Series Recap - Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodgers win: 3-2

Dodgers win: 5-3

Dodgers win: 2-1

Mets record: 21-19

Ducks on the pond : The Mets only scored six runs in the three game series, and its easy to see why. New York hit just 3-27 with runners in scoring position. Not a good performance against a possible playoff opponent.

David Ortiz mocks you : After Ortiz FINALLY hit a home run last night, it seems like everyone is going deep. Well - everyone except the Mets, that is. The team has now gone seven games since their last home run.

Amazin' Mets? More like Walking Wounded : Jose Reyes could soon be joining Carlos Delgado on the disabled list. Reyes aggrivated a calf injury in Wednesday's loss, and said afterwards it hurt to stand. I'm no doctor, but that's not encouraging.

K-Rod Kount-down : (I jinxed it).
This series: 0 saves
Season total: 11

Current pace: 43

Mets record: 43

Next up: three games at Boston Red Sox

- SB

MY LCS PICKS

I nailed a couple of those LDS series. I had the Rays in 4, and the Phillies in 4 (though that series wasn't as tough as I thought it would be). I had the correct number of games in the Dodgers-Cubs series, but I don't think that's a major loss, because did anyone think the Dodgers would sweep the Cubs? And I messed up on the Red Sox...but I'm picking against them again. Here we go:

NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
I can't believe the freakin' Phillies are going to the World Series. But here we are.

I just don't think the Dodgers match up well enough with Philadelphia. (Although, of course, I didn't think they matched up too well with the Cubs, either.)

Manny Ramirez will have a huge series - he'll eat up Citizens Bank Park - but overall the Phillies have better pitching, and when you get to this point of the season, that's what it's all about.

I'm cautious about Brad Lidge - yes, he had an extraordinary regular season, and he has shown zero indication that he is getting tired or will be any less automatic in the post-season....but this is still the guy who disaster befell this time of year in 2005. I just don't think that goes away.

Still, the Phillies survive. They do better than survive. Phillies in five.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
The ALCS is going to be where you get the bang for your buck. I hope I'm not building up this series too much - but I think it will be great.

Again, I don't love that I'm picking against Boston - they have shown time and time again that they know how to win in October...but I just didn't see it happening for them this year, and I'm having a hard time picturing them repeating as champions. (Not quite as hard a time as Tampa Bay winning it all...but there is no other option.)

That reasoning is lame, but there is some evidence to support my cause:

The Rays always give the Red Sox fits. Even when they were awful, they played the Red Sox tooth and nail (what does that mean?) and even when they were beaten it wasn't an easy win for Boston. They continued to play the Sox tough this year, when they were good, and won the season series, 10-8.

Home field was huge throughout the year between these two teams as well, and the Rays earned home field advantage, and that could be the difference. (I think I saw, and am too lazy to look it up and make sure I'm right, that the home team in the series won 15 of the 18 head-to-head games this year. That might be an indication of how this ALCS goes.)

The magical ride for Tampa continues. Rays in seven.

WHERE I STAND

Here's where I stand through one round of the playoffs:

First of all, I think this is going to be a fantastic ALCS. I think it will have everything you want in a playoff series - it will be intense, it will be dramatic, it will be good baseball. The Red Sox and Rays are very familiar with one another - this will be just like Yankees-Red Sox of 2003 or 2004. There will probably be a brawl, and I think it might go 7 games. But I'll make my picks tomorrow.

The NLCS does nothing for me. I made a list of matchups that intrigued me before the playoffs started - that will never appear because many of the matchups included the Mets. But the Rays-Red Sox was one of the matchups. Dodgers-Phillies was not.

As for the playoffs as a whole, I'm not too thrilled. I have no one who I feel very attached to, and no one I want to tie my cart to. I liked the Twins, I thought I might be interested in rooting for the Cubs...but now I'm left with teams that I can't really see myself pulling too strongly for.

Here are the strikes against them - it's pretty obvious, I think, in the National League - I hold grudges in sports, and the Dodgers represent 1988...a disappointing year for the Mets. I also don't much care for Manny Ramirez...which you may have picked up over the years. The Phillies are the Phillies. If they go to the World Series (very likely), I'll be pretty angry about it.

In the AL, I've written before that though I like certain players on the Rays, overall I think they're a bunch of punks. And I bet that shows through during this ALCS. But I have to root for them for this simple reason - in 1915, the Red Sox played Philadelphia in the World Series. In 1916, they played the Dodgers. And Tampa Bay has never played either team in the World Series. So I think it's pretty clear what I need to happen.

I'll have my picks tomorrow.

I HOPE THE METS ARE KICKING THEMSELVES

A pretty poor showing by the NL Central teams in the NL playoffs.

But they got in, leading to the ultimate question: Which is better - a quick first-round exit from the playoffs or not making the playoffs at all?

I still think it's better to make the playoffs - at least you get to put up a banner.

But still - the Mets have to be kicking themselves, right? They have to know that if they had just gotten in, it would have been them knocking off the Cubs in the first round instead of the Dodgers.

At least, I hope they're thinking that.

Maybe they're too busy setting themselves up for more disappointment next year by re-upping two of the people responsible for not preventing a second-consecutive slide out of the playoffs.

MY PLAYOFF PICKS

Since I'm so good at making baseball predictions, I figure I have to pick these series. Here's what I think:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Boston Red Sox versus Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

It's very hard to pick against the Red Sox. They continue to win, year after year, and when they get into the playoffs, they go deep into the playoffs. But I feel like this year is going to catch up to them.

The Sox have had all kinds of injuries this year, which they've survived, but things keep cropping up - like this Josh Beckett injury. And I also feel like Daisuke Matsuzaka is going to run out of luck. He's been the worst "good" pitcher this year that I've ever seen. He pitches incredibly with runners on base - but he's allowed way too many baserunners this season. I think that'll catch up with him in the post-season - you just don't get away with that at this point in the year. This isn't here nor there, but I also worry about Jonathan Papelbon. He's had a history of breaking down at the end of seasons - and he didn't really have an extended time off this year, as he's had the past couple of years. He didn't look as effective late in September, and I wonder if he'll be hittable in the post-season.

