CASE CLOSED

By the end of today, Brett Favre may be a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There's still a slight chance he'll play for the Jets...that door hasn't completely shut. And if that happens, I'll welcome him.

But I have a different idea that can save face for Favre. It will only enhance his legacy, rather than tarnish it.

Brett Favre needs a job. The Mets need a closer. Seems like a perfect fit to me.

Who throws harder than Brett Favre? I bet he can hit 100 on the radar gun - he practically does that with a football, let alone throwing a baseball.

It's a win-win situation for everyone:

1) Billy Wagner is on the DL. Even when he has pitched, he's been hurt, and has been ineffective. No one else on the Mets seems to be able to lock down this closer position - Aaron Heilman nearly blew a 4-run 9th inning lead last night. Favre hasn't missed a game since 1992, right? So that solves that problem.

2) There's no such thing as an interception in baseball.

3) Obviously, this addition would lead the Mets to a World Series championship.

4) By the time the World Series is over, the NFL season will be halfway over. Favre will have a better idea then of which teams are in need of a quarterback, he'll be fresh, and be able to take the reins of a team that is missing that final piece for a championship. Who knows - by then, maybe Aaron Rodgers will be hurt, and everything can work out the way Favre wanted it in the first place - he could take over the QB position on the Packers again.

Brett Favre could win a World Series and Super Bowl in the same year. This is something that should be seriously considered.

DELGADO, METS WEATHER WAGNER, PIRATES

Mets 4, Pirates 3, 12 innings (NYM: 18-9, PIT: 8-21)

It's nights like this that I hate the idea of a closer. (And that's just me saying that. Imagine how Pedro Martinez* must feel - story of his career, in microcosmic form, Wednesday night at Shea.) Billy Wagner didn't have it - you could see it from his first pitch, which went on to become a walk to his first batter, then 2 runs, blowing the save. Part of this could be the bad weather, but it's also the way he's been pitching lately - allowing too many baserunners (it brings back bad Looper/Benitez/bad Franco memories).

The sad thing about this is that early on, it looked like Pedro* was going to get robbed of 6-0 because the game was going to be over too soon. The rain was awful, and it seemed like the game was on the verge of being called early. But the game lasted into the sixth, when the Mets broke a 1-1 tie, and took a 3-1 lead. Pedro* was the pitcher of record...and the game lasted all the way until the ninth, when Wagner blew it. And then it continued.....into the 12th, when Carlos Delgado won it with a walk-off homer leading off the inning.

The pessimist looks at this game and says the Mets blew a lead in the 9th to one of the worst teams in baseball. The optimist says this is the type of game the Mets lost last year, after blowing a save and a sure win (and also notes that the Pirates have been a tough out this year). The optimist also looks at Endy Chavez's contributions, again starting in right field - going 4-for-5, and coming up with a game-saving headfirst diving catch in the 10th (or maybe 11th) inning, with a runner on.

The best news I can offer about this game, before I go to bed, is that in awful, wet conditions at Shea, nobody got hurt, and better weather is on the way. And the Mets won.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets had an off-day Wednesday (seems like their first one all year), but won Tuesday night, beating Palm Beach, 4-3. That's three wins in a row for the Hall of Famer's team. It also moves the Mets into a first place tie with Palm Beach, at 16-9, a full game ahead of Brevard County.

FANTASY SPORTS: The What If Sports season gets underway Thursday morning. (There are three games a day - morning, afternoon, and night). The season starts at Cincinnati, including a game one matchup featuring Tom Seaver versus Tom Seaver. I should know how the 3-game series turns out by tomorrow night's posting.

BEAT THE STREAK: I had a sinking feeling when I logged onto the MLB website that I wasn't on that website yesterday. Alas, I had forgotten to make the Beat the Streak after I declared my David Wright pick here. Wright had a hit, snapping his 0-for-17 slump, but he might as well not have. Oops. At least I didn't lose a streak because of it. Still on 0, I pick David Ortiz to rock one off of Josh Towers to get me started.

Phillies 5, Mets 4 (PHI: 7-6, NYM: 6-7)

Kaz Ishii's first inning did in the Mets Monday night. Ishii gave up a leadoff single to Jimmy Rollins, then walked two straight to load the bases. I think he threw something like 11 straight balls - he just couldn't find the plate. Then Ishii bore down, he gave up an RBI single to Pat Burrell, struck out Jim Thome, gave up a long fly ball to score another run, then got a nice play by future Hall of Famer David Wright on a foul pop to end the inning, trailing 2-0. The Mets made a run at the end of this game - but if Ishii finds the plate in the first, it could be a whole different game.

