Nervous Met Fan

Its 5:15 in the morning. I'm supposed to be sound asleep, but its just not happening. I'm 36 years old, and I've come a long way from my most intense days as Mets fan, but I feel I've regressed overnight. I'm nervous and once I woke a few before 5 AM there was no turning back. I was up for good. I don't have the highest hopes for this flawed Mets team, but I am certainly not ready to shut it down today. Get me to tomorrow is my "one day at a time" goal for today.

Do I think its going to happen? I am not sure.

This is the third time in the last 10 seasons that the Mets have gone into the last day of the season in a flat-footed tie for a playoff spot. In 1999, they beat the Pirates and played the Reds the following night in a one game playoff. Al Leiter's pitching gem propelled them into the playoffs and they made a really good run, going down in game 6 of the NLCS. But, its last year, of course, that is front and center in every Mets fans' mind. Like 55,000 or so other people I found my way into Shea Stadium last year for the season finale. Before I had even settled in to my seat, it was 7-0 Marlins and the team's chances were toast. It was tough to swallow, and I can't help but fear something like it happening again.

Ollie Perez is taking the hill today. A brilliant but confounding talent, he'll be going on 3 days rest instead of the normal 4. Its always such a wild card (no pun intended) when you have to throw a pitcher on short rest. Yesterday could not have gone better. Johan Santana outperformed everyone's expectations and tossed a complete game shut out on 3 days rest. One of the great pitching performances in Mets' history. I won't attempt to predict what Ollie Perez will do, I only say that it is a source of my uncertainty about today. There are several factors that indicate he'll do well.

1) He's a big game pitcher. Mets fans know that Ollie steps up when the pressure is on. Think about game 7 of the 2006 NLCS or some of his starts against the Yankees and Phils this year.

2) He's pitched well on 3 days rest before. That game 7 in 2006 was on short rest. He went six strong innings that night.

3) He did not throw a lot of pitches in his last start. (Of course, the reason for this, was that he did not pitch well, and got replaced early in the game.)

4) A win today could net him an extra 20 million dollars or more in his pending free agency this off-season. I'm sure Scott Boras has reminded him of this. Will he use that as motivation? Perhaps. (Thanks to my sister Mary for bringing this up to me.)

5) Perez is 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in five starts versus the Marlins this season.

6) Crowd support. The Mets fan will come ready to make a lot of noise today, and Ollie has to try to channel that energy into a little added adrenaline to get him through the start. (Thanks again Mary.)

Of course, no matter how well Perez pitches today, the Mets are going to have to score some runs and more than likely get some big outs from their beleaguered bullpen. Several of the Mets best hitters have good numbers against Scott Olsen, the Marlins starter.

So, analysis aside, the Mets gotta find a way to get a win today and then hope for a little help today in Milwaukee, where interestingly enough, CC Sabathia will also be taking the hill on 3 days rest. The Brewers have worked him so hard this year, and will be leaning on him once again on this ever important Sunday. Mets fans best hopes lie in CC not having his best stuff today.

A one final note about the games today. The Mets have scheduled the ceremonies to celebrate the closing of Shea Stadium for AFTER the game. A curious choice, made more so by the fact that no one knows what the mood is going to be like after today's game nor do we know what inning it will be in Milwaukee when the Mets game ends. Suffice it to say that it could be joyous, miserable, or undetermined and tense as 55,000 plus, keep two eyes on the Brewers game and no eyes on the elaborate ceremony. I hope the Mets have a plan to show the Brewers game on the big screen and are smart enough as a franchise to delay the ceremony long enough so that it can be given full attention. Win, lose, or draw.

Running Tally

Thanks to the absolute brilliant pitching of Johan Santana, the Mets go into the final game of the regular season tomorrow with a record of:

7 Wins

9 Losses

...in the first 16 games of the final strech of 17 games.