The Angels have had a very good season, and although I can see them folding, especially against the Red Sox in round one, I'm picking them to advance. Angels in five

Chicago White Sox versus Tampa Bay Rays

The White Sox are going to enter this series tired. They've had a crazy week - losing their lead in the Central by getting swept by the Twins, then rebounding, winning their must-win makeup game Monday, then the one-game playoff Tuesday. But I would have picked the Rays even without all of that going on.

The Rays have something special going on - I wouldn't be surprised if they make it to the World Series. But we'll start small - their starting pitching is better than the White Sox'. That's about all they're going to need to get through this series.

I'm going Rays in four.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Los Angeles Dodgers versus Chicago Cubs

I'm starting to believe the Cubs hype - at least for them to win the National League. They have a good team, they were able to clinch early enough that they could be all lined up and rested for the playoffs, and they drew the Dodgers in round one.

With the Mets not standing in their way, I might as well root for the Cubs to break their 100-year drought. I'm not committed yet - I'll have to see how I feel watching the games - but they're certainly going to start out on the right track.

Manny Ramirez won't be able to do all of this by himself. Cubs in three.

Milwaukee Brewers versus Philadelphia Phillies

CC Sabathia can't pitch every game of this series, and that will cook the Brewers. The Phillies should have been better than they were this season - they were very inconsistent.

I think they're better than the Brewers, but now that the Brewers are in, I wonder if there's some pressure off of them. They might push the Phillies farther than the Phillies would like to be pushed in this round.

I think the Phillies survive, but it's going to be a lot rougher against Milwaukee than they expect. Phillies in a very tough four games, avoiding Sabathia in Game 5

ANALYSIS THROUGH TWENTY-FOUR WEEKS

I hate to look like I'm copping out of something here, but I kind of am. There's nothing left to analyze. There are 14 games left in the season, and the Mets have a magic number of 13.

The bullpen is a disaster, the Mets as a whole are starting to look eerily like last season...but it doesn't matter.

If the Mets make the playoffs, with a good final two weeks, it doesn't matter. I know it won't look good with the way the bullpen has pitched, but if they just make it in, anything can happen.

So there's your bi-weekly Mets analysis. By the next time I do one of these, the Mets had better be a playoff team.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: The Angels have no such worries. Anytime a team clinches this early in the season (I always use the 1986 Mets clinching on September 17 as a benchmark - in recent memory, I can only remember the 1995 Indians, the 1998 Yankees, and the 2001? Seattle Mariners as besting that), you have to give them major props. So major props to the Angels, who just dominated that American League West this year.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Staying out in LA, the fact that the Dodgers didn't just fold up the tents and collapse is a bit of a suprise. And now they're really starting to pull away in the West. They're still just five games over .500, but they're starting to look like a major league baseball team.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: On the flip side, there's the Milwaukee Brewers, who have just faded fast these past few weeks (since playing the Mets, really). I know from big collapses, and this is a big collapse. They were sitting pretty, having made all of the right moves. Now they're tied for the wild card with the Phillies (and if the Mets fall out of first, they'll be in the wild card chase, at least), and they've fired their manager. What a mess.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The Diamondbacks, I've always thought, were the best of the worst in the West. The fact that they have just fallen apart while the Dodgers have gotten hot is a bit of a disappointment. It doesn't look like the West will even be a race anymore.

One note about the Mets' magic number. I started calculating it on Saturday, right about the time the Mets started to have a bad weekend. I won't mention it again until it's about 1, with more than 1 game to play. And then it's only maybe.

ANALYSIS THROUGH TWENTY-TWO WEEKS

MOST IMPRESSIVE: As I wrote about the other day, the Mets' resilience is most notable this past couple of weeks. They showed a great bounce-back ability after the tough loss to the Phillies, beating Philadelphia and then taking two out of three from Florida, including one in very dramatic fashion.

BIGGEST SURPRISE/DISAPPOINTMENT: I guess it really shouldn't be a surprise, because why should the Mets make anything easy, but the fact that they're only up a game entering September is a bit surprising. (I guess from the Mets' point of view, this could qualify as a disappointment, too. So I've combined them.) I really thought there were times this past couple of months the Phillies would roll over and the Mets would be able to run away with the division. And I think you have to credit the Phillies for that not happening, since they've shown some resilience as well. They had to be crushed after the loss to the Mets last Wednesday, and then they lost the first two to the Cubs in Chicago. They responded by taking the last two of that series, keeping themselves a game out. It'll probably be that close for the rest of the month - and that's really not too surprising.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: Can I go outside the box on this bullpen disaster and suggest that maybe it's the bullpen management? Sure, the arms haven't been reliable, and Aaron Heilman walking in the winning run on Saturday night can make me curse him forever (see: Rogers, Kenny), but there are really no defined roles here, and there haven't been since Jerry Manuel took over. I don't know - things have been so bad all year for the relievers (except for the winning streak in July) that maybe if they were comfortable in where they were appearing it would help. In short, I guess Billy Wagner's injury was bad for everyone. And, being September, it can't hurt to have a few more arms to plug in there thanks to the September call-ups.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I've written about the Cardinals before, but I don't think I've specifically praised Albert Pujols. Pujols is leading the majors in hitting, at .364. He has been hitting near or above .350 all season, obscured by the fact that Chipper Jones was chasing .400 early in the year. He hit .359 in 2003, so it's not uncharted territory for him, but his power numbers have seemed to take a hit. He's "only" hit 29 homers so far this year.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: With the Twins not expected to do much this year, it probably didn't raise many eyebrows when the schedule was made up. But it might prove to be their downfall. They're in the midst of not just a chase for the wild card, but also a division title, and are finishing up a 14-game road trip, thanks to the Republican National Convention. Then they play 6 at home before hitting the road for 10 more games. That's a tough haul and a tough way to end a season with so much promise. If they indeed persevere and make the playoffs after that kind of finish to September, they've earned it.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: I guess you can't totally write them off yet, since they took the last two in Arizona, but the Dodgers looked awful during their previous 8 games, all losses, including a sweep by Washington. Again, that National League West is just a disgrace.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Ivan Rodriguez has to be a disappointment for the Yankees. I haven't seen him play much, but I can't imagine his defense (which has to be significantly better than Jorge Posada) makes up for the fact that since the trade he's hitting .203 with 2 HR, 2 RBI, scoring just six times.

