons, 24-9, Panthers cover: Pick the Falcons at home. Pick against them on the road. Got it.

L/L - Titans -3.5 over Vikings, 30-17, Vikings outright: OK, I give up. The Vikings are apparently horrifically overrated and the Titans are going to the Super Bowl. I don’t get it.

L/L - Bucs -3 over Packers, 30-21, Packers outright: Apparently it’s time to stop picking against the Bucs, too.

W/W - Bills -9 over Rams, 31-14, Bills cover: pick against them until they cover.

W/W - Chargers -7 over Raiders, 28-18, Chargers cover: You know, I can understand that franchises can go through rough patches — but at least lose the game early. Is there any reason that the Raiders have to torture their fans like the Mets do?

L/W - Redskins +11 over Cowboys, 26-24, Redskins +11: Couple of things good for the Giants here. 1) The Cowboys are not nearly as indestructible as they’ve looked — their pass coverage, while serviceable, has no answer for a speedy receiver like Santana Moss. 2) This is the second straight game that featured a top ten back that the Cowboys couldn’t stop. Brian Westbrook broke through for 58 yards and 2 touchdowns in Week 2. Clinton Portis went for 131 yards last night. Romo also threw a backbreaking interception. In a shocking bit of deliciousness that surprised no one, TO decided to tell the media that he’s not getting enough looks. I’d like to thank Chris Collinsworth for pointing out that, in fact, 1/3rd of the Cowboys offensive plays went to Owens which he converted into 7 catches. In fairness, TO hasn’t turned on a quarterback in a full two years. He is due. On top of that, Tank Johnson was whining that the Redskins overcelebrated on the Star. Dear Lord, please let this team complete and totally melt down.

L/L - Bears +3 over Eagles, 24-20, Eagles Cover: In a bittersweet moment, I lost this pick but the Correl Buckhalter pick-up did help the Ms. L Superstars go to 4-0 on the season. The rogue GM from Copier Company X is running wild over the Large Accounting Firm. After watching this game, it occurred to me why Donovan McNabb is continually overrated. He just can’t get it done in the 2nd half.

L/W - Steelers cover: I watched this game. Ben Roethlisberger has just lost something. I don’t know what it is. He seems completely uninterested in playing football. Maybe it’s the plastering he took last week… I don’t know. I’m not buying the Steelers anymore on any spreads over 3 points. Unless it’s the Rams. I still the Giants got the best pick in that draft.

The Five Good Spreads
5 points: Bills -9 over Rams - W
4 points: Chargers -7 over Raiders - W
3 points: Packers +3 over Bucs - L
2 points: Saints -7 over Niners - W
1 point: Broncos -9.5 over Chiefs - L

As I suddenly remember why I stopped doing pick 5s.

Standings
Straight Up: 6-7 (32-28)
Spread: 7-6 (29-30-1)
Point Pool: 11/15 (28/60 - .467)

Boxscore

No column here, just some thoughts.

- Thank God Omar shipped off Chad Bradford and signed Scott Schoenweiss. A guy with a 208 ERA+ would have been just worthless this year.

- I really hope Daniel “Mancrush” Murphy learns 2B in the fall league this year and takes Castillo’s spot in the line up next year.

- Speaking of which, I’m thrilled that Omar got a 4-year extension for putting this bullpen on the field two years in a row and giving Castillo a four-year deal when he apparently had at least two decent options at 2b and one who is willing to learn 2B. Well done.

- Rumor has it Scott Boras just bought an island. It’s Australia. I have to presume he gets a blank sheet of paper from Mets management re: K-Rod.

- Jerry Manuel did a great job with what he was given and I hope to see him in uniform for Citi Field next year.

- Aaron Heilman will be a very good 3-starter for someone next year. Depending on how Murphy fares learning 2B in the offseason, I expect Heilman, Luis Castillo, and someone else to be packaged up for…. something.

- It’s a good thing we had Mike Pelfrey available in the bullpen and decided to trot out the guys who’ve done nothing but blow games all year. That was excellent.

- For a team that’s been “resilient” all year, they went very quietly against a pitcher who said to the media that he relished watching the fans cry last year when. In fact, the entire team was very vocal about how this was their playoff and how they couldn’t wait to end the Mets’ season. Way to defend the turf, guys.

