I HAVE DFS

I've never hated the Mannings. I know a lot of people are bothered by them, sick of them, feel they are overexposed. I don't mind them - I find them quite likeable. I'm not crazy about Eli's forcing the Chargers' hand in the draft, and I love when the Jets beat either Manning, but on any other week, I often find myself rooting for them.

I also enjoy their commercials.
For some reason, I can't find any video to put on here, but this year's overexposure of the Mannings comes in the form of DirecTV ads for the Sunday Ticket. The premise of the commercial is "DFS" - Displaced Fan Syndrome - the people who need Sunday Ticket the most are people who are living outside of the city of the team they root for. Archie Manning tells us he first got DFS when Peyton went to play in Indy, then again with Eli in New York (not like he didn't contract that bit of DFS on his own, but that's another story for another day).

But I can relate. Because I have DFS.

Had it since 1996, since every football season was mostly spent in Boston while I was in college. Lots of time spent breaking down the NFL schedule, figuring out when the Jets were not playing the same time as the Patriots, so I could figure out the Sundays they would be on free TV.

It was always a waste when, like this Thursday, the Jets played the Patriots in a nationally televised game. I always wanted a Jets-Dolphins or some such game on Monday night, because I'd be able to see a Jets-Patriots game on CBS at 1pm on Sunday, and basically it was one less Sunday game I could watch.

But I digress. For four seasons now, I've found the cure to DFS, and I'm glad the Mannings finally put a label on my suffering. Say what you will about DirecTV - its limitations during rainstorms, its not-so-great customer service (so I've heard) - but I've had nothing but good experiences.

And it saves me a ton of money not having to find a bar with every game every Sunday.

NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND THIS ONE

I made what I thought to be a very reasonable request tonight. The Wife seems to disagree. I know because she made a terrible face when I asked the question (note I didn't even demand it - I merely requested it). I'm chalking it up to the ol' pregnancy hormones - she'll be more reasonable after she has the baby.

The baby is coming soon - real soon. Which is why I made the request in the first place.

See, the due date is September 15. The Jets home opener is September 14. I requested permission to maybe attend the Jets home opener, and see Brett Favre's first home game as a Jet. Really, I'm the one putting myself in a bad position - I have school the next day.

But I'm forgetting the most important part. The baby is probably going to come early - our estimate has it coming in the next week or so. So I think it's quite reasonable that I head down to New York for a day a couple of weeks after the baby is born, provided someone comes and sits with The Wife and our older child for the day.

My suspicion is that The Wife enjoys the time we spend watching the DirecTV Sunday Ticket together and would be upset if I left her flat to go watch the Jets in person that day. In which case, I totally understand where she is coming from.

Otherwise, I can't imagine what the problem is. I welcome your comments.

ESPNEWS - EMPHASIS ON THE 'NEW'

I watch an inordinate amount of ESPNEWS. Not so much now, but usually over the summer, with nothing else to do, I'll leave it on for background noise. I like the fact that when there is something happening immediately, like a press conference or whatever, usually I can turn it on and I'll know they won't cut away from it. I also depend on their crawl for all of the scores for my baseball pool.

With the baseball season well underway, I've been watching ESPNEWS more lately. I don't usually watch for highlights, though I catch a lot of what I miss flipping from game to game while they show the highlights while I'm looking for my scores. It gives me what I need without ever having to watch SportsCenter, which I haven't enjoyed since I was 15. So I knew this change was coming - it didn't blindside me - but I didn't think it was necessary - a big format change that falls under the "If it wasn't broke, why did you fix it?" category.
I didn't think there was anything wrong with ESPNEWS when it was the orangey screen (on the left). They showed the scores I needed, and they had the appropriate content on the air. I don't have an HDTV, so the fact that it wasn't available in high definition didn't bother me. Now, the screen is heavy on the blue (on the right), there are more crowded graphics, but it still gives me the scores I need, so I don't mind that much.

What bothers me is that in doing this drastic change, ESPN took something that didn't have many flaws, and made it worse (the graphics they put on there - the face of the person who the news on the crawl is about, or the logo of the team, for example - make it a very busy screen), and didn't fix the flaws that did exist. Here's what I mean:

1) I hate it that ESPNEWS has this great crawl, but airs commercials that require the crawl to be dropped (Looking your way, Bowflex). Everytime a score I need is nearing, I go into my chant: 'Don't drop the crawl, don't drop the crawl'. I shouldn't have to do that. The information should stay on my screen...and they should either show commercials that don't require the crawl to be dropped, or keep the crawl up, commercials be darned. (And, yes, I'm aware that they probably think I'll stay around to watch my score the next time around - I do - therefore, watching more of their content. And furthermore, the commercials are the ones paying the money. But I don't care.)

2) There's no rhyme or reason to the scores right now. They'll show NCAAM, then NBA, then NHL, then NCAAM, then NASCAR, then GOLF, then NCAAM, NBA, and NHL again all before the MLB comes up. I don't get it. Don't use me as a pawn to see all this other stuff - give me my friggin' scores. I don't need to see men's basketball three times before I find out how the Padres-Giants game turned out.

3) This is one of the most frustrating things. ESPNEWS was notorious enough for calling something "Breaking News" if it happened at 10am, keeping the news on the bottom right-hand side of the screen for hours, and at 10pm still having it labeled "Breaking News". Now, it's even worse - it takes up the bottom part of the screen as "Breaking News". Another case of breaking something that wasn't broken in the first place...no pun intended.

I'm still watching, but it's tough - I have a feeling I'm going to have to solely rely on the SportCast Wireless Scoreboard soon enough for my baseball scores.

ONE MORE ESPN RANT WHILE I'M AT IT: Versus isn't completely innocent in this one, either, just to get that out there first. I was eagerly anticipating the NHL Playoffs beginning tonight, until I found out that the Ottawa-Pittsburgh game was on Versus. That means I needed to rely on DirecTV not blacking out MSG, where I was hoping to watch the Rangers-Devils series. Unfortunately, it was blacked out once 7pm hit. Now I have to figure out who to call and complain to - DirecTV, the NHL, or Versus. Because this is an instance that deserves a phone call or a letter. What other friggin' league blacks viewers out of their post-season? The most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I need to rely on Versus!?! to show me the Rangers?!?! And now I have to make a phone call....I don't even like ordering a pizza on the phone. Stupid NHL. And I blame ESPN for not renewing its NHL contract - where I'd have more options - there's no such thing as Versus2. Not that I hold grudges or anything.

NOT BAD FOR STARTERS

As far as the Mets are concerned, I don't think Opening Day could have gone any better. And on a personal note, all it took was for the games to count for me to be into the season. I was on board just about after President Bush threw out the first pitch at Nationals Park.

First of all, one of my favorite stats that gets brought up every year at this time (nationally, too - not just on the Mets games) is the Mets' success on Opening Day. In their history, the Mets are 30-17 on Opening Day. That ranks among the best, percentage-wise. So the Mets improved upon that with their win over the Marlins.

Johan Santana, obviously, is the other extremely good news. You couldn't have gotten a better start (OK, a no-hitter would have been better. Here's how desperate I am for one - it's always on my mind. I convinced myself on my ride home from work that it would be ultra-dramatic if Santana's Mets debut was a no-hitter. And then he got through the first 1-2-3, and I was convinced it was going to happen. It didn't. 161 more tries for the Mets this year.) - 2 runs in 7 innings - with 8 strikeouts. This is going to be a fun year.