Football for the rest of the week, unless something notable comes up in the baseball world.

I LOVE L.A. (EXHIBITION BASEBALL)

Perhaps it's the whole idea of baseball getting underway in March, but I can't quite convince my body that baseball will count in just a couple of days. I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that there have already been 2 games that have counted, actually. But I think this weekend I'm most excited about a game that doesn't count.

The Red Sox are back in the United States, and they continue their long road trip with a west coast swing before heading back east. They're playing a few games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers before going to Oakland to finish up with the A's, then they go to Toronto before coming back to Boston. The game Saturday night against the Dodgers, though, will be special - as part of the Dodgers commemorating 50 years in Los Angeles, they will host the Red Sox in an exhibition game at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
I think what intrigues me most is the quirkiness of the park. (You see the old games at the left, and the stadium being set up for Saturday below.) The Coliseum is a football stadium. But it hosted baseball for four years before the Dodgers moved into Dodger Stadium in 1962. As a football stadium primarily, it has weird dimensions - a very short left-field fence, to be specific. The fence for Saturday night's game will be about 192 feet away in left, shorter than what they had in 1958.

What bums me out is that they're installing a tall net (about 40 feet, I think) above the wall, to prevent balls from flying out of the park. Who cares? It's exhibition. Get players to do something other than fly to left - and if they get one up in the air in left field, it will be exciting. I'm going to try to watch, net or not. There are also going to be more than 100,000 people in attendance. That should be quite a spectacle. If it's a spectacle, and it's in a Coliseum - I'll be watching. I'm glad NESN is airing the game.

PREVIEW: NL WEST

For the first time in I don't know how many years, I haven't bought a baseball preview magazine. I peeked through it the last time I was in the supermarket, and the one I picked up didn't even have the Johan Santana deal. So I figure, why bother? And I also figure, why don't I just write my own. So this week I'll quickly preview each of the divisions, culminating in my playoff picks and my award winners. Today we look at the National League West.

You know what? The National League West might be one of the tougher divisions in baseball. The NL East has three of the best teams in the league, possibly the three best, but the other two are going to be among the worst in baseball. The American League East is similar. But the National League West, the more I think about it, has four very good teams. Last year it was the only division in baseball with four teams above .500, and don't forget that it took a 163rd game to eliminate one of the top three teams from the playoffs. I expect more of the same this year as far as competitiveness.

Let's start at the bottom and work our way up. The San Francisco Giants will be awful. Aaron Rowand was a nice addition, but, um.....yeah. Bengie Molina is their cleanup hitter. Moving on.

The fourth place team, I think, will be the San Diego Padres. And they're pretty good. They have a very good pitching staff, and I think it will be a tight 3-4 finish between San Diego and last year's National League champion, the Colorado Rockies. I think it's a step backward for Colorado, but I still think they'll finish with about 85 wins.

I think the Dodgers get the "most improved" award for the division. They were kind of hurt by injuries last year, and it's looking like they might have been bitten a bit by the injury bug again this year, but they should be good. I expect them to be more like the wild card-winning team of two years ago than the 82-80 team of last year.

But I think the Arizona Diamondbacks bounce back from an unimpressive performance in the NLCS to defend their division crown. The thing about them from last year is that they are so young, and if Randy Johnson contributes anything, that could only help. I think they'd be fine without him:

LOTS TO CELEBRATE IN 2008

Every year marks a celebration for someone about something. Sometimes it's forced, other times it's legitimate. 2008 is no different. Here are the milestones (or just inchstones, if you will) being marked by different teams in baseball in 2008 - from the somewhat interesting to the downright ridiculous.

Let's start with a celebration - the Arizona Diamondbacks are celebrating their 10-year anniversary - and they have a decent amount to celebrate.

I've written about this before, but Chase Field (then Bank One Ballpark), when I visited, really flaunts its history - a credit to them, and a strike against a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates, who, based on the amount of history in their ballpark, you would think would be celebrating their 10th anniversary as an expansion team, instead of a team with a history that should be celebrated more than it is.

The Diamondbacks will have a celebration the first weekend of the season, where they will recognize their first-ever team.

Incidentally, the Tampa Bay Rays (whose biggest accomplishment for 2008 is dropping "Devil" from their name) are not advertising anything recognizing their 10 years in the league.

This is less a celebration than just something that caught my eye - but the Seattle Mariners' slogan this year is "MoJo Rising". It should be "Bedard Pitching". I wonder if Robin Ventura was involved in selecting that slogan for the Mariners, or if they just flat-out stole his idea from the Mets' post-season in 1999.

Also of note, Jacobs Field is no more. The Cleveland Indians now play their home games at "Progressive Field".

2008 marks 50 years since the Dodgers moved out west, leaving their Brooklyn fans in a lurch. They're celebrating their 50th anniversary of playing baseball in Los Angeles.

The San Francisco Giants are celebrating 50 years of following the Dodgers out west.

On a related note, the A's are celebrating 40 years in Oakland.Just about everything else being recognized in baseball in 2008 is stadium-related. The Mets, as we all know, are recognizing their last year at Shea Stadium with a patch on their sleeves. There will also be constant reminders of the new stadium that is taking shape right over the left field wall, towering over the visitors' bullpen.

The Washington Nationals have a new ballpark this year, and they're celebrating the opening of Nationals Park with the slogan, "Welcome Home!"

While we're on the subject of slogans, the Texas Rangers are going with "You could use some baseball" this year. My impression is that Texas Rangers fans could use some "winning" baseball. If not, the Rangers' slogan should read "Only ____ more days until high school football."

The Yankees have a sort of dual celebration going. Not only are they recognizing their last year at Yankee Stadium, but they're sending it off with a bang - by hosting the 2008 All Star Game. So I'm not sure how those are being recognized - something tells me the pinstripes don't get covered by commemorative patches, but they have two logos - one for each occasion.

And finally, it may not surprise you to learn that the Florida Marlins are touting something new, but it has nothing to do with baseball (because the brand that will be played in 2008 in south Florida won't be anything to shout about). They will march out the first-ever dance/cheer team in Major League Baseball (I wonder what exactly I saw in Cincinnati last year then - maybe they weren't a team, but a bunch of individuals), and they're called the Marlins Mermaids. Wonder if they stay out on the tarp for the frequent rain delays.

