Archie Bunker's Army

Hey kids, remember when it was mid August and the Mets lost three in a row to the Phillies by a combined 27-4 margin and Pedro had been hurt, El Duque had been battered, Tom Glavine had numb fingers and the World Series hopes of the Mets were being rubbished in every quarter? Yeah. The Mets went on to reel off a 7 game winning streak and put our minds at ease. And now, having been twice thrashed by our arch rivals in Atlanta by an aggragate 25-1 margin and having witnessed the disturbing possibility of a Pedro-less post season it is time to remember yet again, the days of the season when it felt like the wheels were coming off the great Mets World Series bandwagon. After getting humiliated 12-0 the Mets showed a little hopeful backbone hitting rock bottom, talking about walk up calls and farting loudly in public places to show what little fear they had. With Pedro taking the mound for the final time in the regular season there was an eerie aura of expectation as though THIS would be t...

“The honeymoon period’s over, and we need to get ready for the playoffs. Maybe this opened our eyes a little bit. Maybe we’re not the team we want to be.” -- David Wright , on wakeup calls and honeymoons I think this could rather have been expected, no? Dropping games like flies ever since clinching to the likes of the Marlins and the Nats the Mets returned to Turner and Hooch Field last night to face a Braves team which had had its birthright denounced, it's annual NL East Championship celebration negated, it's divine right thwarted. 12-0 with Oliver Perez on the mound? We got off easy! Sure, he pitched a five-hit shutout his first time against the Braves as a Met in Shea but those were the days back when everything was going right for the Mets, when Perez Prado could have mambo'd a five hit shutout against the Braves. Nowadays with the focus on next week rather than this one, Oliver Perez returned to the role of mere mortal, allowing 6 runs, 7 hits and 3 homers in a h...

O misery, in what sequence do I rate thee? Pedro's continued uncertainty : Pedro's health has been the question we've mulled ever since the winter so we should all be in perfect condition for worrying. For weeks Willie played the "Pedro Will Pitch Game One" record because sometimes just wishing things makes them come true but then, like the first cracks in Peter Brady's voice , Willie has begun to mull other possibilities. "He might need more time and be pushed back," Willie waxed philosophically. "I said initially he might go Game 1. That's always subject to change. What I'm saying to you is depending on how he comes out of his start -- who knows? -- he might need to be pushed back." Pushed back. Might need to be pushed back. I like the tenebrosity clinging to that statement. Who knows? Willie doesn't know. Pedro probably doesn't even know. He could be two batters short of bursting into tears at Turner Field tomorr...

"It's not like it's the first time he's been around the block. When he gets runners on base, he knows how to handle that." Willie Randolph in the understatement of the year, on Steve "The Tortoise" Trachsel's pitching Where has all of Steve Trachsel's run support gone? Oh, for the heady days when the Mets would power 6, 7, 8, sometimes 10 runs in support of a Trachsel start freeing him to take his sweet time walking batters, allowing hits, giving out earned runs like a grandpa dispensing learnèd wisdoms to his grandkids. Yes, back in July the Mets averaged 7.1 runs per Trachsel start and in August it was still 5.6 runs in support. Small wonder then, the winning streak that lasted almost as the time between Trachsel pitches. This little pie chart shows where the majority of the runs went... But September has seen of all that good fortune disappear. In his four September starts the Mets have scored 0, 1, 4 and 1 runs for Trachsel, hardly suffic...

The talent search for the postseason's Number Three starter continued yesterday with John Maine taking the stage before what was deemed a national audience although if you aren't a Mets fan, this was certainly not must-see tv. Not even if you are a Nats fan... If you compare it to El Duque's performance the night before, well, five walks, two hit batsman and four earned runs over five innings pitched was not exactly a stellar performance. Then again, with El Duque's postseason saavy and his almost mystical postseason success, I rather think this is all an elaborate shell game. Starting a rookie over a seasoned veteran in the postseason would be a crazy and desperate move so in my mind anyway, this start by Maine is more to game a Doomsday scenario wherein Pedro wasn't ready for the postseason. Putting up seven runs in the first four innings made it appear as though Steve Trachsel were on the mound instead of Maine and although Maine struggled, he managed to ear...