How about this, too - David Wright - 2 doubles!!! I love it. The first was also pretty clutch - with the bases loaded, he broke the game open.

A few other thoughts from around the league's Opening Day:

-The Brewers-Cubs game was ridiculous. Scoreless into the 9th, then Kerry Wood gives up 3 runs in the top half. Eric Gagne counters by blowing the save and giving up 3 in the bottom half (a 3-run homer by Fukodome, just to make it more interesting). Then the Brewers won in the tenth, giving Gagne a so-undeserved win. Gagne and Wood - both reclamation projects off to a rocky start.

-Exciting news from the world of DirecTV - I think (I haven't proven this, but I'm pretty sure) I now get both telecasts on the baseball package. For instance - today's Mets game, since it was on SNY and FSN Florida, would have been given to me on FSN Florida, because the Marlins were home. But I had both feeds. And there were two channels dedicated to most of the games. So I think if the games are available on both feeds this year, they'll be offered on both. Woo-hoo!

-Early returns on the Wireless Scoreboard are positive - a few flaws, but overall good.

-The game on Sunday night at Nationals Park reminded me that Washington, D.C. is the ballpark trip for the year. Again, The Wife's idea. And she's pregnant, but she'll go for a 6-hour car ride. She's a special one. After seeing the park on TV, I'm excited for that. We'll be going Memorial Day Weekend.

-Seems to me that C.C. Sabathia is notorious for being handed big leads and then blowing them. I think he loses concentration. I think he needs to pitch in tight games.

-I love that the Mets have Mike Pelfrey starting this weekend in Atlanta. I think he'll have a good season, and he's pitched well against Atlanta recently. So he'll get off on the right foot. Plus, it's against Tom Glavine. I hope the Mets destroy him.

A very exciting day. I'm just so happy I came around in the excitement category.

IF IT WAS THE METS, I'D BE TICKED

Got out of the shower this morning, thought I'd have a chance to watch regular season baseball....turned on the TV - a Sony, looking much like the one at left - and the screen was black - looking exactly like the TV at the left. I went from NESN to ESPN2, both supposedly carrying the Red Sox-A's, and neither one had a picture.

I checked out another channel. Yup, a picture. Immediately I knew this was some sort of DirecTV problem, not a problem at only our house.

The report now is that there were technical difficulties at DirecTV. DirecTV claims NESN was back on by the seventh inning, and reports say that ESPN2 didn't come back until after the game. I wasn't around to find out - I was already at work.

This is a mess. I don't care very much...but you'd better believe when I complain to DirecTV I'm going to claim myself as the biggest Red Sox fan in the world, who took the day off to watch the game.

Thank goodness when the Mets played in Japan, that game was on ESPN, and I was able to watch it no problem. By the way - I can't believe it has been 8 years since I watched that game. Some parts of it seem like yesterday....some of it feels like a lifetime ago. A lot can happen in 8 years.

BACK TO THE STREAK: I'm back to playing 'Beat the Streak' - one of my favorite parts of the early baseball season, before I get bored with it (and realize I'm bad at it). They're offering $1,000,000 this year to someone who can get to 57 games. I'll let you know when I'm close. I forgot to start it with Game 1 - I'm picking it up in game 2 with Manny Ramirez.

GLAVINE GETS ROCKED

Yankees 11, Mets 8 (NYM: 37-29, NYY: 34-32)

I feel like I have a lot on my mind this evening, first and foremost, that I hope my students don't view me as a "rakish nerd". (See comments from yesterday.) Or, for that matter, a rakish anything. (Actually...just looked up 'rakish' - I've been called worse.)

Right behind that, though, is Tom Glavine. Everything I read mentions the fact that "Glavine is still stuck on 295 wins", "Glavine is still searching for win number 296", "Glavine has his second consecutive rocky start". I feel like we're missing the bigger picture - how about the fact that Tom Glavine is just 5-5 with a 4.67 ERA. That's more than just Saturday's start against the Yankees, and last week's start against Detroit. Sure, Glavine has had a couple of starts this year where he should have gotten a win, but either the team couldn't score runs or the bullpen hurt him (the same situation he's faced throughout his Mets career), but he's also hurt this team. Saturday's game was a typical Tom Glavine loss - he gives up a bunch of runs, but the Mets keep coming back and putting him in a position to win....but he keeps giving the lead right back. You pretty much see this pattern developing by the third inning when he has games like this. (OK, perhaps I'm overreacting - I'm looking at Glavine's last 10 starts, and the numbers aren't bad....but he seems to have had more bad starts than just the past two against the Yankees and Detroit.)

Now, not far behind Glavine in my mind is the fact that this game was one of those 1pm Saturday games, so I had no chance of watching it. I still don't understand the TV rights on Saturdays...and it's not fair to people like me that they play 1pm games on Saturday if they're not going to allow those games to be put on the 'Extra Innings' package.

The Mets lost this game despite taking separate leads into the bottom of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings, but Glavine gave all of those leads back. The Mets have now lost 8 out of 10...but they are still high achievers. I was switching channels before bed on Friday night, and caught the Mets on 20/20 on ABC. Of course, I stopped. They were doing a report on luck/superstition, and mentioned the Mets' shaved heads from their trip out to San Francisco. The reporter said that people who have such superstitions usually have a higher intelligence, and are usually high achievers. Consider my worries about the 2007 season over. It would be nice, though, for the Mets to take this series.

David Wright extended his hitting streak to 17 games in the loss. I only half-caught it during Friday night's game, but there's something about this hitting streak being the third 15-game hitting streak of Wright's in a certain amount of time, and he's the only guy in history to do that. But I'm not sure what he did/is doing. Also, I think David Wright is a better hitter when he's not on a hitting streak. When he's on a streak, he gets a dinky hit once a game to continue it. When he's not on a streak, sure, he'll have an 0-fer, but he's more consistent, if that makes sense. I won't be sorry when this hitting streak comes to an end.

Finally, on Saturday's game, I'm mad at Carlos Beltran. The Mets rallied in the 9th against Mariano Rivera. They loaded the bases, scored twice, the second run coming on a 2-out single by Jose Reyes, batting right-handed against the righty Rivera (Reyes also stole 2 more bases). Beltran, representing the go-ahead run, popped up to end the game. Wonderful.

Ray's Pizza johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: A-Rod had a homer, but Derek Jeter hit the go-ahead homer and was 4-for-5, so I give the honor to him. Jeter was 4-for-5 with 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, and he stole a base. Jeter's homer came in the 4th inning, with the Mets ahead, 5-4. He put the Yankees ahead to stay, at 6-5.


ONE MORE NEGATIVE NOTE: I feel like it's been one negative thing after another this week - no hot water, the car crash, the Mets losing...and I'm usually a positive person. But one last (probably) negative thing before I get back to positive things, with the winning streak the Mets are about to go on beginning Sunday night. The tie clip I mentioned in the Friday posting, which I have clearly been wearing incorrectly for the past three years, has been misplaced. I think I lost it on the last day of school, when I changed clothes at school and was cleaning up the classroom. I have no idea where it ended up. I'd be sad if I can't recover it.