- “Resilient” isn’t a great thing to be when you end your season on a loss.

- Speaking of “defending the turf”, I didn’t watch a second of the Shea’s closing ceremony, but it must have been the most depressing thing in the history of New York City. At least the Yankees understood the importance of closing their stadium with a win.

- It is something of a fitting end for this field that it ends on choke-job. I mean, it’s become something of a New York tradition going all the way back to Brooklyn and the Polo Grounds.

- Oddly, I think the new stadium couldn’t come at a better time. 1986 sucked every ounce of karma and luck out of Shea. Be it walking in NLCS-ending run in 1999, Mike Piazza crushing a 404 foot out in 2000, Yadier Molina in 2006, the epic choke last year, or the semi-epic choke this year — a change of scenery can’t possibly hurt.

- They’ll be some kind of post-mortem next week. I need to go a few days without baseball.

- Rooting hierarchy for the post-season is Brewers, Dodgers, Cubs, Rays.

Boxscore

7 IP, 111 pitches, 5H, 1BB, 2R, 10K. L.

9IP, 117 pitches, 3H, 3BB, CG, SHO, 9K. Three days rest. W.

7.2 IP, 115 pitches, 1H, 2BB, 0R, 14K. John Maine on the penultimate day of last season. About 24 hours before evil spy Tom Glavine ended the Mets season before he recorded an out.

There’s a certain tightness you get in your chest and stomach when you’re watching a baseball game that matters. Every pitch is a chance for disaster. Johan Santana gave up a double in the top of the ninth with one out. If you’re not a baseball fan, you don’t understand watching every single pitch and thinking of the possibility of disaster. Every strike is a moment of relief. Every ball is more tension. At the end of the game, you’re exhausted and ready to puke from the clenching and unclenching of your insides.

The Mets put in their big money pitcher. $25 million per year for the next seven years. He asked for the ball on 3 days rest. Took it after throwing a career-high 125 pitches. And threw another 117 pitches to let everyone know that he was worth every dime. He kept a team that really has no business being in the race in the race. He got 2 runs and took the team home. 3 hits. He gave the Shea crowd something to cheer over. For the first time this week, the Shea crowd had the same kind of buzz it had in 2006. The energy was there. It was awesome to see.

The day wasn’t over. After the Mets game, we moved on to the Fox national broadcast. Someone had decided that Fox should claim Yanks/Sox, Cubs/Brewers, Phillies/Nationals, and Twins/Royals. Three of these belong together. Fortunately, the Yankees/Red Sox game was being rained out, so they aired Cubs/Brewers. By the time the Met game ended, Ben Sheets had given up 2 runs. By the fourth, Ted Lilly was teasing a no-hitter and giving the Cubs something to play for. In the eighth, the Brewers took advantage of some suspect defense to get the game to 4-3. Bases loaded, two-out, and the stress was back. There are very few times where you feel the same terrible stress for a team that isn’t yours. In the top of the ninth, that glorious import Kosuke Fukudome crushed the Brewers spirit with a 2-run home run. Brewers lost, and a 162-game season comes down to one day.

So here we are again. The script thus far has been exactly the same. Embarrassing Friday. Clutch, franchise-energizing pitching performance on Saturday. And now we’re down to Sunday.

0.1 IP, 36 pitches, 5H, 2BB, 0K, 7ER — Tom Glavine last year.

That was last year. This year, here is what I have to think about.

6IP, 88 pitches, 4H, 2BB, 4K, 1R — Oliver Perez - Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS.

6IP, 112 pitches, 10H, 2BB, 6K, 4ER — CC Sabathia: Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS.

Ollie’s held the Marlins to a 2.03 ERA this season over 5 starts. He’s shown an odd ability to keep his cool in big games even though he occasionally blows up against the Pirates in the middle of June. The last game at Shea could clinch a Wild Card.

Wouldn’t that be a great way to go out?

Boxscore

And like that — it’s gone.

Maybe not gone, but on life support. The Mets managed to be the only one to drop their game while the Phillies and Brewers both won. The Phillies put the final nail in the Mets’ division hopes while the Brewers, at the very least, got the nail and hammer out of the toolbox.