Whilst the results hardly seem to matter with the NL East and homefield advantage in the NL postseason clinched, there is still the sticky wicket of finalising the postseason rotation. Pedro is still making his slow return to full strength. Tom Glavine looks sharp and El Duque launched his campaign last night with a 7 inning, 8 strikeout performance which earned him a loss against the Nats. The overall picture, since that Cosmic Debacle against the Phillies in August when he gave up 11 earned runs in 4 innings, he's allowed three earned runs or less in his last five starts and is 6-2 with three no-decisions in 11 starts since July 5. El Duque de Angulema, son of the future Charles the 10th of France. El Duque de Queens and hopefully LA, SD, St Louis and Philadelphia...just imagine him taking the mound against his former team in the World Series... Ratings against potential National League playoff opponents: v. LA Dodgers He has started 3 games against the Dodgers all season with...

Normally, I'm a socially restrained guy, in spite of this blog. I write from this hidden perch anonymously and like many people, that is the extent of it. I don't very often if ever allow my personal life to mix with blogs. But this is a special occasion. Since July in the back of my head I've been thinking you know, if the Mets make it to the bloody World Series, I'm going to be there. Since I left NYC three years ago, I haven't been back to America once and frankly, with the exception of being able to go to Shea and going to McSorleys down the street from my flat and eating Mexican food at will, I haven't missed America much. And now we are closer to what I hope is the inevitable (and yet were it inevitable I wouldn't hope it, I would know it, World Series and I must hedge my bets - should I buy a ticket now, risk going back to America for no good reason if the Mets don't play in the World Series or wait until I really do KNOW they are there and g...

It might seem implausible, perhaps even blasphemous to some that the very star that put the Mets on the map two winters ago might not be the ace you want on the mound when the playoffs start in a few weeks. No tears this time around but no real joy either... Granted, there was no early inning meltdown, no string of ineffectiveness or an emotional breakdown in the dugout this time around. In fact, for the first four innings last night Pedro looked, well, vintage Pedro . Flyout, groundout, strikeout in the first, walk, groundout doubleplay, strikeout in the second, popout, groundout strikeout in the third and flyout, strikeout, strikeout in the 4th. After four innings The Mets Messiah had returned. But the fifth inning wasn't as kind. It's down to match fitness, no doubt, which is what happens to a pitcher who is only 5'11 180, aging, coming off an injury and had thrown what, four innings in the last month and a half? It happens and if the Mets ride this inevitable tide (s...

He is 11-2 with a 2.02 ERA in his career pitching against the Mets. 3-1 this season alone and last night he knocked in as many runs as he allowed in hitting a pair of homers whilst scattering 7 hits last night for another victory, another Shea performance that left no doubt. So the natural question to everyone at Shea last night was why isn't D-Train riding the Number Seven to work? Oliver Perez, no candidate to start in the post season but perhaps next season's reclamation project or next season's Victor Zambrano, pitched almost well enough, shutting out the Marlins for the first innings and giving up three runs and five hits over a few shades under 6 innings, but he was hardly the D-Train. He didn't hit any homers, he didn't cause any Shea fans to gasp with wonder and he lost his 12th game of the season. No D-Train but no Victor Zambrano yet either... Adding to his growing list of credentials, David Wright stole second base in the sixth inning, becoming the sev...

I got a little irritated reading the hyperbole of this article, I have to admit. Yeah, let's all tremble about the bloody Padres. And whilst we're at it, let's fret about Pedro and Glavine not being sufficient. Let's forget all about this being a team, larger than the individual's that comprise it. Let's forget about how this team got here - early leads, bullpen, bullpen and late inning heroics. My brother in-law all the way in the states had the nerve to suggest the Mets won't make the World Series because of their starting pitching. Of course, he's not a Mets fan so he's a de facto idiot but nonetheless, this seems to be the new theme song of baseball. The Mets suck, who cares if they clinched earlier than anyone or have the best record in baseball, they play in a weak league and their starting pitching is in tatters. Yeah, it sucks. Two bloody Hall of Famers and a pitcher with one of the most impressive modern era records in post-season bas...

It took 91 victories, 149 games over 168 days but the New York Mets, who began the season on a Monday, clinched the NL East on a Monday with a relieving 4-0 victory over the Florida Marlins. The cornerstones of the Mets future celebrate their first championship together The details, after three consecutive games waiting to exhale are almost irrelevant save for the fact that Steve Trachsel threw 6 1/3 shutout innings and renewed his potential claim for a place in the postseason rotation, holding an opponent scoreless for the first time in 29 starts this season. It wasn't the first time Trachsel has pitched a clincher, either. He provided a similar 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Sept. 28, 1998 for the Chicago Cubs in a one-game Wild Card playoff against the Giants. Following Trachsel were Guillermo Mota , Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner who combined to allow only a single hit, no runs over the final, celebratory 2 2/3 innings. Shea celebrates The Mets won in neither of their trademark...