CUBS FIGHTING AGAIN: I don't know if I've ever weighed in on baseball brawls before. The Cubs-Padres fight got me a little riled up on Saturday, so I'll weigh in now. Yes, they're exciting, they get the blood pumping, like all fights usually do. The Wife absolutely loves them. But in the end, they make me sad. I think this dates back to a fight between the Mets and Cubs in the early 90's, when Rico Brogna got tossed into the brick wall behind home plate by (Cub) Turk Wendell. Brogna went on the DL with a shoulder injury shortly thereafter, and was never the same when he came back. I always blamed it on the fight. So I get a little upset when I see them now.

I also think most of the fights are silly and contradictory. I feel like the players of today have no business defending the 'honor' of the game. With so many of them tied up in steroids, and I'm sure so many more looking the other way, that's the first thing. Secondly, supposedly this brawl started because a couple of guys had a problem with Alfonso Soriano looking too long after a homer he had hit. I just think it's hypocritical to throw at someone for that these days - are you going to throw at every single batter? Everyone poses after they hit something...even if it doesn't leave the park. Everyone shows someone else up throughout the game. It's disheartening, but if you're going to get upset at one person for it...get upset at everyone who does it.

CAPITOL OFFENSE

Nationals 6, Mets 2 (WAS: 3-9, NYM: 7-4)

At no point this year will it be OK for the Mets to lose to the Nationals. I know it's going to happen more than this one time, but it shouldn't happen. The Mets need to rack up as many wins as they can get against Washington, because the division will be tighter this year than last, and wins against the Nationals (or more importantly, losses against the Nationals) might make up the difference in the division.

That said, it's not the end of the world that the Mets lost on Saturday, it's just disappointing when the Mets lose a game they should win. The Mets outhit the Nationals 11-8, including a 2-for-4 afternoon by David Wright, whose hitting streak is now at 23 games - one away from the team record (but it's spread out over two seasons).

Also, the Mets were in this game late, despite the score. (I should mention I didn't see any of this game - there's one annoying thing about the DirecTV/Extra Innings Package - Saturday afternoon games are blacked out because of the FOX Game of the Week. I hate that. The games that start at one are almost off the air when Fox goes on - why black it out? So I'm forced to watch Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy for 25 minutes? No thanks. I'll just turn on the game after four and miss the top of the first inning...give me back my 1pm start.) Anyway, in the eighth, down 6-2, with two men on and no one out, David Wright apparently drove one to the wall in center, and to my understanding, Ryan Church robbed him of a homer - or at least extra bases (2-for-4 and this for Wright - starting to get hot?). Then there was a double play. So the Mets went down fighting.

Speaking of fighting...the umpires, apparently, thought there was going to be some. After giving up a 2-run homer to Chris Snelling in the 6th, Orlando Hernandez hit the next batter, pitcher Shawn Hill, in the hands. The umps threw him out of the game immediately. The way I understand it, El Duque did not want to hit Hill (though it looked awfully incriminating). El Duque protested to the ump, and then from the dugout told Hill he didn't mean to hit him, and I guess Hill accepted El Duque's apology. The Nationals and Mets have had much bad blood in the past, but I think those days have gone the way of Cliff Floyd and Jose Guillen. So this was basically a non-event, but since Hernandez got thrown out, I had to mention it.

The weather is very threatening Sunday. I give it a 0-10% chance that the Mets will actually play.


SONY PLAYSTATION JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Shawn Hill gave up a bunch of hits, but managed to pull out the win. His line: 7 innings, 8 hits, but only one walk, 2 earned runs, and 5 strikeouts. Hopefully this is the only time this year this award goes to a Washington player.


MLB 'O7 THE SHOW: I didn't think I'd ever buy another video game. Then a combination of a number of events (tax return, a trip to Best Buy, a week off from school) gave me a hankering for video game baseball. So upon arrival at Best Buy (to buy a video camera to record the things The Baby does that I will be too busy playing video games to notice), I called the Southern Bureau to find out what baseball game I should invest in. He said "MLB The Show" was a good one, but all I saw was 2K7's game. I asked the Southern Bureau if "The Show" was the EA Sports game. He informed me, as though I should have known, that EA does not do a Major League baseball game anymore, they just do NCAA baseball. So I was about to pull the trigger on the 2K7 game, with Derek Jeter on the cover, when the Southern Bureau informed me that "The Show" had David Wright on the cover. Hold the phone. But the game was nowhere to be found. Here's how the conversation goes:

Southern Bureau: "Johnny, you gotta get the game with David Wright on the cover."

Johnnymets: "Yeah, I know. But then I'd have to go to another store. I don't think The Wife will want to do that. I should just get this one."

Southern Bureau: "Go to another store, come on. Didn't The Wife sign a marriage contract or something that says she has to do stuff like that?" (It should be noted that the Southern Bureau is not married.)

Johnnymets: "I think I've pushed that envelope about as far as it goes."

Turns out there was a Toys 'R Us across the parking lot, so I ran over there. They didn't have the game either. I convinced The Wife to allow me one more stop, and they had the game. So I've played it, and I'm already 0-3. I've figured out all of the game play, it's hard, but I'm getting it. The rosters are good (solid Triple A roster - Pelfrey, Humber, Milledge), there are good stats, and even all-time records, which I love. Stupidly, though, I still insist on playing games when I'm on the phone. This has never been a good idea. And as a result, El Duque took a 4-0 lead into the 9th inning in the third game against St. Louis, heading for my first win, and he proceeded to let three guys get on, then a grand slam, then a homer to Pujols to win it. Oops. Never, EVER talk on the phone during a video game. Very frustrating. But it's a good game.

BEAT THE STREAK: I have to wait and see with Piazza later on Saturday, and I'll try to avoid a weather problem on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will be past Pittsburgh, and I'll go with Jason Bay in a doubleheader.

PLAYOFF PREVIEW

Reportedly overheard in Jacksonville from a Patriots coach after the Patriots clinched the division by beating the Jaguars.

"Take that, Eric Mangini - We're division champs!"

I saw that a couple of weeks ago in the Boston Globe. That's not the way the World Champion New England Patriots behave. That sounds like a team I'd like the Jets to be facing in the playoffs....a little too concerned about what's going on elsewhere.

Those were my initial thoughts when I read that quote in the Globe. Now, of course, the Patriots get Eric Mangini and his New York Jets at Gillette Stadium in Round 1 of the playoffs. Take that, Eric Mangini.

I actually feel the Jets match up well against the Patriots (you didn't think differently, did you?). The Jets beat the Patriots in Foxboro already this season. The negatives, of course, are that you're giving Bill Belichick and his staff a third game against you - if he doesn't have you figured out by game 2 (which it's hard to say he didn't - he had the Jets figured out the first time they met this season), he'll have you figured out by game 3. And the Jets beat the Pats in the muck and mud at Gillette the first time around - now there's the Field Turf, and Tom Brady is something like 22-1 all-time on turf (and the Pats haven't lost at home since the field has been installed).

That said, I can say the reverse - Eric Mangini sure seemed to have the Pats figured out the last time these two teams met. The Jets did exactly what they needed to do - put pressure on Brady, and rough him up, and force him to make mistakes or throw bad passes. They need to do that again this week.

It's going to be some kind of game. The Patriots are about a 9-point favorite right now. I'm not going to publish my pick until the end of the week, but I will say that I think that's ridiculous. The Patriots will not beat the Jets by 9 points. As a matter of fact, I don't think they'll beat them at all. Take that, Patriots fans.