A couple of bright spots on defense to mention - Kaz Matsui went way far to his left to pick up a grounder by Bobby Abreu in the second inning and throw him out at first - he's been struggling lately, so it's good to see him do something well. Then in the third, as the Phillies expanded their lead to 4-0, Cliff Floyd made a running catch into the left-center field gap that saved a run (there was a runner on second). It's the second time I've seen Floyd cover a ton of ground like that and make the running catch - the first was one of the first two games of the season in Cincinnati. Floyd, by the way, made his first start since April 11th, after missing some time with a strain.

In the bottom of the sixth, with the Mets down 5-0, Felix Heredia all of a sudden lost the plate. He was throwing all over the place, with the Mets announcers making comparisons to Rick Ankiel. He had to leave the game - it looked like he had a problem with his thumb. I'm not positive about this, but I think Heredia missed a bunch of time in spring training with numbness in his hand. If so, this could be a recurrence. I wish the announcers would have mentioned something about his problems during the spring (I know he had some problem, I'm just not sure it was the numbness), but they didn't. Fran Healy and Ted Robinson are driving me nuts again this season - but that's a topic I'll save for another night.

In the top of the eighth, the Mets were in a position to start a comeback, after a 1-out double by Victor Diaz. The key here - one out. After the next batter flew out to center field, Diaz was doubled off second - he lost track of the outs. The worse news? Third base coach Manny Acta seemed to have lost track of the outs too. Not a good thing.

The ninth inning shows why the Mets are going to be very exciting all year. I wrote down before the ninth, with the Mets down 5-0 and the top of the order coming up, if any top of the order can start a team towards five runs, it's this team. So then THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, singled, and so did Kaz Matsui, and so did Carlos Beltran*, scoring Reyes, making it 5-1. After Mike Piazza struck out looking on a pitch down the pipe (Piazza actually hit well in this game - he might be coming around), Cliff Floyd blasted a 3-0 pitch into the upper deck to make it 5-4. Unfortunately, future Hall of Famer David Wright struck out, then Doug Mientkiewicz hit it on the nose but right at the second baseman to end the game.

The problem with the Mets' winning six in a row last week was that they lost 5 in a row to open the season. Now, after two losses, the Mets are again a game below .500. They need to go on another run to put some distance between them and the .500 mark.

In order to do that, they need Wright to start hitting again. After he hit his second homer of the year last week, he has cooled way off. Teams are starting to pitch him way inside, and I think it's messing with his head. He doesn't look comfortable at the plate these days. I seem to remember a slump like this at the major league level for him last year, and I think he broke out of it with his 2-homer, 7 RBI day in Milwaukee. He needs a game like that real soon (Philly is a great park for slump-breaking) to get him back on track.

I hate to admit it, but Roger Clemens is having a lights-out season. He pitched another seven scoreless innings Monday night against Atlanta. That game, incidentally, is going to the 11th right now, still 0-0. The second straight night Atlanta has gone 9 innings 0-0.

Which brings me to another point - Sunday night, Atlanta and Philadelphia went into extras, tied 0-0. The Braves got a run in the top of the tenth, then Dan Kolb blew the save (he was horrid - he threw a ball away on a bunt, and then loaded the bases before the Phillies won it). I'm starting to wonder if the closer is going to become a less-important part of the game. I wonder if teams are just going to start getting away from gearing their whole game towards the closer. Right now, it's still the case that if you're up by 3 runs or less, the ninth inning belongs to the closer. But I think that may start to change, especially if it's a one-run game and you have a starter going good. I think Jack McKeon's view (I have a guy out there doing a great job, I'm not going to buy into this closer stuff) might start rubbing off on other people...especially if it's working. I don't think teams will start going with a closer-by-committee, I just think we're seeing the end of the dominant closer/saves category as guys like Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Troy Percival, etc. near retirement, and the closers around baseball continue to struggle.
Sorry I didn't write yesterday - I didn't watch the Mets lose to the Marlins, so I didn't have much to say. Also, sorry about the phone problems - hope you enjoyed the wife's take on things. I have to admit, I did. I have to earn some money this week (I'm on spring break - which means work at Channel 4), so I won't be able to watch the Mets Tuesday night or Wednesday night. I will, though, try to post what I follow of those games on the AP wire.