The unused sheets of plastic hung above the Mets' lockers are beginning to remind me of the miles of duct tape and plastic sheeting the American federal government once urged its citizens to purchase to protect against a hypothetical terrorist attack. For the third time the Mets needed only a victory over the much-maligned Pirates or a Phillies loss to the Houston Astros and for the third time, neither happened, moving the NL clinching party back where it belongs; Shea Stadium. "It’s a little disappointing," Manager Willie Randolph was quoted as saying. But, he added comfortingly, "I’m not going to cut my wrists or anything." Did he really need to reassure us of that? I wouldn't say it's disappointing, I would say it bordered on the absurd. Not just losing three in a row to one of the crappiest teams in the National League. But the Phillies sweeping the Astros. The last time the Phillies swept the Astros in Houston was in May 1995 at the Astrodome....

To a man, the Mets would tell you no, they aren't losing intentionally to the Pirates simply to clinch their first NL East title since 1988 at Shea. Sure, they had the requisite large plastic sheets atop their lockers ready to be put in place to protect their stuff from spurting champagne bottles. Sure, El Duque , who would likely be starting Game Three of any playoff, was on the mound. If this isn't the face of Father Time, I don't know what is. But this wasn't just any old team the Mets were facing out there. These were the Pirates, after all. "I don't think we are pressing - we ran into a couple good left-handers and they've got a good ballclub ." Paul Lo Duca, whose fly-out in the 9th with a runner in scoring position left the Mets with their 3-2 loss, second straight to the Pirates, managed to say with a straight face. "They're playing a lot better in the second half of the season, and we haven't been swinging the bats that well. ...

Ungoing rubbish monologue for what the hope is will be the Mets' clinching victory... 23:55, England - I can feel the blood moving through my veins, I think. Or my hair growing, I can't tell. 23:58 - what does it say about baseball that the Mets theme song on the FAN employs banjos? And boy, I have to confess, I just can't wait for more commercials! "I was buried in debt with no way of knowing how I was going to get out..." "One call can literally save you thousands of dollars..." 00:02 - This is a Pedro warm-up to the post season, a spring training to late April. 00:08 First pitch, 65 degrees, Howie Rose. It's almost like a script from the auld Don Ho show.... 00:12 - 1-2-3. Let the crescendo build slowly. I'm still so bombarded by commercials I think my head won't stop spinning until the 3rd inning. 00:14 60-80 pitches for Pedro. How do they know he'll be that efficient, ha! Pedro wearing a wrap to protect his left calf. 00:32 ...

The Specials cd ended so I've replaced it with Rammstein, one and a half hours before first pitch. In the interim I've been thinking about alot of other seasons of mediocrity that smell like bad pussy on your mustache on a Saturday morning (but only when you were a freshman at Uni of course...) Art Howe, for example. Art Howe was to the Mets like the 70s were to the American economy. Stale, stagnant and waiting to be over. I hated Art Howe so much I made a blog called Fire Art Howe Already! The thing about Art Howe is that he was a strong man. A Stoic. A man who let players be men blablabla and proved almost as unimaginative as the GMs who brought the mules who played for him. Art Howe, a disease, a malaise. Art Howe probably could have won the NL East with this team though. He won a few for the A's, after all. It's not like he never did it. I worry about Willie Randolph having to face post season decisions he hasn't had to face yet. The funny thing about Will...

Well, over here in merry ole it's already dark and there are still three and half hours til the first pitch but since this is a special occasion, I've loaded up on Grolsch (no good champagne in England) and bong hits to see me through the wee hours of the morning to witness, even if only via internet radio, the official beginning to the New Era of Mets Winnerdom. Pre-Game Rituals I begin the festivities by reading The Cubicle , an inning by inning account of the misery of being a Cubs fan. I was looking at the schedule tonight, the starting pitchers noting D Train pitching against the Braves tonight and I started remembering what it was like to be rooting for a team who have vague but unrealistic hopes of the postseason. I didn't have to think far, just last year in fact. So I went to the way back machine and dug out last year's column on 15th September . Quite a difference a year makes, folks. And here's the thing: It would be nice for the Mets to clinch at Shea ...

Ok, it isn't as spectacular as eliminating the Braves yesterday or clinching the NL East, but for the second night in a row, a Mets victory eliminated an NL East opponent. The Phillies can go ahead and keep sweeping the lowly Braves all they want, merely postponing the inevitable. The Mets won another from the Marlins this time 7-4, yet another come-from-behind victory, yet another extra inning extravaganza. And for added emphasis, the second night in a row the Marlins led in the 8th inning but couldn't hold on. Maybe Cliff Floyd is a little less over-awed by the Marlins by now. David Wright unable to score on Julio Franco's double in the 6th But the rather unlikely pairing of Tom Glavine and Jose Reyes scored instead. Last night the fall came in the 11th when Dan Uggla misplayed Ricky Ledee's certain double play grounder that left runners on the corners with two outs and Jose Reyes stepping to the plate. Reyes' pop foul was just out of reach of Miquel Cabrer...