SABAN: I am proud to say that I didn't believe for a second that Nick Saban would stay with the Miami Dolphins and pass on the Alabama job. Do you know why? Because coaches are liars. I don't care that he couldn't pass up that money. I don't care that he was pestered for two weeks about it. I care that he flat-out said he had no interest in coaching Alabama, and was going to stay with the Dolphins. But I learned my lesson from Herman Edwards last year - just because Nick Saban (or any coach) says they won't leave doesn't mean they won't leave. I shouldn't care. I really shouldn't. (I actually prefer to see the Dolphins in turmoil, so I should enjoy this, and part of me does.) But he lied. He flat-out lied. I would rather he said something like, no comment, and I won't comment on that until the season is over. But instead, he lied something awful, saying he had no interest, and wouldn't be leaving. I think that makes you sound like a worse person than you are, because you're going back on your word.

NFL NETWORK: Thanks to DirecTV, I have the NFL Network. I've been meaning to post about the Thursday/Saturday night games for a while. Bryant Gumbel is awful as a play-by-play guy. Awful. And Chris Collinsworth is fantastic as a color guy. I can't believe I used to not like Collinsworth. I have no idea why...he's very good. Here's an example of his great color work though - last Saturday, early in the Giants game against Washington, Tiki Barber is just starting to slice through the Redskins' defense, and Collinsworth says, "If the Redskins don't put 8 men up on the line of scrimmage, Tiki's going to run for 200 yards." On the next play, Barber rips off a 55-yard touchdown run. Collinsworth says, "Maybe 300." It was great - Barber finished with 234 yards rushing. Good work, Chris.

The other thing about the NFL Network, though, is they are playing these recaps of the greatest Super Bowl champs of all time. I have no opinions on the order in which they play these, but I've seen 2-and-a-half of the shows, and they are fantastic. I watched a little of the 1970 Chiefs, the entire 1996 Packers, and the 1990 Giants. The deal is, they have three figures from the team tell the story of the team. It's just great. I want to try to watch them all, but I don't know if I have the time. If you do, make sure you do it.

WORKING OVERTIME

Giants 7, Mets 6 12 innings (NYM: 33-22, SF: 29-27)

For the second straight game, and third time in four games, the Mets went to extra innings. It was the tenth time this year the Mets have played an extra-innings game (by my count), and I think now the Mets are 6-4 in extra innings games (again, just my count). This is going to cause some wear and tear on the bullpen - and I think the Mets are going to start paying for it this week. Back-to-back extra innings games, and now a trip out west to play Los Angeles, Arizona, and then back east at Philadelphia. I'm not expecting the best road trip....but maybe the Mets will show how good they are and come away with a winning record. (This is the last tough road trip the Mets have this year - at least as far as mileage goes.)

As for the game, this was an exciting one (which I didn't get to see - more on that later). David Wright hit two homers - he's now up to 10 on the year, and 51 career, and continues to swing a hot bat. (He's now hitting .330..and getting much national recognition. Apparently this week 'The Sporting News' is comparing him to A-Rod.)

The Mets blew a lead in this game, but also came back a couple of times. The most dramatic was after the Giants took a 2-run lead in the 10th inning, then brought Armando Benitez in to close it out. Jose Valentin homered with one out, to make it 6-5, then with two outs, Lastings Milledge hit his first career homer, tying the game. (Milledge was 3-for-4, with 3 RBI, raising his major league average to .267.) Pedro Feliciano got tagged with the loss by giving up the final go-ahead run in the 12th (althoug Heath Bell gave up the hit that scored the run - Bell has been pitching very well since his call-up to replace Jorge Julio out of the bullpen. Not too many of the bullpen guys pitched well on Sunday.)

A rough series for the Mets against the Giants. They lost the series-opener (the first game of the doubleheader), which should have been a warning - the Mets hadn't lost the first game of a home series all season. (They had won 10 straight this year, 13 straight overall. I hate seeing streaks like that end.) Now it's off to the West Coast - let's hope for good things.

MEDIA-RELATED NEWS: First of all, I was wondering why Howie Rose was doing the Mets' game on SNY Saturday (the second game of the doubleheader) - I thought Gary Cohen just had some scheduled time off. But apparently Cohen was taken away from the stadium before the game with appendicitis. I'm not sure how long he'll be out for...but I heard a bit of the Mets' game on the radio on Sunday and Ed Coleman was filling in for Howie Rose...so I guess my services won't be needed. How about two Mets figures with appendicitis at the same time, though? (Xavier Nady and now Gary Cohen.)

Secondly, I couldn't watch the Mets on Sunday, and I can't figure out why. The programming guide on DirecTV had the Mets-Giants game on channel 735, and supposedly it was on Fox Sports Bay Area. But the game wasn't coming on that channel. I was mad...but sadly, being the way that I am, I'll never complain to DirecTV, and I'll never figure out why the game wasn't on. Oh well. I did get a look at ESPN.com's much-improved GameCast.

MONTH OF MAY: I forgot to post this Friday - but since the month of May is over, it's time for the monthly record. The Mets were 16-12 in May - following up their 16-8 April. If the Mets win 16 games a month, they'll do OK this season. (That would be about 112 wins, to put that in perspective...so 15 more to go in June!)

THE KID'S KIDS: The Mets are headed in the right direction again. They beat Tampa 5-1 on Sunday (for the third straight time), and are back to a game-and-a-half lead over Brevard County. That's some good managing by Hall of Famer Gary Carter.

FANTASY UPDATE: I'm back on the outs with this game. The What If Mets dropped all three games Sunday, and are back to .500. I have three coming up on Monday now with the Giants. I'm telling you - I don't know what to do. I'm still just two games back of the wild card, so there's some hope...but I'm 11 behind the division-leading phillies. Also, I filled out a mid-season survey that the game asks you to fill out, and I was pretty critical. I hope that's not why I'm suddenly on a losing streak.

BEAT THE STREAK: David Wright was my pick on Sunday, and he got me up to a five-game streak. I'm taking Carl Crawford on Monday, hopefully we can get this one up into double digits and beyond.

My pick for the Jets-Raiders game on Sunday - find something else to do. This is when DirecTV's Sunday Ticket comes in handy - the local offering is Patriots-Bills, which does nothing for me. The Jets-Raiders game will be my permanent switchback, just to keep tabs on what's going on, but I can watch the Colts go for 13-0, and the Steelers-Bears game instead of the other games...without leaving home.

So last week, a pretty good week all around for picks - the wife was 8-8, Dave was 11-5, and I pulled off a 13-3. Dave now stands 4 below .500 at 84-88-4, the wife is 94-94-4, and I pulled exactly even with her last week after the 13 wins. So for this week:

I have Carolina, at home, -5 against the Buccaneers - so does the wife.

I have New England, -4, at Buffalo - so does the wife.

I have Minnesota giving 6 and-a-half against the Rams, in Minnesota, the wife has Saint Louis.

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers are giving 5-and-a-half to Chicago - I take the Bears plus the points. The wife takes the Steelers.

The Raiders are 3-point-favorites over the Jets - I take Oakland, the wife takes the Jets.

Indianapolis is giving 8-and-a-half to the Jaguars - I take Indy, the wife takes Jacksonville.