Much Needed Win

Mets won 6-2 tonight. They got exactly what they needed from Johan Santana, a dominant 8 inning performance that featured a lot of pitches (a career high 125) strikeouts (10) and some clutch at bats and hustle on the base paths. It also featured a lucky break that fueled their game tying 2 run rally. Who among us has ever seen a play like that, where Santana's ground ball caught up to his broken bat, bouncing off it at a very opportune time and leading to Santana reaching first base safely. I am betting that no one has. Fitting that in a season where bats seem to break once an at-bat, a play like that would transpire in such a big spot during the pennant race.

So, 12 games into their final 17 games, the Mets now have a win loss record in those 12 games of:



5 Wins



7 Losses

Tally

4 Wins

7 Losses

Worse Loss

I described to a friend of mine today that a two-run Met lead is really more like a one run lead at best. "Or", he said, "Is it sort of like they are actually DOWN two runs?" I said that things weren't that bad, but when the Mets 4-2 7th inning lead became a 7-4 deficit by the end of the 8th, I am all too unhappy to concede that my friend was probably right. Another bullpen disaster had crushed the Mets today, reducing their lead of the the Brewers to 1.5 games for the National League wild card. A two run homer by Carlos Delgado in the top of the 9th cut the Braves lead to 7-6 but went for naught when Carlos Beltran and Damion Easley struck out back to back to end the game. So, 10 games into their final 17, the Mets record in those games now stands at:

4 Wins

6 Losses

Mets head home now, staring at 7 tough games to close out the season. 4 against the Cubs starting Monday night and finishing up with a weekend season against the Marlins. Brewers will be hosting the woeful Pirates and then finish with the Cubs. It will be interesting to see how the Cubs set up their pitching rotation for each series and how well they play as they bide their time before the first round of the playoffs. Mets best chance at hanging on and making the playoffs is that the Brewers are playing even worse than they are now. That could change early this week, though, and that would spell big trouble for the Metropolitans.

Good grief.

Bad Loss

Mets lost 4-2 last night. Pedro Martinez looked uncomfortable on the mound, but after his patented bad first innings in which he gave up 3 runs, he settled in nicely and put up zeroes until the sixth. He also came up with the Mets' only big hit of the night, a two out, two run double. Rest of the offense remained silent all night. Bummer. So, their record after 9 of their last 17 games is now:

4 Wins

5 Losses

Thanks to the Reds, who beat the Brewers, theMets maintain at 2.5 game lead in the wildcard race and fell back to a half game deficit to the Phillies.

Big start by Pelfrey is essential today. Enjoy the game everyone.

Back in First Place!

Big night for my beloved Mets last night. Before the first pitch of their game was thrown the Phils and Brewers were training early and hope was high that the Mets could gain some ground last night.

Well, it wasn't easy, but they got the job done with a 9-5 win. I'll highlight a couple of unlikely heroes. First off, Aaron Heilman got a huge out in the 7th with the tying and lead runs in scoring position. Next bullpen hero was Brian Stokes who came in to start the 8th. After giving up a lead off single he got the next 3 guys out and, in a nice stroke of managing by Jerry Manuel, Stokes came back out to start the 9th and to the delight of all Mets fans he had an easy 1-2-3 inning.

So, after this win, their third in a row, the Mets are now 8 games into their final 17 games and their record in those games is now:

4 Wins

4 Losses

Running Tally

Backed by strong performance by two former Washington Nationals, Ryan Church and Brian Schneider (2 HR's), Johan Santana led the Mets to a 7-2 victory over those pesky Nats. With this crucial win the Mets record, so far, in their final 17 games of the season is now:

3 Wins

4 Losses

The Mets now hold a 1.5 game lead in the wildcard standings over the Milwaukee Brewers. (2 in the loss column.) The Brewers who are in a serious free fall, lost what had to be their toughest game in a looooooooong time. Up 6-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, Brewers closer Salomon Torres got the first two outs in the inning before the Cubs started an improbably rally that saw them tie the game in the 9th and eventually win it in the bottom of the 12th on a two out base hit by Derek Lee. As if that is not bad enough, the fact that the Brewers had men on 2nd and 3rd with no one out in the top of the 12 and DID NOT SCORE, has to have that team questioning just about everything.