After six innings last night it looked like although Oliver Perez had pitched a surprisingly competent game against these upstart Marlins his run support, like the muscle contractions a constipated colon, were slow and sluggish to come. The Mets were down 4-0 and the Magic Number wasn't getting any smaller. Did the 128 minutes of total rain delay work to the Mets advantage? But then in the 7th, with the daunting Josh Johnson who had allowed a mere three hits over five innings icing his arm to the tune of the Florida Marlin bullpen, David Wright slapped an RBI double to narrow the margin to 4-1 and in the 8th Carlos Delgado smacked a three-run homer, his 39th of the season to straightaway centerfield off Taylor Tankersley to tie the game. Classic bullpen meltdown by six Florida relievers who combined to allow 10 hits and six runs in four innings or mere inevitability that the Mets offensive juggernaut could not be derailed forever? Wright's second double following Delgado ...

The selection of post-season starters is gradually thinning. One night after Steve Trachsel continued to prove deceptive the mirage that is his winning record this season, Dave Williams , the Miracle Man from the Reds, allowed 9 runs and 11 hits in three innings of work, both season highs, before he was replaced with two on and no outs in the fourth inning. Williams can't wipe the grime of a disappointing start from his forehead. Sometimes you shudder thinking about the rest of the rotation. Pedro's help is on the way, Glavine seems to have righted himself after the earlier numb finger scare and El Duque appears to be rested enough for the final push but thereafter, we're looking at the reality of what has been a smoke and mirrors rotation for the majority of the season. Cody Ross , the man who was almost without a home this season after being dumped by both the Dodgers and the Reds, hitting .100 in 20 at-bats against the Mets this season, awoke from a life-long slumb...

So, the Mets are no good against guys making their first major league starts, big deal. Not bloody likely they'll be facing such pitchers in the playoffs. Two days after losing to a previously unheralded Hong-Chih Kuo and a trio of relievers teamed for a four hit 5-0 shutout, rookie Erik Stults shut down the Mets as well, limiting them to two hits over six innings in a 9-1 victory. Eric Stults in his earlier career as the elephant man. So while freakishly, this might mean that the Mets would be crap hitting against the Dodgers minor league pitchers, they did a pretty good tattoo job against Brad Penny and Greg Maddux so I think the worries about an early demise are a bit premature. Perhaps the bigger story was Steve Trachsel pitching his shortest outing all season, a two and two thirds inning job that cemented the knowledge that no matter how long that pretty little streak of winning decisions lasted for him this season, once in awhile Trachsel is going to have to pitch five...

To add to the excitement of an otherwise clearly concluded outcome, that of the Mets on the precipice of winning the NL East and a nearly-clinched playoff berth, it was imperative, as noted in yesterday's column, to enjoy this game as though it were the playoffs. That it, the Mets having split the first two games of the series and now with El Duque facing Greg Maddux in an experience-studded pitching duel. Maddux has pitched in 31 post season games in his career, starting 29 of them. El Duque has pitched 19 times in the post season, 14 of those as a starter. Maddux, 3.22 post season ERA, El Duque 2.55. Maddux with a career postseason record of 11-14 and El Duque with a 9-3 mark. It would be a postseason matchup, with the series lead on the line, worthy of what has been to date, a remarkable season for the Mets. El Duque, after wriggling out of a spasm of lead-off double trouble, goes on to retire the next 15 battters he faced through five innings. Shawn Green saves El Duque...

The National League leader with wins, Brad Penny they knock around like they were in a game of T Ball but a 25 year old rookie pitching, historically a relief pitcher at that, in his first Major League start ever holds them so tightly he has a no-hitter going into the fifth inning and wins his first game ever as a Major Leaguer. Of course, having to face a Taiwanese pitcher when your own bloody stadium is coincidentally holding Taiwanese Night can't be a good omen. Oh, the twists and turns, the contradictions and anomalies this season has brought upon the Mets in spite of their massively successful season, boggles the mere human mind at times. They raved about Hong-Chih Kuo afterwards - of course they would. Paul Lo Duca and Shawn Green shared their years of observations of the former reliever, Lo Duca's as a teammate, David Wright waxed poetic about Kuo's "great stuff" when he wasn't making throwing errors that put poor John Maine two runs in the ho...