And, what else can I say? Shea Stadium was embarrassingly empty for what the game meant. Maybe 15,000 or 20,000 used their tickets tonight under the threat of weather and bad baseball. They played a playoff game in front of a stadium half-full of people who couldn’t be bothered to cheer for most of the game. Meanwhile, the Brewers and Phillies played in front of raucous, full houses.

And they both won. Go figure.

There are two things that I never, ever want to hear a Met fan talk about again. First, not a Met fan on the planet should ever even consider questioning the fandom of the Yankees. You can say all you want about the Yankee fanbase — call them spoiled, call them asses, say whatever you want. There is one inarguable fact. If Friday night’s game was going on in the Bronx and the Yankees were playing an eliminated Blue Jays team back one from the Red Sox and tied with the Twins for the wildcard, the Stadium would be packed. It would be full of people and buzzing and rocking and rolling. Every two-strike count would be cheered and everything that remotely resembled a rally would have the fans on their feet. The Yankees might lose, but 53,000 strong would be there and in to every second of the game.

Second, the Met fan is never again allowed to bust on the Braves for their inability to fill Turner Field in playoffs. The Met fan could constantly throw it in the Braves face that their fans were spoiled and bad fans because they couldn’t fill their stadium in the post-season. “We’d always be there for big games” they’d say. That’s over, too. As it turns out — no, we wouldn’t.

The game played last night may as well have been at Dolphins’ Stadium. That’s how dead Shea Stadium was. About 15,000 made it, and good for them, but the people who didn’t go because of some excuse — be it weather, fear of losing, whatever — should be banned from ever going to another sporting event ever again. Last night, rain washed away the corporate jackasses and fringe fans that make up a healthy portion of Shea Stadium. Tonight, the mere threat of rain did it. Welcome to the new era of New York sports — tickets so expensive that most real fans can’t go and home field advantage is a joke. To the real fans out there, I’d tell them to enjoy the 2006 NLCS. It’s the last time Shea was full with actual die-hard Met fans. To Giants fans — we got one last Super Bowl run before the Maras and Tisches get their new, sanitized, corporate stadium like the Colts got. Enjoy it. It was almost to the point where, watching the end of the Brewers game, I almost wanted them to get in. At least the people in Milwaukee care.

Costas didn’t need a special — he just needed to show a clip of the 2006 NLCS and a clip of last night. That’s the cost of pricing out fans.

In case you’re wondering, here’s what happens tomorrow. By the time the drunken college kids on the west coast wake up — the Mets will have won their game, the Brewers will have lost to the Cubs, and the Mets will draw out this season of exquisite torture until the last day of the regular season. On that day, on the final day of Shea Stadium, Oliver Perez on short rest will play the role of Tom Glavine.

Whether or not they change the script along with the recast remains to be seen. Let’s hope.

Funny thing happened when I complained about spreads. It turned out that all the spreads I thought were weird, I won and all the spreads I thought were logical I lost. I can’t imagine why I don’t gamble more.

Denver Broncos -9.5 at Kansas City Chiefs: At this point, you pretty much have to pick every team to cover the Chiefs until someone doesn’t, right? Broncos cover.

Cleveland Browns +3.5 at Cincinnati Bengals: The Bengals just took a much better than the Browns Giants’ team to the limit. You would think that Derek Anderson would take this game and elevate himself to another level to keep his job. I don’t think he’s got it. I expect Anderson to go quietly in to the good night and Brady Quinn gets the nod in Week 4. Bengals cover.

Houston Texans +9 at Jacksonville Jaguars: Ugh. The Texans are a “I got no idea” at this point. This is their third straight road game and their home town is in pieces. They may or may not be playing in their home stadium next week. This could mean they’ve already packed it in for the year or it could mean they want to come out and prove something. A third straight road game is never easy. A third straight road game with drama seems almost impossible. The Jags should have Jerry Porter this week and Fred Taylor’s remembered that he’s a good running back. I think this is going to be ugly. Jags cover.

Arizona Cardinals +3 at New York Jets: The Jets got humilited by the Chargers last week but I think they respond at home. Jets cover.