FRIDAY NIGHT AT SHEA

August 24th seems like way too late in the season for me to be attending my first Mets game of the season. It is, but such was the case this year. At least it was a good one.

Oliver Perez pitched an excellent game agianst the Dodgers, Jose Reyes single-handedly manufactured the first two Mets runs, David Wright homered for the third, and Billy Wagner held onto the game for the save. (We weren't around for the ninth inning, but that's another story for another day.)

The story on Friday night was our seats, or, really, what weren't our seats. Here's what happened. This has been in the works for a while. Let me give you a slight bit of background - my parents' best friends are a couple they have known since they were kids. They both had sons the same year - 1978. So my best friend growing up was their son. We've grown apart - different high schools, different paths since high school, me leaving the neighborhood for Boston (although I do want to do this type of thing again - it was great to hang out again), but we always went to Mets games together as kids. Every great game I saw growing up, I saw with Steven - the day after the Mets clinched the NL East in 1986; the day SpiderMan got married before the game, then Lenny Dykstra and Mookie Wilson had their face-to-face collision; even football/hockey - we were together the day we saw the Jets lose to the Colts, 9-6 in the rain, then ate dinner at Rusty Staub's restaurant in Manhattan on the way to Rangers-Devils (the Rangers won, 2-1). We met Rusty Staub that day - another story for another day.

Anyway, we wanted to do a reunion-type game, so me and my dad and Steven and his dad went to this game together. It was great. Steven's dad was able to get us a window table in the Diamond Club - the Mets' restaurant at Shea. I had never eaten there before, so at least I had the chance to do that before the place gets torn down. The buffet was good - the only problem was that it really didn't feel like you were at a game, despite the fact that the game was going on right outside the window. Also right outside the window - Rusty Staub! He walked by on his way to his seats. He looked a heck of a lot better Friday night than he did when we met him and he signed autographs for us. And since I'm dropping names, I'll throw this one at you - Keith Hernandez took the elevator to the press level with us as we were heading to the Diamond Club.

Next, Steven's dad talked to an usher, and we were out sitting in the press box level in the Diamond Club seats. Not quite like sitting in a luxury box, but pretty good. Cushioned seats, waitress service, good sightlines. Much more like sitting at the game - since you're part of the crowd.

The one thing about the Diamond Club is that it's so secluded. If you're not looking for it, you'd never find it. And as a result, you'd never find the Mets Hall of Fame, where this is located:

I'm not sure I've ever told the story about my attendance at Gary Carter's induction into the Mets Hall of Fame. Another story for another day. Anyway, I hope the Mets Hall of Fame is more prominently located at CitiField.

The only other negative about the night was that I didn't get as good a look at the construction of CitiField as I would have liked. I did get this one shot below (note the upper deck garbage/people catcher at the top center of the picture), but I don't feel like it does justice to the tremendous progress being made. You can really make out the shell of the ballpark these days. The best thing for you to do would be drive up the Whitestone Expressway -that's always the best view I get, but I'm always driving, so I can't take the great picture.

SATURDAY AT SHEA: As I was in New York for the weekend, I was able to watch the Mets-Dodgers national telecast on Fox Saturday afternoon. Tim McCarver was doing the game, and during the third inning, Fox reunited McCarver and Ralph Kiner for the inning. Unfortunately, this happened during some high-stakes poker after the fantasy football draft, so I didn't hear much of it. Thanks to the Southern Bureau for making the effort to let me know about this event - I had read about it in the Daily News the day before. But if the Southern Bureau or anyone else who saw/heard it can write in and let me know how Kiner fared in front of the nation, I'd appreciate it. I hope he was as enjoyable as I've been telling you he is.

STILL LOSING...

My outlook is a little rosier today, despite the Mets losing again to the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Perhaps because I made it through the day without crashing a car into anything. Perhaps because another issue we had on Tuesday at the House sponsored by DirecTV was resolved. I forgot to mention it on in Tuesday's posting, but the hot water was out. That was fixed early Wednesday. Perhaps it's because I found the old "Umlauts" standings from 1999 between johnnymets, the Southern Bureau, and Justin in NYC.

"Umlauts" was a game whereby you had to throw a CD (usually played with the "Umlauts" CD, so called because it was only identified by a U with umlauts over it) onto a shelf across a hallway. The shelf was divided up into different squares and rectangles, and you earned more points for getting the "Umlaut" to settle into the smaller areas. It was tougher than it sounds, but by the end of the year, we were experts. The game took place at Boston University's radio station, WTBU. The creation of this game, sadly, may have been among our greater accomplishments during our college years. At least I know it was for me. So, since the parents are cleaning out their house during a renovation, all my old stuff is popping up...and the "Umlauts" standings were a recent find. Very exciting. For the record, Justin finished in first place in the standings.

I think the preceding two paragraphs illustrate the point I was going to make tonight. I've just spent two paragraphs talking about a game I made up 8 years ago...I'm afraid that I'm no longer the true blue Mets fan I've always been. Or...I ask the question, what makes a true blue fan? I used to think I was going to lose my status as "#1 Mets Fan in the World" if I missed one pitch during the course of a game, even if it was the late innings of a blowout. Now I'm lucky if I can stay awake past the seventh inning stretch...let alone the first pitch of a west coast game. Worse still, I might not even care when I see the score in the morning whether the Mets won or lost. What does that say about me?

I've become someone who rationalizes losses - if the Mets lose to the Phillies and Cole Hamels is pitching, for example, I say, "Well, if they were going to lose, at least it's to someone on my fantasy team." I didn't even realize until this morning that the rest of the National League East is right back on the Mets' tails because they've won just one game so far this month (although that may serve more as a commentary on my common sense than anything else). And it didn't make me run down to the computer to issue a call to arms on the blog.

I think steroids has a lot to do with this. I think slowly I'm separating myself from what I've been very close to, so that I'm not as disappointed as I might have been when names I've convinced myself were not involved get released as being involved in the scandal. I know fatherhood has been a major part of this, because I look forward to seeing my daughter every day far more than David Wright or Jose Reyes. But her bedtime is 7pm, just in time for the east coast games, and if something else comes up, I'm not as disappointed about missing the game as I once was.