Well there you go folks, another potential enemy turned to mush. 7-0, a very thoughtful score. (apologies for the brevity and lack of valour in this post, the head and the wine didn't mix properly and all the game notes went Pfffft! Tomorrow's another day. And hopefully another smashing victory. and for those of you also hungover, try a nice easy game like this: homerball

You think the pressure wasn't building on Shawn Green, that he hasn't been the scourge of the synagogues for the last half a month? Since he'd arrived to this team of destiny in the August 22nd deal with the Diamondbacks, Shawn Green had been hitting .179 including a worrying 1 for 20 stretch going into yesterday's doubleheader against the hated Braves. It could have been argued that it was only a matter of time before the Mets magic rubbed off on him but there were certainly a few skeptics remaining until yesterday's 6 for 8 doubleheader that saw him hit two homeruns, score four times and knock in three runs of his own in helping lead the Mets to a series-ending doubleheader sweep of those filthy Braves. For now anyway we don't have to mourn the loss of Evan Maclane any more. And if Shawn Green's awakening wasn't enough, further vindication of Omar Minaya's tactical genius was on display in the night cap when the unheralded and often-scorned Oliv...

Boy, do the Mets ever miss Carlos Beltran . He's missed two games due to an injured knee and in both of those games, the Mets managed only a single hit against starting pitching. Two nights ago it was in Houston, against Roy Oswalt and you think to yourself, ok fair enough, this sort of thing happens. Last night however it was at Shea, against the hated Braves who'd tossed a rookie, Chuck James out there for added embarassment. This was the same Chuck James we blistered for 7 runs in one inning not so long ago. Of course, it's also the same Chuck James who has been 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA in the seven starts he's made since the Mets mauled him. What we might have here is the beginnings of a team wide hitting slump spreading like a cruise ship Norovirus from Reyes down to...well, whatever sub happens to be batting 8th that night. It didn't help to see Michael Tucker in the lineup. We all know Michael Tucker didn't eat his carrots growing up. He's hitting ...

What a most valuable difference Carlos Beltran makes. First he saves Game Two with a stunning catch so dangerous that it involves bodily injury and then because of The Catch of Game Two he misses Game Three and resultantly, the Mets are nearly hitless against the best Houston Astro starter who Might've Been a Met, Roy Oswalt. Oswalt started the Astros’ last no-hitter, against the New York Yankees on June 11, 2003. The $73 million man took a perfect game into the 7th inning against the Mets last night and came out of it one moment of infamy poorer after Jose Reyes beat out a bouncer to short to lead off the inning. El Duque , back on the mound for the first time since 20th August after a prolonged rest of his weary 50-year old bones, walked six in 5 1/3 innings and was the author of his own demise in spite of allowing only a single hit. Although he was encouraged by his outing, let's let the impact of 106 pitches have their impact on his senior cititzen frame and we'll de...

It was almost a pyrrhic victory when Carlos Beltran emerged limping from a spectacular grab in the bottom of the 9th against the chicken wire fencing in left field just in front of the Mets bullpen to save Lance Berkman's blast from extra bases and Billy Wagner's hide from a blown save to secure a 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros. Better than last year's grab... And the one from the year before that, back in the days when the Astros had a ("full time") superstar on their team... But not as good as this one... Said Astros manager Phil Garner: "Carlos perhaps saved the game. Two runs probably score if he doesn't make that play, and it's certainly tied up. I didn't think it was catchable. He came out of nowhere." Beltran is helped from the field with the booing AstroIdiot fans ringing in his ears still angry over free agency... Another close call for the Mets' post season although Beltran isn't out of the storm just yet, the injury...

It was pretty for about three innings, long enough for the Mets to grab a three run lead, long enough for Carlos Beltran to hear a few golden choruses of appreciation from the Astros Idiot Patrol who obviously believe, submerged from reality as they are in their crappy little baseball world, that every player who wears their creepy little uniforms will stay on for ever like Keeping Up With The Clemens', playing in a rubbish little ballpark formally named after the bastion of American corporate greed and filth simply so they can watch their pick-up drivin, Stetson wearin, Skoal pinchin spawn warble into yet another hopeless and oppressively mindless Texas night. Feeling his fingers, Glavine tries out a subtle goose step to please the redneck patriot rabble assembled last night at Minute Maid Park Yes, the Met won again last night and yes, Billy Wagner nearly choked down a blown save in front of his former fans, preoccupied, one presumes, with drowning the hillbilly music from his...