San Francisco 49ers +7 at New Orleans Saints: My gamble on Reggie Bush because of Shockey blocking for him paid off for the first few weeks. Now, Shockey’s on his standard six week vacation and I don’t know how the Saints running game recovers from this. Lets hope “well” considering I had to pick up Pierre Thomas since both my starting running backs and both my backup runningbacks have byes on the same week. Poor planning on my part. The Ms. L superstars are trotting out Jason Campbell (Pennington’s on a bye), Pierre Thomas (Derrek Ward’s on a bye), and Correll Buckhalter (Willie Parker’s out) are tasked with defending the Superstars’ 3-0 record. All that said, I’m waging on the Niners run defense being… uh… porous. Saints cover.

Atlanta Falcons +7 at Carolina Panthers: I really don’t like this Falcons team. I don’t believe in them but I’m so used to not believing in them that I feel I just have to pick against them. Oddly, the Panthers have a pretty good chance to be in a really good spot just in time to get Steve Smith back. Weird league. Panthers cover.

Minnesota Vikings +3.5 at Tennessee Titans: I still don’t think the Titans are this good. Vikings outright.

Green Bay Packers +3 at Tampa Bay Bucs: So, the Pack loses to arguably the best team in the NFL and the Bucs sneak past the Bears by their back-up quarterback throwing 67 passes. Somehow, this translates in to three points for the Packers? Packers outright.

Buffalo Bills -9 at St. Louis Rams: The Rams have to be on the list with the other “pick against them until they cover” teams, right? Bills cover.

San Diego Chargers -7 at Oakland Raiders: *mutter*. Chargers cover.

Washington Redskins +11 at Dallas Cowboys: Two NFC East teams + gigantic spread = easiest bet on the board, I think. Redskins +11.

Philadelphia Eagles -3 at Chicago Bears: Because of the trainwreck of my week 4 fantasy season, I had to grab Correll Buckhalter off the Free Agent wire on Friday since all my waiver claims got taken in front of me. I am not amused nor am I hopeful for my first ever 4-0 start. That said, this is falling under my NFC East Rule. Eagles cover.

Monday
Baltimore Ravens +7.5 at Pittsburgh Steelers: Speaking of things that worked toward my combined 3 free agent pickups this week, Willie Parker is sitting after the absolute raping the Steelers’ offense took at the hands of the Eagles. Odd thing: the Eagles’ defense isn’t all that awesome, which means maybe the Steelers were a bit over-rated against good teams. Problem is: we still don’t know if Baltimore is a good team. I say they aren’t. Steelers cover.

The Five Good Spreads
5 points: Bills -9 over Rams
4 points: Chargers -7 over Raiders
3 points: Packers +3 over Bucs
2 points: Saints -7 over Niners
1 point: Broncos -9.5 over Chiefs

Thank God the Giants are off this weekend. I have enough stress already.

Boxscore

Pedro Martinez made his last pitch for the Mets at 8:59 PM EST on September 25th, 2008. I know the exact time because as Jerry Manuel was walking out to the mound to remove him from the game, my DVR switched to Grey’s Anatomy because we had two things being recorded. In the time it took me to get a glass of water, unplug my laptop, find my bedroom television’s remote, and turn the television on, Ricardo Rincon had given up a three run HR to send the Mets down 6-3. My first thought was that, at the very least, the Mets bullpen didn’t lead us on for a while. They just flat out broke up with us.

Then, the Mets did something they’ve done very, very rarely this season. They scored in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings to overcome a lead and knock the Cubs off. The Mets are where they need to be. Win out and force the Phillies to sweep the Nationals or the Brewers to sweep the Cubs. It was a much needed win and only cost me two years off my life.

My joy at the Mets winning, though, is tempered by the fact it took them nine solid innings to defeat a Cubs line-up that featured Rich Harden, Ryan Theriot, and not one single other guy who’s going to make a post-season start for the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs dropped their B-Team on the Mets for the final night at Shea and almost managed to take the series. Instead, the Mets scratched a walk-off win away from one of the Cubs worst relievers. I’ll take it, and I’ll be very happy about taking it, but I’m not going to pretend this is where they turn their season around. This with a win last night — maybe. Just this… not so much.