So I'm having a fan identity crisis. Maybe all I need is the Mets to come back East, play at reasonable times, and get back to playing exciting, winning baseball. Maybe that's this weekend when they're playing the Yankees.

All that said, though, it only makes me more confident that the Mets are going to win it all this year. I wanted this blog to be a running record of the season - with Players of the Game following every game, all year long. I've lost that option, because I've missed so many postings. I missed major events of the season such as the emergence of Carlos Gomez, the surprise contributions of Jorge Sosa, and the Endy Chavez injury. So because of that, based on the way things work out for me, this will be the year the Mets win it, and I will only have a partial history recorded. It will have to suffice, but it could have been much more. Does that make me less of a fan? I don't know. I do know that the johnnymets of a year or two ago would have said that it certainly does.

COMMENT ON THE COMMENTS: Thanks to everyone who commented on the return posting from Tuesday. The Sister even weighed in! FYI, the 'system' she refers to in her comment is her so-called 'system' for the "New Baseball Pool". I'm convinced she picks a random team each week - she claims to have a 'system'. I know people enjoy leaving comments on the site, but also don't forget that you can e-mail at johnnymetsmail@yahoo.com.

AT LEAST HIS NAME'S NOT DICK: I keep forgetting to mention this, but every so often, the guys in the SNY booth will bring up a certain player from the Chicago Cubs who played in the late 70's, whose name happens to be Pete LaCock. Usually Keith Hernandez instigates it. But they'll allude to him, call him Pete or something, but never mention his full name. This has been happening for about a year, about once every other month...not very often. Last week, they did it again, and Gary Cohen, in what I'm guessing was coming through on an off-air bet that he couldn't say the name and keep it together, came right out and said, in response to Keith's hint at the player, "You're talking about Pete LaCock, right?" Well, they all lost it. And Hernandez goes, "Sorry folks."

I don't know what to make of this. First of all, I laugh every time they hint at his name...it makes me think of my old internship (the same internship for Southern Bureau and Justin in NYC), where the executive producer had LaCock's baseball card prominently posted in the office. But I also cringe, because Hernandez probably got Cohen in trouble for the whole thing. I like to think that Cohen is a little more professional than he gets when Hernandez is around. Again, I'm going to apologize for devaluing Ron Darling when he first came to SNY from Washington. He has been one of the best analysts I've ever seen/heard. I can take or leave Hernandez these days.

BEAT THE STREAK: I'm still playing, haven't really threatened Joe DiMaggio. I'll post this again when I get past 8 games, maybe.

WHY THE METS NEED TO WIN SOON

by johnnymets.blogspot.com

I'm starting summer vacation. I get to spend pretty much every day from now until the end of August with my daughter. I should be extremely happy...but I'm not. I've had a bad week, and it's only Tuesday. Making things worse, I haven't paid much attention to baseball (specifically, the blog), and the Mets have lost 7 of 8 (8 of 10 if you want to take it back to a round number...actually, 8 is a very round number...but I digress). The strange thing is, the Mets are getting healthy - they've gotten Jose Valentin back, Orlando Hernandez has come back, and Shawn Green is back - they're just not winning.

I compare the current Mets run to a car crash. It's a Met-aphor, if you will.

Where, you ask, did I get such a great picture of a car that has been in a car crash? Well, I only had to go to my driveway...like I said, it's been a rough week here at the House sponsored by DirecTV.

I think this can be traced back to Sunday night. (The Mets had been losing for a week already, but it wasn't bothering me at this point.) All of the anticipation, all of the excitement over the series finale of 'The Sopranos' for.....a choose-your-own-ending?! It's bad enough the show makes me think more than I should have to for a television show...but now they make me decide how to end one of the most successful shows in history? Way too much pressure, and a huge disappointment.

I'm also going to spend a minute addressing the fact that Tony Soprano played "Don't Stop Believin'" for the final song of the show. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I enjoy Journey, and I like "Don't Stop Believin'". I love it even more because it became one of the theme songs of the 1999 Mets during their end-of-season and post-season run. I loved when someone would come through in the clutch late in a game and the chorus would start playing almost immediately on the Shea speakers. I remember it playing after Robin Ventura's grand-slam double. However, the song is now involved in a custody dispute in my mind: Happy memories from the 1999 Mets vs. Extreme disappointment in the final scene of 'The Sopranos'. The happy memories are fading fast.

So the week started off bad. Then came Monday night - the Mets, coming off a 15-7 drubbing on Sunday, got a first inning run out west versus the Dodgers, and I went to sleep, feeling pretty good about El Duque and the early lead. But the Mets aren't the lock they were last year when they score first on the road, and I woke to find out that they lost. So Tuesday got off on the wrong foot. It got worse.

Driving to my final work-related event of the school year, I got into an accident. The car is in the condition you see above (I'm fine). It actually looks worse than it was, but it's a crappy way to start summer vacation. The appraisal is tomorrow.

Therefore, Mets, I ask you to please start winning. If these first three days of summer vacation are any indication, things might not be going as well as I wanted them to this summer. If nothing else, give me something to watch, root for, and enjoy.

STEP TWO

Mets sweep Dodgers, 3-0, in NLDS


I know I've been horrible at updating the site so far during the playoffs, and I can't promise it's going to get any better, because I have the most beautiful daughter in the world, and for me to update the site I would have to leave her for a few minutes, and I just don't want to do that. So I watch the games with her, and I forego the site.

So far, in her brief life, the Mets are 3-0. Which is very exciting. I'm telling you, it's been quite a week. I wish I had written earlier in the week, just because what I suspected has come true - despite the Mets' pitching issues (El Duque going down the day before Game 1, coupled with Pedro*'s rotator cuff), they have the power to outhit the National League teams. And that's what they've done. But the pitching hasn't been bad.

John Maine gave the Mets what they needed (considering such short notice, it was a very good start), the bullpen was awesome in Game 1 and Game 2, Tom Glavine gave the Mets the type of start they've expected from him in the post-season since they signed him, hoping they'd be able to use him in the post-season, and in Game 3, it was the bats that came through when the pitching was less than stellar. Billy Wagner slamming the door shut at the end of all three games is fun to watch, too.