In Tennessee, it's the Titans minus-6-and-a-half. I take Tennessee, the wife takes Houston...again.

Cincinnati is giving 11-and-half to Cleveland. I take the Bengals, the wife takes Cleveland.

Washington is a 4-point favorite over the Cardinals in Arizona. Both me and the wife take the Redskins.

The Giants are 9-point favorites in Philly. Both me and the wife take New York.

Some big spreads ahead:

I take Seattle giving 16 at home to San Francisco. The wife takes the 49ers.

I take San Diego giving 13 to the Dolphins. The wife takes Miami.

I take Denver giving 14-and-a-half to Baltimore. The wife takes the Ravens.

In Dallas, the Cowboys are three-point-favorites over the Chiefs. The Chiefs should win outright - I take K.C. The wife takes Dallas.

Sunday night, the Packers are 6-point favorites over the Lions, in Green Bay. I take Green Bay, the wife takes the Lions.

Monday night, the Falcons are 10-and-a-half point favorites over the Saints, in Atlanta. I take the Falcons, so does the wife.

Where are Dave's picks this week, you ask? They weren't worth printing - he's taking all favorites. So go back and figure out where his picks differ from the wife and I's. I took a lot of favorites - but I didn't take all of them.

Surprise!! A mid-week writing on the page. I'm going to try to be better at this...we'll see how that turns out.

As though it didn't already seem that the Jets were headed in this direction with the whole Vinny Testaverde thing...now Kevin Mawae is out for the rest of the season (and the Jets couldn't even make the center-quarterback exchange with the Pro Bowler at center), and Ty Law looks like he might not play in Monday night's game versus the Falcons...at Atlanta. This season is now headed in the same direction as....well, it's easier to list the seasons that this season is NOT headed in the same direction as - 1968, 1998, 2002, and 2004. Yup, such is the sad life of a Jets fan. You could toss 1986 in there too...but it only makes it sound like they're a better franchise than they are.

With all that said, this blog will become more of an NFL recapper, instead of focusing on the depressing, slowly maddening Jets. And this was some weekend for us DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscribers (especially those with TiVo - well, not really, but I had to work TiVo in). I'll start with the Monday nighter, because I didn't stay up to see how the Colts came back - but you just had a feeling the Rams weren't exactly going to blow the doors off of Indy, in Indy. After jumping out to a 17-0 lead, Saint Louis lost Marc Bulger, and things just weren't the same. They also couldn't stop Edgerrin James, apparently, because he ran for 143 yards and 3 TD's. The Colts are 6-0 - the only undefeated team left in the NFL. The way the rest of the "favorites" are playing right now, they should win the Super Bowl. I think the next best team out there is the Falcons, and I don't think the Falcons could beat the Colts in the Super Bowl. I wouldn't mind seeing the Colts win it. I like Peyton Manning a lot - I only hate him when he's playing the Jets. And I only wouldn't want to see the Colts win if they had to go through the Jets in the playoffs - but since that's NOT going to happen, "Go, Indy!"

The Giants blew a great chance to win in Dallas, but that game was still pretty exciting for a Giants game. Actually, only the final minutes were exciting, but that's all I watched, so it's all good. The Giants had a chance to tie late, needing a touchdown. And after Tiki Barber got them to the three, Brandon Jacobs fumbled on the 1, and the Cowboys recover, and it looks like it's over. But remember, the Cowboys' QB is Drew Bledsoe, one of the dumbest men alive, so you always have a chance in this situation. Two handoffs got stuffed by the Giants, then Time Outs, and then Bledsoe threw an incomplete pass out of his own end zone, stopping the clock. The Cowboys punted, and Eli Manning proceeded to throw two great passes and got the Giants into the end zone in the final minute to tie it. Unfortunately for the Giants, they blew a bunch of chances to blow this one open early and lost on a field goal in overtime. The Cowboys had been driving on the Giants all day - they just couldn't get into the end zone - that didn't matter in OT.

Atlanta and New Orleans was sort of an unexciting exciting game. It ended anticlimactically, with a Falcons good field goal after the bad field goal was taken back by a bad Saints penalty. I don't know how Jim Haslett still has a job - he's as bad a coach as Mike Tice.

Pittsburgh was brutal this week, led by Tommy Maddox. Maddox threw three picks, the last coming in overtime, and returned for the game-winning touchdown by the Jaguars. That came after the Steelers took the overtime-opening kickoff (or a punt, I forget), into field goal range, only to fumble it away. Then the pick on their next possession. Is it any wonder that the Steelers will start Roethlisberger next Sunday?

The Jets game I won't dwell on, I will just say that I logged my first-ever correct prediction this week - Curtis Martin ran right through the Bills defense. They stink against the run. And the Jets stink, period. Willis McGahee is the worst thing ever to happen to them in the division. He owns them...every time they play him, he has a big game. He's like Michael Jordan was to the Knicks back when I gave a crap about the NBA.

Here's my favorite game of the weekend - Carolina at Detroit. I don't know, first of all, how Detroit was favored in this game (by a point), and I don't know how they almost won. But they led the Panthers by 6 late, late, late in the game, and Jake Delhomme is driving the Panthers down the field. He takes off on a run, slides feet first, and gets laid out on the field...15-yard penalty, and in comes Chris Weinke. I don't like Weinke, but I enjoyed seeing him lead the Panthers to the win - a touchdown with about a minute left. Maybe it's because I picked the Panthers...I can't say. But it was exciting.

My final thoughts - Dom Capers is going to get fired. The Texans stink, and who else can be more responsible than him?...Shaun Alexander is a touchdown machine - it's ridiculous - but he's still the guy who put himself before the team in last season's final game, and that's just bush league....LaDanian Tomlinson is definitely the best player in the NFL right now...I wonder if my jersey jinx would work on other teams - like if I bought a Tomlinson jersey, would he start to be brutal?...Tampa Bay is done - Chris Simms isn't a winner, and Tim Rattay isn't good...I was actually right on another prediction - the Broncos are a different team at home. They have an almost unfair home-field advantage.

It was a very exciting Sunday in the NFL, and it was a very exciting Saturday in college football - but I won't get into all that. Monday night was also a very exciting night for the NLCS - for more on that, check out johnnymets.blogspot.com.

MOVE OVER MIAMI

Jets 17, Dolphins 7 (NYJ: 1-1; MIA: 1-1)

Week One is a distant memory. The Jets are tied for first place.

A couple of weeks ago, leading up to the season opener, I think I wrote something to the effect of: the Jets will need their defense to carry them early in the year, while the offense works out its bugs. Clearly they needed a stronger effort from the defense last week against Kansas City, but the offense was a lost cause. Sunday's game against the Dolphins was more of what I think we can expect from the Jets in coming weeks - great defense, effective-enough offense, and hopefully by the end of the year the offense is even better. The Jets are going to be good this year - everything is going to be OK - but they aren't going to blow teams out, and the wins probably aren't going to be pretty - they'll be typical Jets wins...but the point is, they will get plenty of wins.

The Jets got a lot of help Sunday too. First of all, they beat the Dolphins, so they're 1-0 in the division. That's big. They can't lose division games in the first place - let alone to Miami. They'll have a tough enough time with Buffalo and New England. But both of those teams dropped to 1-1 with losses on Sunday - the Bills lost to the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, and the Patriots lost to the Panthers in Carolina. I didn't see the Bills' win in Week One, but by all accounts they looked good. They didn't look good in Tampa. And the Patriots looked very vulnerable - a look that we haven't seen in a while. There are chinks in their armor...good news for the Jets.