More on the Mozart Find

The afternoon press conference in Nantes has yielded some more information on the the discovery announced earlier today. Here is an udated version of the AP story. Enjoy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_eu/eu_mozart_discovery

New Mozart Composition Discovered

According to an AP story by John Leicester, a new, previously unknown composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was discovered in a library in Western France. The single page is a sketch of a piece, just the melody, but is nonetheless a clearly huge discovery. See the link below for further details. I look forward to seeing the page and hearing this melody in the near future. Will comment further on this when more information is available.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_en_mu/eu_mozart_discovery

Running Tally

When Luis Ayala struck out Roger Bernadini, who was representing the tying run, the Mets got a much needed, and unnecessarily tense, win. Their record 6 games into their final 17 games is now:

2 Wins

4 Losses

Two Wins Coming

Mets are struggling right now. No doubt. But, I want to say right now, on the record, that they are going to win tonight and tomorrow.

Scores? 10-6 tonight.

3-0 tomorrow with Santana.

You heard it hear first.

Keep the faith my friends.

12 to Go

Running Tally

After last night's disheartening 1-0 loss to the Cy Young and the 1923 New York Yankees, the Mets record in the final 17 game stretch of the season is:

1 Win

4 Losses

Running Tally

• Last year the Mets went 5-12 in their last 17 games, leading to their so-called collapse, and the loss of the National League Eastern Division to the Phillies by one game Since the 2008 Mets hit the potentially fateful 17 games remaining point in the season, their record is:

1 Win

3 Losses

14 Games to Go Part II

Disaster strikes the Mets again. A clearly compromised Pedro Martinez, kept the Mets in the game through the 5th, but cracked a little in the 6th. Mets were down 4-1 after Anderson Hernandez off all people got a huge two out single off Pedro. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Duaner Sanchez came in with two outs and gave up three runs before he recorded an out. Mets threatened to make it close in the 8th but a badly timed double play by David Wright pretty much snuffed out any chance they had.

Another really tough night for Mets fans, as the nightmare we lived through in September 2007, continues to seemingly play out again, in almost the exact same fashion. Again it started with the bullpen and seems to be spreading through the team. Pelfrey tonight can stop the bleeding with a big start tonight. Mets absolutely need a win tonight. Brandon Knight pitches tomorrow.

There you have it.

14 Games to Go

Nine minutes until first pitch. Nervous time for Mets fans. Another brutal loss yesterday in a fashion all too familiar to Mets fans. They carrry a lead into the late innings, fail to build on it, and blow it real late in the game. Yesterday it was a 4-2 Mets lead to start the 9th ended up as a 7-4 loss.

Pedro gets the ball tonight. He needs to find the magic and figure out how to go 6 innings or so and keep the Mets in the game (or preferably in the lead). A huge game for Pedro and the Mets. A win, and the lead is at 1.5 games with 13 to go. A loss and a slim 1 game lead get sliced in half.

On the wild card front, in an interesting move, the Brewers, who have everything invested in winning this year, fired their manager Ned Yost. Panic move? Maybe. But I think its pretty smart, considering how much ground they have hemmoraged in the past couple of weeks. They currently sit in a flat-footed tie with the Phillies after leading almost the entire season so far.

Will post after game tonight.

17

17: The number sends chills through every Mets fans spine. It was last year around this time that the Mets were "Up 7 games with 17 to go." As you may know, the Mets went 5-12 in those remaining 17 games and ended up losing the National League East by 1 game to the Phillies.

This year the 17 games remaining guidepost arrived on Saturday the 13th, with a double-header against the Braves on the docket. The Phils were hosting the current wild-card leaders Milwaukee. The Phils won their game against the Brewers 7-3, and the Mets lost the opener of the double-header in heartbreaking, 2007 reminding, fashion. A 2-0 lead that could not be built upon, became a 3-2 loss.