In perspective, the Mets did what they needed to do. The split the series 2-2 with the best team in the league, pulled within 1 game of the Phillies with 3 to play, and stay tied for the Wild Card following the Brewers accompanying walk-off win to claim complete and total ownership of the Pirates on the season.

So where are we now? The Mets host the Marlins in the deja vu series of the season. Last year at this time, the Marlins came to town for the last series of the season with the Mets tied for the division and out of the Wild Card. We all know how that ended. This year, there’s a one game difference. The Marlins come in to Shea for the last series of the season. We’ve come full circle. The Mets can either knock off the choker label they earned last year or, for the second year in a row, prove everyone right. For a second straight year, they will have gagged away a lead in the last three weeks against sub-.500 teams. They take a spot on the long choke list of New York City’s National League franchises. On the other hand, they get the chance to do what they didn’t do last year against the same team in almost the same situation. It’s a true second chance. Clean the slate.

We can STILL do this.

Boxscore

If the baseball season is following The Script, is it possible that each game in a season follows a similar Script? It’s the only explanation that really makes sense. This game hit all four of the Mets standard game tactics. Jump in to the lead early, surrender the lead late, leave a mountain of men on base (10, if anyone was counting), and shut down in late innings. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 New York Mets.

I pointed out yesterday that Bizarro Ollie hadn’t made an appearance in recent months and, lo and behold, he showed up at the worst time. The Oliver Perez Walk-a-thon for cancer (cancer is now cured) made a return appearance to Shea Stadium. Bizarro Ollie went 105 pitches over 4.3 IP, with 6H, 5BB, and 5ER. Of course, the final two runs weren’t surrendered by Perez. The Mets called on Duaner Sanchez to get two outs and kill the rally. The outs came only after surrendering the two runs. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 New York Mets bullpen — surprisingly similar in flavor to your 2007 New York Mets bullpen.

The Mets specialize in something I’ve come to refer to as the “ninth inning c*cktease”. This occurs when the Mets almost win the game in the ninth inning. In this version of the story, AA call-up and hitting savant David “Mancrush” Murphy contributed a lead-off triple in the bottom of the ninth. One fly ball wins the game. David Wright struck out swinging when a fly ball wins the game. Following two intentional walks to anyone named Carlos, Ryan Church grounded in to a fielder’s choice that went home and Trapjaw Castro struck out swinging. Lead off triple wasted. Luis Ayala in his second inning of work and one two-out, three-run rally later, a bottom of the 10th where the Mets went away quietly, and the ball game was over. The Mets squandered an opportunity to pull within a half-game of the division and surrendered the Wildcard lead to the Brewers.

Have I seen this movie before?

There is something this team is missing. Balls, maybe? The constantly mentioned “grit?” Guts? I don’t know. They obviously have talent. They can obviously beat up and knock out starting pitchers. Relievers destroy them. I can’t even blame the crowd anymore. The crowd was fired up, ready to go, and knew that they were in the midst of a playoff race. They responded. The team didn’t. Plain and simple. They properly let them know after the game.

The Braves did the Mets a favor for the first time in franchise history by knocking off the Phillies and sending them in to their off day. The Brewers continued their ownership of the Pirates. The Mets simply need to win tomorrow to pull within one game of Philly and force the Brewers to go an almost perfect 14-1 against the Bucs.

The universe is certainly aligning to make this a full seven days of torture. Maybe, for giggles, they can extend the torture into a tie-break.

Boxscore

The interesting thing about baseball is no matter how much drama has gone on over the course of a marathon season, it can still come down to the last week and have a six month emotional investment come down to a final six games. It seems like a thousand years ago that I wrote the Willie Randolph piece and went on to be horrifically wrong about the Jerry Manuel era.

Tonight was a fine example of the drama you find at the end of a season. The Mets won, the Phillies lost, and the Brewers won. The Mets creep to 1.5 in a division where they own the tiebreak and narrow the timeframe on the Brewers. They’re still a game up in the Wild Card and a game back in the division. The team had the benefit of incredible pitching by Johan Santana — 125 pitches, 7H, 10K, 2BB, 2ER — and random things that only happen to the Cubs in September. Santana was at the plate, hit a grounder that should have been an inning-ending double play, but broke his bat. The bat preceded the ball to second and the ball hit the bat again and deflected away from the fielder. Everyone was safe and David Wright would knock the both of them in after a Luis Castillo walk. It’s enough to make a Cubs fan wonder if they really are cursed.