The Jets' game against the Dolphins started ominously - the first snap from Kevin Mawae to Chad Pennington was dropped. Fortunately, it was negated by an offsides, and I'm sticking with the story that Pennington rushed the snap because he saw the Dolphins jump. But things quickly got better - the Jets drove 80 yards on 9 plays, scoring on a beautiful fade pass from Pennington to Laveranues Coles. The pass was even better because Pennington had a blitz coming at him - it looked like 8 Dolphins rushing - and he made the great play. 7-0, Jets.

The only bad thing about the first drive was that on Pennington's first successful snap from center, the crowd cheered, and they did the same on the first shotgun snap. That's slightly embarrassing.

The Dolphins' first drive was just as effective - they drove right down the field on the Jets, but the Jets tightened up and stopped Miami inside the 5-yard line. Olindo Mare lined up for a 20-yard field goal, and a bad snap resulted in a missed field goal. That's why I feel it would have been important for Herman Edwards to have challenged last week's touchdown by Priest Holmes - it clearly would have been overturned, and the Jets play strong inside the 10-yard line. They could have forced a field goal (or a missed field goal), and who knows what would have happened. But I should forget about Week One.

The defense played a great game - holding the Dolphins scoreless until the fourth quarter. They got much better pressure on the quarterback (granted, it was Gus Frerotte), but they played very well. Mike Nugent had his first field goal - a 41-yarder with about a minute left in the first half, and special teams played pretty well overall. Ben Graham had a good game - and one of his punts - out of his own end zone - kept carrying, and was actually dropped by Wes Welker, pushing the Dolphins back to inside their own 40.

The other good news was right after the Dolphins touchdown the Jets put together their own very good drive - a drive which ended on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jerald Sowell, making it 17-7 Jets. Pennington was 7-for-7, for 74 yards on the drive. A good sign. The pass to Sowell came off a great play action fake.

Pennington can't come out of the gate throwing bombs (and when I say bombs, I'm talking Pennington bombs). I think it takes him a few short passes to warm up in the game, before he can start unloading. Pennington is never goint to rifle the ball...what we saw on Sunday was typical Pennington - well-placed passes - some look floaty, but they're effective. If the Jets are going to win games, that's how they're going to win them. He's going to underthrow some receivers, but the more comfortable he gets, the less we'll see of that.

The bad news from the game was the Dolphins were constantly in the Jets' backfield. There was a lot of pressure on Pennington, and the running game was virtually non-existent. That needs to be fixed.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are up next at the Meadowlands. They played the Colts in Indy, and held Peyton Manning and company to just one touchdown in a 10-3 loss. There was plenty of running room for Edgerrin James, though, so we'll see if Martin has a breakout game next week. It's going to be a tough defensive struggle, I have a feeling, but the Jets should be able to out-defense the Jags. I feel better about the Jets' defense versus Byron Leftwich than I do the Jags' defense against Pennington. But more on that as the week goes on.

One last thing - this Sunday was my first experience with the Sunday Ticket. Outstanding. I needed to develop a rhythm, though, because it was tough figuring out which games to turn to to catch good game action. And Tivo was essential when the Jets were on, because if I missed a Jets play while checking out another game, I could just rewind and see what I missed. I need to improve my channel-changing though. I'll get better at it next week.

When we last left the Jets, it was a heartbreaking scene. Two words I will mention here for the last time, and then try to put them behind me: Doug Brien. That's all I'll say about that.

But 2004 is behind us. The 2005 season is minutes away. And much has changed. The jerk that cost us a chance at the AFC Championship Game is gone (no, not Paul Hackett - though he's gone too - I'm talking about the guy I mentioned above and promised to never mention again). Mike Nugent is the Jets' kicker...and I was just reading some of my postings from last year...and in one, I promised I will never have faith in another kicker...but I will. And Mike Nugent is his name. More changes: LaMont Jordan is an Oakland Raider - off to pursue his fortune as a star, starting running back. Derrick Blaylock will back up Curtis Martin. Santana Moss is gone, traded to Washington for Laveranues Coles, back in the Green. Ty Law is no longer one of the players I dislike - I now love him (truth be told, I never could say I hated Ty Law - and I think my Patriot fan friends will back me up on this. I never loved him, of course, but he was so darn good I couldn't hate him - part of me always respected his ability. Sort of like being a Knicks fan and watching Michael Jordan play back when I cared about the NBA - but I digress.) And much to my dismay, Anthony Becht is now a Tampa Bay Buccaneer - and new offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger will probably make a star out of Doug Jolley and Chris Baker instead of Becht.

Chad Pennington has a new shoulder...and he will hopefully play a full, injury-free season. He looked good in the pre-season...and looked awful in the pre-season. But the bottom line is - it was the pre-season. Next week he takes on the Chiefs in Kansas City, and we'll judge him then. But I will say this. For the first time, an organization didn't sugarcoat an injury. After last season ended, we knew Pennington had a serious problem. He was out of mini-camps, and didn't take the field until training camp. The Jets didn't try to pull the wool over our eyes - they said when he wasn't ready, and they didn't rush him back. He came back for the second pre-season game, and played well. And the coaching staff had him throw deep so we could see that he was back, and healthy, and everything works. I feel confident that Pennington is 100% this season, and hopefully he can avoid all other injuries and have a great season. If he gets hurt, the backup is Jay Fiedler. Capable, yes, and yes, he had a very good pre-season, but most of that wasn't against the number one defenses. I just don't trust Fiedler to go all the way - so Pennington needs to stay healthy.

The other parts of the offense haven't changed much. The offensive line is the same except for Kareem McKenzie - who left via free agency. Adrian Jones takes his spot, and has received good reviews - so with Jones, Jason Fabini, Kevin Mawae, Pete Kendall, and Brandon Moore, Pennington should be well-protected. Curtis Martin is Curtis Martin. He'll have another great year - he doesn't age. He led the league in rushing last year, but was disappointed because he didn't break a lot of long runs. So this off-season, he worked on his speed. I don't want to say he'll be even better this year, but he shouldn't drop off.

The offense should be better because Pennington has his favorite target back. Coles is back, and the two of them look like they were never apart. The only difference now is that Heimerdinger is the coordinator, but Pennington and Coles have a great chemistry. The other receiver is Justin McCareins, and I look for him to have a good year because he is reunited with Heimerdinger - his coordinator when he was putting up good numbers in Tennessee. Wayne Chrebet is also back for another campaign - bothered by concussions in the past, but watch him on third down this year. As I mentioned before, Jolley and Baker are the tight ends, and Pennington didn't seem to use them much until the final pre-season game, but they're supposed to be a bigger factor under Heimerdinger.