With the lead, down to two games, the Mets responded in the night cap. Behind 8 shutout innings from rookie Jon Niese and home runs from Wright, Reyes, and Beltran, the Mets took a nice lead early and never looked back. The win kept at bay, the panic that could have set in had the team and fans had to stomach another loss last night.

I was at the game with my sister Maggie. Sharing the box was my friend Larry, who is the only person I know who was at the first game ever at Shea in 1964 and who will be at the last regular season game next Sunday, September 28, 2008. My friend Danny joined us in the adjacent box for game 2 and made a really nice grab on a foul ball, that, but for his quick glove, was destined for the screen, but instead was snagged by Danny. Nice catch my friend.

So, down to 15 games to go in the season. Thanks to a nice bounce back win, the Mets lead sits at 2.5 games (3 in the loss column). Stay tuned for a game by game countdown to the end of the season.

Ike Approaches Texas

Wow, Ike is a big storm. 105 MPH winds are serious, but the story here is the awesome size of this storm. Seems to be covering the entire Gulf of Mexico. This means it will churn up the waters there even more, the winds will extend far beyond where the storm center makes landfall, and that the rainfall amounts could be devastating. I've been watching the news this morning and the pictures from the Texas beaches are pretty awe inspiring. The waves crashing into shore are mammoth.

Interesting to note, that the authorities have told the populace of Houston NOT to evacuate. When Houston was evacuated for Rita, the traffic was absolutely out of control and many people died just trying to drive away. Sounds to me like telling people to stay for this one is probably the right call.

Just heard on CNN that the storm is 900 miles wide. Wow.

Three in a Row for Mets

Following their much needed win against the Phillies on Sunday night, the Mets had a couple of games with the Nationals facing them this week. They won them both, albeit in a fashion that they may not have chosen as their number one option. Tuesday night, with my family and me in attendance, the Mets won 10-8 at the same time that the Phils were losing to the Marlins, giving the Mets a 2.5 game lead in the division. Wednesday played out similarly with the Mets winning another barnstormer and the Phils again doing down to the Marlins.

At the Tuesday night game, in the 8th inning, Carlos Beltran fouled a pitch off about 15 to the right of my family's location. After it bounced around for a couple of seconds, the ball made its way towards me and I stuck out my glove and snagged it. It was my second foul ball this year and it is made special by the fact that it has a stamp on it commemorating that it came from a game played in the final year of Shea Stadium. (See photo.) I'm glad I was in the right place at the right time, and that I kept the ball. Will happily buy a display stand for this one and find a good place for it at home.

Santana going to the mound against Mike Hampton tomorrow night at Shea. Mets will go into that game with either a 3 or 4 game lead over the Phils depending on the results of the Phils/Brewers game tonight in Philadelphia.

What a Day: Part 3

11:03 PM

Mets win! An absolute gem by Santana and another HUGE night by Carlos Delgado. 7 and 1/3 innings for Santana and a huge 2 RBI single by Delgado in the first, followed later on by two monsterous home runs. Mets lead goes back to two games and Santana proves again that he may be the difference between the '07 and '08 Mets. The bullpen got the job done tonight too. Some clutch outs in the 8th from Feliciano (against Ryan Howard) and Stokes (against Burrell). I'll tell ya, this win did a lot to redeem for me what had been a pretty stinky sports day so far. Thanks Mets.

Across Roosevelt Avenue, the tennis match is tight. Serena won the first set 6-4 and Jankovic was a break up and had a chance to serve for the second set, but she couldn't close it out and we are currently at 5-5. Jankovic was down 0-40, battled back and lost after the 5th deuce. This has been quite a match. Lots of long, entertaining rallies.

The latest on Brady: Reports are swirling that Tom Brady has a torn left ACL and will be out for the year. But, he is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow, so how the sources know is a little bit of a mystery and I won't believe it until I hear more tomorrow. Of course, ESPN is all over the story.