David Wright talked in a post-game interview in Game 1 about how the Mets have a knack for scoring runs right after a team comes back on them to take the lead - and the Mets did that in Games 1 and 3 in this series, just like they've been doing all season long. A very nice, clean 3-game sweep for the Mets. Losing Cliff Floyd isn't great (although he's day-to-day, which isn't as serious-sounding as the injury looked) - but that just means more playing time for Endy Chavez, which is a good thing.

Now, hopefully San Diego can force a 5th game against St. Louis, just so both of those teams have their pitching stretched to the limit in the first round. That will allow the Mets to set their rotation up as best they can, and force the Cardinals or Padres to be mismatched. As much as I hate the fact that St. Louis made the playoffs, I'm loving the possibility, with them ahead 2 games to 1, that the Mets will face them in the NLCS. There's two ways to look at this - the negative opinion is that the Cardinals are now hitting their stride in the post-season. The positive side (as a Mets fan) is that the Mets can kill the Cardinals. Which I think will be the case.

I honestly felt there were just two teams that could beat the Mets in the post-season, and neither of those teams was in the National League. They were both American League teams, and now they are both eliminated. I thought the two biggest threats to a Mets World Championship were the Yankees and the Twins, and surprise of surprises, they were the first two teams to bow out. I'd rather the Mets face the Cardinals in the NLCS, but the Padres don't scare the heck out of me (they'd push the Mets more in the series), and I think the Mets match up better against the Tigers and/or A's than the Yanks and Twins. But that's looking too far ahead for now.

Game 1 of the NLCS is Wednesday - I hope to post before then. Maybe a preview. SNY is doing its post-game celebration coverage now - Tim Tuefel and Todd Zeile are now a part of the SNY team. Interesting choices there.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE METS DON'T GIVE TRACHSEL A TON OF RUN SUPPORT

Dodgers 9, Mets 1 (NYM: 88-54, LA: 76-67)

I admit, the Mets took a backseat on Sunday to the first Sunday of the NFL season (please see the Jets blog for more on that). And it was a lot easier to ignore the baseball game when the Dodgers jumped out to early 4-0, 5-0, and 9-0 leads.

The Mets' only run came on a Jose Reyes homer, his 19th of the year. Steve Trachsel gave up 4 runs in 2-and-2-thirds - against a possible playoff opponent. I am telling you - I do NOT want to see him in a tight spot in the playoffs...and I'd prefer not seeing him in any spot in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, Brian Bannister pitched in relief in the game, giving up 5 runs in 3 innings of work - 3 of those runs coming on a Nomar Garciaparra homer. Eric Stults started for the Dodgers, and pitched very well, getting his first major league win.

The Mets open up a series in Florida on Monday, with a magic number of......

MAGIC NUMBER: It's 4, because the Phillies lost to the Marlins. The Marlins are now tied with the Phillies for second place, so the Mets will have to beat the Marlins and need the Phillies to lose over the next few days in order to decrease the number by more than one. I still suspect the clincher will come Friday in Pittsburgh.

Dave Williams goes for the Mets on Monday against Anibel Sanchez, who is making his first start since his no-hitter last week.

PEDRO* UPDATE: There's a chance we'll see Pedro Martinez* back on the mound for the Mets this week - actually, a very good chance. He hopes to be back no later than Friday. My bet is he's the one to pitch the night the Mets have a chance to clinch (and, like I said, there's a great chance that will be Friday night against the Pirates).

THE KID'S KIDS: Holy smokes! On Saturday night, for the second night in a row, the St. Lucie Mets scored multiple times in the 9th inning to come from behind and win in the FSL Finals. This time, trailing 3-1 in the 9th, the Mets got a 3-run homer as part of a 4-run ninth to come back and beat Dunedin, 5-3. Game 3, which could be the clinching game for the Mets, was Sunday night at 7pm, finishing after I posted (St. Lucie leads 2-0 in the 5th), so I'll update that on Monday.

The Dodgers beat the Mets on Friday night, 5-0 (you know your team is having a great season when losses really take you by surprise - it was weird seeing the Mets lose this game), and the Phillies beat the Marlins, so the Magic Number remains at :

Just wanted to let you know what my rooting strategy is for the rest of the weekend: The Mets need to win the next two against the Dodgers, and we need to root for the Marlins to beat the Phillies in their next two games. That will put the Magic Number to about 3....but it will also put the Marlins closer to second place - meaning the Mets could clinch in Miami by beating the Marlins early next week, and knocking the Magic Number down multiple numbers. Chances are, though, since the Marlins lost to the Phillies on Friday night, that the clinching will come in Pittsburgh at the end of next week. That's what I'm thinking, at least - the Mets may split the next two with the Dodgers, they'll probably lose one to the Marlins, and the clincher will probably come the first game against Pittsburgh, in Pittsburgh.

THE KID'S KIDS: Wow! I glanced at the score, and saw Dunedin leading St. Lucie 5-4 in the 9th inning, so I was all set to write quickly about St. Lucie having a back-to-the-wall scenario in the Florida State League Finals. But the Mets came through with 3 in the 9th, pulling out a 7-5 win, and taking a 1-0 series lead!

This series is a best-of-5, and minorleaguebaseball.com predicts the Mets in 4. Here are the Mets celebrating their first round win (Gary Carter is the guy on the right - not the guy on the left):

WEST COASTING

OK, it's only the bottom of the first as I write this, but if things continue like this, the Mets are on their way to a 27-0 win. They're already up, 3-0, after a leadoff homer by THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, and then a two-run homer by Carlos Delgado. Delgado has been slumping lately, so a homer in pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium (snore) is a good sign.

I would love to see a solid outing from Alay Soler tonight.

This week isn't going to be great, because of the late starts out west...maybe I'll pull out some of my old scorecards and play the ol' "Recap Games I Went to Years Ago" game. Not sure if that was popular when I did it last year. We'll find out, I guess, if I do it again. This year I can add pitcures of some of the old players.