This week is going to try the fan’s perseverance. It’s like a playoff series but not. So far, they’ve stuck to the script. They’ve lost with their five-starter and won with their ace. They pieced together three outs with two pitchers in the ninth. It’s what they need to do with a bullpen that isn’t going to make anything easy. Tomorrow, we get Ollie. There’s been very few appearances by Bizarro Ollie down the stretch. Thursday is Pedro. I’m not sure which of those two starts to be more nervous about. Ollie loves the spotlight. Let’s hope Pedro can reach back and find a little bit of that magic to grit out a few more starts.

What tonight told me, more than any other night this season, is that Johan Santana is worth every penny the team is paying him. He’s stepped up in almost every big spot this year and pitched gems (even if the bullpen would eventually blow it). If the time calls for a huge start, he delivers. He’s a hell of a weapon to have in your pocket on Sunday if you need a win.

In a semi-related note, Seven Nights At Shea - Part 1 was linked on Metsblog.com. The comments went in much the way I’d expect them to. Half of them we’re “you’re totally right” the other half we’re varying degrees of disagreement from “suck my **ck, Keith!” to well thought out and thoroughly wrong replies.

There are no good reasons to boo your team at home. You can try to justify them to yourself. You can say that “you have to earn love in New York”. You can call people who want to be supportive corporate lapdogs. All that is perfectly fine — but the vitriolic response to the accusation is because the truth hurts. You’re part of the problem and you don’t want to hear it. You’d rather put all the blame on the players and say things like “if I’m part of the team, where’s my check” because you think of it as “us and them”. That’s where the “don’t boo them” people disconnect from the “OK to boo them people. We think of this as family. You think of it as fans and players. This is where the argument over calling fans and players “we” comes from. People who use “we” think of the team and fans as one collective unit who all want the same thing. People who don’t use “we” think of the team as one collective unit with various fans watching them and hoping for the best. If you want to see the results of a crazy fan base who loves to boo their team, check and see how well the Jets have done for the last 20 years. This is what you want for the Mets? Really?

It’s likely none of the people who read yesterday’s post (if they even did and, based on the comments, I’ll assume they only read the bit that MB excerpted on their post) will read today’s. It was framed as “blaming the fans” when it was more meant to be “pleading with the fans to be supportive.” I understand that the fans are not on the field playing the game. I also understand that the cold stat-heads out there will say that atmosphere and the crowd stuff is overrated. Maybe that’s true. But I think fans can and do affect games. Their job, though, is to throw the AWAY team off their game — not the home team. The Shea fan seems to have forgotten that. They’d rather try to get in Aaron Heilman’s head then in Carlos Zambrano’s. There’s no universe in which that helps us. Someone has to go in and get outs. This is what we have.

At the end of the day, you can bitch and moan and boo and try to be an aloof fan and tell everyone how much you don’t care… and if that’s the way you want to be that’s perfectly fine. I don’t understand it, but it’s perfectly fine. But, there are times to moan and boo and criticize and there are times to put all that aside. You can complain to each other all you want about how bad the team is and how much they’re not going to win. But that’s for US to hash out behind the scenes. It shouldn’t be on display on the field. The field should be the place where the only goal is to beat the other team. No agendas. No moaning. Just winning. You’d never let someone call your mother a whore and agree and say “yeah, she really IS a whore.” That’s what you guys are doing to this team. You’re letting the Phillies and Cubs and Brewers to call your family member a whore and agreeing with them. WE can call the team a whore. THEY can’t.

For the Mets’ family, the time to be unified is right now. We’re all in this together. Next week, if they don’t make it, we can go right back to picking and criticizing and talking about how Omar Minaya does not deserve a four-year extension. We can even do that on blogs and newspapers and podcasts right now. But at the stadium either be happy to be there or don’t go. Give them positive energy. Save your venom for when they actually deserve it. They don’t deserve it on every pitch. They deserve it at the end of the season if they finish without a playoff seed.

For now, they’re the Wild Card, they’re a game-and-a-half from winning the division — for f*ck’s sake, what’s there to be unhappy about?

Thanks Matt!.