More later. (or tomorrow. :)

What a Day! Part 2

Well, things not off to a good start for me with the sports. The Phils handed the Mets a beat down. Pedro got rocked and the Phils have now taken the first two games of the series to close the Mets lead in the NL East to just 1 slim game. Biggest game of the year awaits the Mets tonight, on ESPN, with the ESPN team of broadcasters no doubt bringing up the ghosts of September of 2007. Remember this folks, the Mets of 2007 did not have Johan Santana and that is why their end of the year slump got as deep as it did. I expect him to go out and pitch very, very well tonight and for the Mets to hit enough to get a win over Cole Hamels and the Phillies.

I caught some interesting NFL games today too. First off, the Bengals lost to the Ravens. Frustrating loss in which the Bengals talented offense never really got going and a decision to go for it on 4 and 1 with 7 minutes to go from the Ravens 25 may have been the final blow. Bengals ran the ball for no gain and never got another chance as the Ravens were able to run out the clock on their ensuing possession. NOT a good start for my boyz from Cincy.

The Jets got themselves a nice win, surviving losing their placekicker, and surviving a final (unsuccessful) drive by the Dolphins led by former Jet Chad Pennington. Some good stop and a an interception on the final play by the Jets secondary allowed them to hang on for the 20-14 win. Could have been a REALLY tough loss for the Jets to take had the Dolphins scored there and won by a single point.

And as some of you may know, I live in Cambridge, MA these days so I have to mention that Tom Brady hurt his left knee early in the first quarter of the Patriots opener. They managed to win, in no small part to the fact that their backup QB took most of the pre-season snaps as Brady nurses some injuries, so he was pretty sharp and a defensive stand at the end allowed them to hang on as well against the Chefs. (mis-spelling intentional) No word as of yet on the extent of Brady's injury. Will keep you posted.




Nadal kept the break he earned yesterday and has won the third set from Andy Murray. They are on serve early in the 4th although the 2nd game has gone to 8 deuces so far with Murray having squandered 7(!) break points in the current game.

What a Day!

September 7, 2008

I went to the gym this morning and took a couple of classes. Muscle conditioning and yoga. Figured I had to get up and get that out of the way, because come 1:00 PM I knew I wouldn't be going anywhere.

Why? Well, could there be a more exciting sports day? Wow, I am firmly ensconced in my couch and not sure I'll be moving much more today. First off, in the heart of a tight pennant race, the Mets are hosting the Phillies in a day/night double header. Two games against team just 2 games behind them in the standings. And the Mets starting pitchers for today? Pedro in the day game, and Johan Santana in the nightcap. Awesome stuff.

Today is also the first full day of the NFL season. Its currently 1:34 and Brett Favre has already thrown a 54 yard TD pass for the Jets and Tom Brady is already out of the game in New England with a left knee injury? Think a changing of the guard is underway in the AFC East? Me neither, but it sure sounded good. And in other news, my beloved (but somewhat hapless) Bengals are down 7-0 to the Ravens. Mark my words, though, Bengals WILL win today. I hope.

Also, starting at around 4:00 PM today we get the continuation of the men's semi-finals at the U.S. Open, with Rafa Nadal down 2 sets already to Andy Murray. Federer got through to the finals yesterday, but the Nadal/Murray match was suspended by the rain associated with Tropical Storm Hanna. (I wonder what ESPN sportscaster Hanna Storm thought about that?) And then tonight at 9:00, in the U.S. Open's version of the day/night double-header, the women's final will kick off. Serena Williams vs. Jelena Jankovic. Sweet. (Williams in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, that's my prediction.)

So, fellow sports fans. Enjoy the day. The baseball, the full NFL slate. The men's and women's tennis. Get comfortable, stock up on the healthy snacks, and have a great day. Will post later with some more observations and post-game/post-match analysis.