LASTINGS IMPRESSION: Apparently our boy Lastings Milledge is making a bad reputation for himself. Milledge drew the ire of some of the Giants on Sunday after hitting his game-tying homer in the 10th inning, and celebrating a little bit too much. After the Mets finished batting that inning, Milledge slapped hands with some of the front-row fans on his way out to right field. Willie Randolph reportedly talked to him about that after the inning, saying something like, "People will know who you are, you don't have to draw attention to yourself." In his own defense, Milledge said something like, "I was just sharing the excitement of my first major league homer with the fans." I don't think I have a problem with Milledge being enthusiastic with the fans. I haven't seen video of this or anything, but it seems harmless to me. I think it's a good thing that he's establishing himself with the fans. If it comes off as pompous when I see video of it, I may change my mind, though. The Giants seemed to think it was self-serving.

AROUND THE MAJORS: I just saw Carlos Zambrano lose a no-hit bid in the eighth inning at Houston. Too bad. It's been a while since the last no-hitter in the Majors. That was Randy Johnson's perfect game versus Atlanta. It happened on my honeymoon. Best part of being in Hawaii was the time difference - nothing like waking up at 7am and watching a 1pm East Coast baseball game. It was over, and I still had the whole day in front of me. That was a Blue Jays-Twins game - I think the Twins won it in their final at-bat. The perfect game was later in the day.

But speaking of Atlanta - they lost to Washington tonight - their fifth straight loss at home. Tough times for the Braves.

THE KID'S KIDS: St. Lucie won on Monday, 11-1. The game was called in the seventh inning. Either there's a new mercy rule, or it was raining...or this was a part of a doubleheader I wasn't aware of....but the Mets won...so that's good.

FANTASY UPDATE: Lost two out of three again today. Things are getting bad. I'm a game under .500. Three important games against the Pirates on Tuesday - they're in the wild card hunt too. I have some weaker opponents coming up after that, though - maybe I can make up some ground. I picked Jae Seo up off the waiver wire, and got rid of 4-11 Jerry Koosman. He didn't live up to his good numbers, I'll tell you that.

BEAT THE STREAK: Now we're talking - Carl Crawford got me to a 6-game streak. I have Miguel Tejada on Tuesday, because the Orioles are hitting against a Blue Jays pitcher named Ty Taubenheim. If Tejada doesn't get a hit off Taubenheim, I may just give up on this game forever. I didn't even bother looking at other matchups.

SANS FRANCISCO AND DIEGO, WITH L.A. IN BETWEEN

I've been wondering when I could finally write about the West Coast Ballparks. Today's a day off for the Mets (they'll be in Atlanta this weekend), so this is as good a time as any to give a 3-park review (plus a bonus fourth park where we didn't see a game).

But first - I'm delighted Steve from New York (Queens, to be more specific) took my "write more often" advice, so here he is again:

"Johnnymets -

It appears I have let out my frustration on the Mets braintrust a bit too quickly. According to the Mets website this morning, Randolph has decided to push Zambrano back to Monday at Shea against Washington and pitch the much better and much more productive Steve Trachsel against the Braves in Atlanta on Sunday. The Mets pitching appears to give them an excellent shot at winnning the series. Hopefully, our $120 million pre-madonna will make a start and begin to earn his pay check.

- The "more optimistic than usual" fan in Queens"

First, all readers must realize that Steve is very cynical, and not usually optimistic. He's like the Yin to my Yang. Or something. So by "more optimistic than usual", I'm sure Steve means he doesn't think the Mets will be out of it by the All Star break this year, like he usually does.

Anyway, I'm hearing the same thing about Victor Zambrano - that his start won't be skipped completely, but he also won't upset Steve Trachsel's pitching schedule. So Trachsel will go Sunday, against Atlanta (an important game), on his regular rest, and Zambrano will go Monday, against Washington (a game the Mets could afford to lose...but an opponent he can beat), 8 days after his last start. So I guess Steve has calmed down a bit over that issue.

Also, by $120 million prima donna, I think Steve is referring to Carlos Beltran*. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll be earning that paycheck for another week or so. I haven't heard anything about Beltran*'s health today (nor Brian Bannister's, for that matter), but last thing I heard was that Beltran* would be placed on the DL Friday to rest his hamstring, retroactive to his last action in San Diego last Friday, and Victor Diaz would be called up to replace him. A sour note here on johnnymets.blogspot.com.

Now, onto the trip:

SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND
AT&T is the bonus park I was talking about. I showed you the pics the other day - we didn't go in, but we walked the perimeter of the park, and looked in the gates. There was also a big gate open because the grounds crew was working on the sod after about a month straight of rain in the Bay area. The park looks great...but I'll be going back.

I should explain how these trips work for me...because I'm a little obsessive sometimes. We have to go visit a park (we is the wife and I - she's in for the long haul now, because she's made all the trips with me so far. Other people who accompany us are interchangeable - but it's always nice to have company.) during a game that counts. An exhibition game, for example, is no good. I want to be there for an official game. Any post-season games are OK, too. But exhibition games don't count - unless we're talking about Doubleday Field in Cooperstown. I've also decided if I could visit a park during the World Baseball Classic, that might count - but I'd miss some of the home crowd atmosphere, which I think is important. So a real game is criteria number one. Then, we have to get there early, so I can check out what's around the park. Then, we have to take pictures for the scrapbook - hopefully I get most of these out of the way before the game (although I do take a couple during), so that I'm not worrying about them throughout the game. Then it's the souvenir stand - a drinking glass for the bar (tough to find out West - just got one at San Diego), a program, and maybe a shot glass. Maybe a shirt or hat for the wife. Then the food stand, with a souvenir cup. Then enjoy the game.

So the trip to AT&T Park didn't count. But it was a nice scouting trip. Nice-looking inside, and it definitely looked like there was a lot to do around the outside of the park. I'm sure it's a fun place to be, with McCovey Cove and everything, before and during a ballgame. We'll be going back.

McAFEE STADIUM
The small ball fiscal mentality you see on the field with the Oakland A's extends to their off-field business as well. There is cost-cutting even at the food stands. I got the worst souvenir cup at Oakland from any stadium ever (I hate to see what Kansas City offers - it's probably paper). They also didn't have lids for the drinks. Sticking with food, the hot dogs were very good - they also had sesame seed buns, which was different...and good.