The defense is much easier to write about, because I don't have to keep writing Heimerdinger. Seriously, though, I think Donnie Henderson's squad is going to be the best in the league. John Abraham is back (still don't know how I feel about this - but he's one of the best at his position, so I guess there are worse things than having him starting on your defense), along with Shaun Ellis, the revitalized DeWayne Robertson, and Lance Legree on the defensive line (although Sione Pouha could definitely make a long-term appearance instead). Jason Ferguson is gone, but the Jets should be OK on the line. The linebackers are a good young bunch. Eric Barton nearly cost the Jets the San Diego game in the playoffs, but that one play overshadowed a pretty good year. Jonathan Vilma was the Defensive Rookie of the Year, and I don't expect a sophomore slump. He's a team leader, and he's awesome. Victor Hobson is solid...not great, but a good linebacker. The secondary is outstanding. David Barrett came up huge in the second half of last year. Oliver Celestin had a great camp, a great pre-season, and is the starting strong safety. Erik Coleman is the free safety, and I love watching him play. And Ty Law is a future Hall of Famer - great signing by the Jets - and risk-free. My worry when they signed him was that they, like the Mets, have bad enough luck signing free agents when they're healthy, that if they signed Law, whose health was sort of a question mark, he would probably never play in the NFL again. But he's OK, and will start the season, and he is a risk-free investment. So good move by the Jets.

On special teams, the Jets have punter Ben Graham, an Australian who beat out Micah Knorr for the job. He kicks the ball high and far, and apparently has learned how to be enough of a holder for Mike Nugent to win the job. Nugent will be awesome. I'm glad the Jets drafted him. Hopefully he won't let me down. It looks like Justin McCareins will be returning punts - although it was supposed to be rookie Justin Miller's job. He disappointed in camp. I think Derrick Blaylock will see some time returning kickoffs...but I'm not sure. Maybe Jerricho Cotchery too.

Other changes took place since the end of last football season. ESPNRadio has come to Boston, so I can now listen to Mike & Mike in the Morning on my way to work instead of watching it in the brief time before I leave on ESPNEWS. This means I can watch Mike Greenberg, the huge Jets fan. I love that he can be so unbiased about being a fan. It's refreshing, especially being a Jets fan. So I look forward to Monday mornings listening to him. And finally, I finally have DirecTV for a football season. Hey Peyton - I've got the Sunday Ticket. I've been excited to watch all the college football this weekend. But it's time for the NFL - and for the first time in a long time, as my cousin Eddie put it - the Jets have a legit shot at winning it all. It's a very tough schedule....but I think they can do it. It's so important that they get home field advantage....and I'll be here to chronicle whether or not they can do it. We resume our johnnyjets.blogspot.com schedule - providing school doesn't prevent me from sticking to it:

Monday: Recap of Sunday's game
Tuesday: Mailbag
Wednesday: Recap/Preview of the rest of the AFC East
Thursday: Focus on the Next Opponent
Friday: Preview and Picks

The Picks feature will be different this year. I didn't have a final count of my record (for entertainment purposed only, of course) from last year, but I was right around .500. This year, I will take on my wife, who was one of the best in the country on ESPN.com's Pigskin Pick 'Em last year, along with Dave from Brighton, who wants to be the third wheel on our picking bicycle. He kept track of some of his picks last year, but I don't know what his record was. I don't think it was much better than mine. We'll be using point spreads from USA Today, and we'll start with Thursday night's Patriots-Raiders season opener. I will also include my eliminator pick for the week.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to an exciting NFL season.

QUICK TURNAROUND

Giants 4, Mets 1 (SF: 57-72; NYM: 68-62) East: 6 GB, Wild Card: 2 GB (pending PHI result)

That five-game winning streak turned into a two-game losing streak real fast. The Phillies are playing Sunday Night Baseball, so it remains to be seen whether or not the Mets will lose ground in the Wild Card chase.

I didn't see any of Sunday's game - it wasn't on the DirecTV package - so I'm not sure what to make of the loss. The only run scored on a wild pitch third strike with a man on third, so the Mets are still having some offensive troubles, coming off the 14-1 and 18-4 wins in Arizona.

Kris Benson came out of the gate strong, with a 0-0 tie going into the fifth inning. But he gave up three runs, and the Mets couldn't come back. The good news is he didn't give up six runs in 2-thirds of an inning. The bad news is he didn't win...which he usually does coming off a poor outing like last Sunday's.

The Mets need to get the bats working again against Philadelphia this week. They start a series against the Phillies at home on Tuesday, their only home games in the middle of these 17 road games. But first of all, the Phillies don't scare me - so the Mets can make up some ground in the Wild Card. Secondly, the Mets jumped out to a 5-2 start on that road stretch - although the Saturday and Sunday losses weren't pretty, in the big picture, the Mets are off to a 5-2 start on the road stretch. September is right around the corner - the Mets could theoretically start September in a playoff spot.

ELTRAN*'S: Carlos Beltran* was 1-for-4, and scored the Mets' lone run. But he needs to get going for the Mets to make a move. For the second half:

36-for-141 (.255 AVG.) 3 HR, 16 RBI, 26 Runs, 11 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: Not many doubles this weekend. He needs to go back to Arizona. Still on a good pace, though.

SECOND HALF: 13 SEASON TOTAL: 35 TEAM RECORD: 44

WRIGHT NEEDS 10 DOUBLES OVER THE FINAL 36 GAMES TO BREAK THE RECORD!!

THE KID'S KIDS: Here's some more bad news for Mets fans, and Gary Carter fans. The Gulf Coast League doesn't waste any time. The one-game playoff was held on Friday, with the Tampa Yankees beating the Gulf Coast Red Sox for the right to play the Mets. After a 3-2 win on Saturday, the Yankees beat the Mets 10-1 on Sunday to win the Gulf Coast League title (I'm pretty sure it's over, at least. Not a lot of fanfare about it.) The Mets' pitcher gave up six runs in the first inning - actually, in a third of an inning. He's got a future as a Kris Benson! Anyway, the final numbers: a 37-16 regular season record for The Kid, with an 0-2 post-season mark.

More bad minor league news: Danny Graves pitches an inning at Norfolk and gives up 5 earned runs. Maybe he should have retired.

NO NO-NO: NOOOOOOO!!

Dodgers 2, Mets 1 (LA: 53-64; NYM: 59-58)

Newsflash: The Mets have still never thrown a no-hitter in their 43-year-history. Pedro Martinez* still hasn't thrown a no-hitter in his career. It's a little bit funny (and seriously, it's only a little bit funny....a very, very little bit) that Pedro* is now with the Mets. He's like a microcosm of the team's history. Great pitcher, never threw a no-hitter. The Mets have had some great pitchers in their history, and have never had a no-hitter.

The worst part of the no no-no by Pedro* is that he lost the game. First of all, Gerald Williams could have caught the ball that went off the wall. It's actually a miracle that Pedro* went seven and a third no-hit innings with Gerald Williams in center (for Carlos Beltran*), Victor Diaz in right (for Mike Cameron), and Marlon Anderson at first (for Doug Mientkiewicz). Diaz isn't great shakes on defense, Williams cost Pedro* the no-no, and Anderson still doesn't know which foot to put on the bag to get the best possible stretch for throws. It's like watching someone play first base backwards when he's out there.

So Pedro* gives up the one-out triple to Antonio Perez which should have been a long fly ball out, and then a 2-run homer to Jayson Werth. And the shutout is gone, the 1-0 lead is now a 2-1 Dodgers lead.