I also figured out why Raiders fans are so ornery - they pee into a trough. The stadium's men's rooms have troughs instead of urinals. Now, I never saw this before - but the wife says this is the way it used to be in Fenway Park too. I don't know how the wife knows about the men's rooms at Fenway, but I vaguely remember hearing about this. It occurs to me that I've never been in a bathroom at Fenway. I have a very strong bladder. But I digress.

The atmosphere is OK - the fans wear a lot of green, which is neat - but their biggest reaction came from the dot races on the scoreboard rather than game action. There were only 21, 256 there - and the whole upper deck is closed off this year to prevent it from looking empty - capacity is about 34,000. Big kudos, though, to the fact that the ushers hold back all fans walking around until an at-bat is through.

The concourses are dank, the stadium looks awful from the outside, but when you're sitting in your seat watching the game, it's not a bad place to watch a game from. Here's another good picture from that game - Cameron Loe delivering to Eric Chavez:

I told you Huston Street blew this game for the A's - the Rangers won it.

DODGER STADIUM

*yawn* Bland team, bland stadium. Old stadium. *yawn* I really disliked our trip to LA.It's kind of an intimidating city, and I'm a proud New Yorker, who loves Manhattan. It's just such a big city, and everything is spread out, and you can't get anywhere except by driving. So I got off on the wrong foot with this whole trip. And I guess I was predisposed to not like Dodger Stadium. But, first of all, I'm glad we got it out of the way. And second of all, it wasn't all bad.


Everything about Dodger Stadium seems old. The bathrooms (interestingly enough - troughs again), all the concrete....it really looks like it does on TV. Which is to say, there's not a lot to it. It was comfortable to watch the game there, with good sightlines - in part due to the fact that the Dodgers installed new seats (every seat in the ballpark is new) in the offseason - the first team to do a full seat replacement in the offseason. The fans were into the game - but there were a surprising number of Cubs fans at the game - almost seemeed like more Chicago fans than L.A. fans.

The Dodger Dogs were good (apparently, you HAVE to have a Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium), but weren't anything to scream about. They're grilled, so I guess that's why they're different. And they come out of the package HOT. One of mine was covered in ketchup because I burned my hand holding it under the ketchup dispenser because it was so hot. Also, an added bonus was the organ music - not only the fact that there was organ music, but it was pretty good.

The scoreboards stopped updating out-of-town scores, which was frustrating for someone trying to run a pool. (But the most awesome thing about the West Coast is that the 7pm games are finished by the time these games get underway. I like the time change.)

And here was the number one good thing about Dodger Stadium - open concourses. I didn't even realize it at first. But for an old ballpark (outside of Wrigley, this is the oldest ballpark in the NL, and fourth oldest in the majors), the open concourses really add to the park feel. It's something I really appreciate, since Shea's concourses are closed, and you can't watch the game from behind the stands. It was a really nice part of Dodger Stadium.

As for the game, this was the game where Derrek Lee got hurt. We left right after that happened, in the bottom of the 7th. I had had it with LA. I was not in a "THINK BLUE" frame of mind.
The Cubs came back to beat the Dodgers in this game.

PETCO PARK
I've saved the best for last.
The first thing you need to know about PETCO Park is how strange it looks from the outside. It looks like a shell. Or a secret compound. It's strange. I can't really describe it. But from the highway, it doesn't really look like a stadium. The light towers are the only thing that give it away - otherwise, we wouldn't have seen it from the road. But that's the only negative thing I'll say. PETCO is up there with my favorites. Actually, it probably is my favorite, edging the former Enron Field in Houston. There's more to do at PETCO - so much more to do that I'm pretty sure we didn't see everything there is to see, and we have to go back. We barely even made it around to the right field side.

I'm kind of obsessed with this park. Especially the Warehouse in left field.I just love it. And what I didn't know is that the warehouse houses the Padres' team store on the ground floor. We went there, but apparently, you can step out of the team store onto the field behind the left field fence. I will definitely be doing that the next time we go...I found out about that too late last week.
This ballpark is beautiful (on the inside, anyway). It's like a resort. A huge resort. There's about a zillion employees, one stationed at each entry ramp, and they're all very, very friendly. It was awesome. They, too, held back crowds until at-bats were over. (Another complaint - we were sitting in a section where they had waitresses/waiters bring food orders to you. It defeated the purpose of holding back the crowds, because the woman taking orders was always standing in the way. Also, PETCO is not in a very nice area. That's another complaint. And it's expensive. Food and drink and souvenirs. That's all. I still loved it.)

Interestingly, one of the ballpark's flaws was the closed concourse. I think it's so big that they just couldn't have open concourses. They make up for this, though, by having monitors EVERYWHERE on the concourse, so you don't miss a thing. This was the game that went 14 innings, when the Mets lost 2-1, and after the last out, as we walked out, we could watch the replay of the winning run scoring, and what I insist was a bad call by the ump, all the way through the concourse to the exit.


The food was good, the atmosphere was good. Even though the Mets lost, I loved it. That probably says it all.

We have an uncanny knack of rooting for the losing team on these trips. We saw the Mets in Houston and Philly. They lost both times. (Also in San Diego.) We were rooting for the Dodgers and the A's, and they both lost. We went to Yankee Stadium, and the wife wanted to root for the Red Sox, and they lost. The Mets also lost in Arizona. It's awful. I'm seeing the Mets in Boston in June - they'd better break the streak. At least someone will win that day - the wife's Sox or my Mets.

The rest of the trip was quite relaxing.
We even went to the San Diego Zoo. An added bonus in San Diego. This gorilla must have seen a game at Dodger Stadium, too.

THE KID'S KIDS/MINOR LEAGUE REPORT:

The St. Lucie Mets have another game Thursday night against Jupiter, who they had that big comeback against last night. The standings are still the way they were after last night's game: the Mets are 13-6, a half-game up on Brevard County, and 1 up on Palm Beach.

The big news in the minors, though, is Delmon Young. If you haven't seen the video of him throwing his bat at the ump, which I mentioned last night, check out ESPNEWS soon, or come over, because I have it on TiVo. He should be suspended indefinitely, and that indefinitely should last a very long time. He chucked the bat. And it was a direct hit. It's a good thing the ump was wearing a chest protector.

Big weekend series for the Mets in Atlanta this weekend. I'll have full coverage.