The Mets mount a mini-threat in the top of the ninth. David Wright struck out, then Anderson doubled. He stole third with Victor Diaz up, then on 3-2, Diaz hit a check swing grounder to second base. Anderson was off on contact, but I didn't see the play, because a huge blast of thunder and lightning knocked out my satellite picture. I swear if this happens during football season I am going to be so disappointed in DirecTV, and might pull the naming rights to my house. But Anderson was out, I saw later on ESPNEWS, and Kaz Matsui then struck out to end the game.

A very disappointing end to a disappointing and costly road trip. A win would actually have salvaged the trip at 3-3, but 2-4 is much worse. I don't know that Carlos Beltran* will be back when the Mets open up their 6-game homestand on Tuesday - I suspect we'll find out on Monday about that.

The Mets also missed a chance to capitalize on a loss by the Astros, and fell to 8-and-a-half behind the Braves. The season may just have come to an end on the West Coast....although the wild card deficit is just three games...and the Nationals are coming to town at the end of the week.

Interesting note: I switched quickly to the Red Sox rain delay after the eighth inning (and the no-hit bid was lost) and Eric Frede said someone on the staff pointed out the history between Gerald Williams and Pedro Martinez* as a possible reason why Williams didn't lay out for the fly ball to prevent the no-hitter. The history is that Pedro* and Williams had run-ins when Williams was on the Devil Rays and Pedro* was with the Sox, and Pedro* on occasion pitched Williams very far inside. One instance, I think, featured Pedro* hitting Williams to lead off the game, and then retiring something like 20 D-Rays in a row, losing a no-hit bid late in the game. Something like that. But the comment was made jokingly - and I just think it's funny that these two are playing on the same team now. And I hope they've made up.

WRIGHT WATCH: A 2-for-4 day for Wright lifted the average to .305, but no doubles.

SECOND HALF: 10 SEASON TOTAL: 32 TEAM RECORD: 44

THE KID'S KIDS: No games on Sunday in the Gulf Coast League. The Mets beat the Dodgers on Saturday, so the record is at 30-14. I will call down there this week and see about the post-season.

THE WIFE, PART II

OK - so upper management of JMDBSDC has told me that I am NOT allowed to turn this into a Red Sox blog for the week. I must discuss the Mets. Hmm ... that's a toughie. So I'll turn to JohnnyMets himself (since that's why you read anyway) and get his thoughts.

1) John says he's going to be really p.o.'ed if he can't watch the Mets tonight. As you recall, John hasn't seen the last two Mets games, which they've won. As you may also recall, the House Sponsored by DirecTV needs a working phone line to get full reception, which we don't have right now. However, John insists that we can get some of the games, and hopefully the Mets will be one of them. I'd better hope so, else I have one grumpy husband tonight.

2) The Mets square off tonight against Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros. This should be one exciting game, which is why it's even more important that we receive the game tonight. Will there be a beaning? A fight? Tune in to JMDBSDC tomorrow for details...

3) And here's John's insight at its best. He thinks that in the first week and a half of this season, there have been more blown saves than there have been in some entire seasons. Latest victim: Armando Benitez, who blew a 3-run lead last night. Funny, I wasn't even watching that game. For those of you who don't know the story, I am the official Armando Benitez jinx, and he blows every game I watch him play. As you can imagine, that was not a good thing when he played with the Mets. Dave from Brighton, I expect you'll do some numbers-crunching on John's theory and get back to us on that.

OK - now for the mail bag:

"Dear KathyMets,

That's too bad about the sadly misnamed House brought to you by
DirecTV. One of the most frightening perils of homeownership is being
responsible for fixing problems like that one. I hope you take good
care of the 'blog. Maybe you can spice it up with some vitriolic
anti-Mets views. Or some pictures.

Since you specifically requested some "Around the League" Sox talk...

--Is it too early to say "Renteria, gimme a break." They should change
his number to 643.

--I say Wells ends up with a 5.35 ERA. Do you take the over or under
for entertainment purposes?

--And on the Sox WS rings... Not enough bling, too much, or just right?

Signed,
Dave in Brighton"


Dave-

You raise several points. I hope I can address all of them. First of all, I am not going to fill this space with vitriolic anti-Mets views. You see, marriage is all about supporting your spouse, even if you think they're going to be disappointed every year by the teams they root for. I'll leave it at that, because if I say more, John is going to get mad. Not good for the marriage.

I'm looking into the picture thing. I'm just getting used to this blog thing, so pictures are asking for a lot. But I'll try.

RE: Renteria. It's probably a bad thing to sign the player who makes the last out for the opposing team, letting you win the World Series for the first time in 86 years. But I'm willing to give him a chance. It's only April. Early May, I'll reassess.

RE: Wells. I was vehemently opposed to signing him in the first place. What kind of drugs did Theo take after that Championship?? Signing on an overweight, 41-year-old, drunken man who gets into bar fights is not cool. I say he ends up with OVER a 5.35 and at least one barstool thrown in his face.

RE: rings. Beauties. I love 'em. Just enough bling for me.

OK - our next writer:

"John/Kathy....

Seeing the ring ceremony yesterday was great. It was good to see Lowe and Roberts come back...because they were such key parts of last year.

But a player who was a key part of the franchise is set to get a ring too, and I wonder if they'll do a ring ceremony for him...or give it to him in private. I'm talking about Nomar.

Nomar is the one that brought the fans back to Fenway when the team wasn't very good. He was the one who all the kids bought jerseys of. He's the one that made the Red Sox cool again....remember...for a long time...they were bad...and that stadium was far from sold out.

Then he got hurt...the media soured on him....then skewered him...then traded him....and you know the rest.

Fact is...he still gets a ring because he was on the 2004 team. Question for the house....should the Red Sox have a ceremony for Nomar at Fenway before a game?? Or...should they give him the ring in June when they play each other at Wrigley in front of the Cub fans?? Or....just ship it FedEx??

I would like to see the Fenway faithful get to say "thank you"....but I don't think that will happen.

kevin
JMDBSDC Southern Bureau Chief"

Kevin-

I sadly don't think that will happen either. I think the situation with Nomar and the Red Sox is just too bitter right now. It would be cool for the Sox to give the ring to him at Wrigley, but I think it will really come via DHL sometime this week. (Yes, not FedEx. The Sox made a big point during the telecast that the rings were shipped via DHL.)

Also, my final comment for the day: I used to be a Pedro* fan. I cheered him when he knocked Zim to the ground and threatened to pop Posada in the head. However, the fact that he says he doesn't even want his ring makes me mad. Just friggin' take it and be happy that you won the World Series! Pedro*'s whole shenanigans make me hope he stinks with the Mets. (Sorry, John)

That's it for the day - hope you're enjoying the blog this week. (Though I also hope you're looking forward to the return of JohnnyMets next week.)

The first posting from the House sponsored by DirecTV. And it's not going to be long - I have to go to bed. Just wanted to let everyone know that the aforementioned house is now connected to the internet, just in time for Opening Day. I'm so psyched that there's actually a baseball game that counts going on right now - even if it is the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Here's the deal - I'm going to be in school when the Mets and Reds play the opener on Monday. So if you have even the slightest thought of calling me during the game and leaving a message on my cell or house phone, please don't. I am going to try to tape the game, then avoid all human contact until I get to watch that tape. Then I'll post my first recap of the season tomorrow night, and maybe check the mailbag - it feels like weeks since I've been online.

So please don't ruin the Mets game on me on Monday. I'll probably have the game watched by 8 o'clock. Enjoy the baseball season.