Archie Bunker's Army

A little past one in the morning over here and to help stay awake for the game, the Army will do a bit of in-game blogging...Cliff Floyd makes the starting lineup, gimp and all...what was he, 4 for 9 with one homer and nearly another v. the Dodgers? A good sign. First things, Prediction - with two micro managers running this show, expect some very loooooong games... 1:26 am - two outs, pitching to Pujols? Indeed. Pujols 9 for 20 v. Glavine (.450)... 1:27 - Pujols down on strikes! 1:32 - Cards starter Jeff Weaver lifetime 86-101 won/loss record. 1:35 - Mets go in order as well. Maybe this game won't slow down until after the 6th inning... 1:39 - Cardinals were 23-34 v lefties this season...and they say the Mets struggled! At least we had a winning record against lefties. 1:41 - Floyd can't reach a foul ball a few rows into the seats. Must be the sore wheels, harhar. Second or third ball hit Floyd's way already. Are the Cards testing him? 1:43 - Six Cardinals...

Rain was not the friend of the New York Mets. Most importantly, it erased one easy solution for the Mets, (and oh how we rejoiced at Chris Carpenter being used in Game 4 of the Cardinals ALDS against the Padres,) and created a potential problem on the horizan for Game Two, namely now that there is an option, who will it be, Jeff Suppan or Chris Carpenter. "The sooner that Chris pitches when he's ready, the better off you are," said the world's most despised manager, tony la russa. "And he happens to be ready Friday." Why you smug little law grad tart. Have spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations been created for the possibility that it will be raining Yankee pilot pitchers from the skies again tonight and another game postponed? Have you calculated the trajectory of a David Wright homerun searing through your vacant bullpen? Have you penned the anthems of bile and ridicule the Shea crowd will sing for Braden Looper in the bottom of the 9th? It seems...

This was the NLCS most of the baseball world thought least likely. The Mets, decimated by shocking injury to half of its starting rotation, were expected to wobble and fall over under the weight of the disappointment and shock etched in losing Pedro and El Duque within a week's time of each other, just before the playoffs were to begin. The Cardinals, who had held a strangle hold over the NL Central for most of the season, fell prey to a sudden and mysterious collapses (three losing streaks of seven games or more,) which nearly ended their season prematurely and saw a 7 game lead blown over the final 13. Although they survived the regular season, just, everyone was certain they would be over and done within three or four games maximum. And yet here these two teams are in the NLCS, still standing, a testament to either the courage and teamwork required native in a winning side or the weakness of the NL West, the division that spawned two playoff teams and two surprise losers. So ...

So now there is only one New York team left in the postseason. Shawn Green, with 3 hits and 2 RBIs at his former stadium, led attack The Mets knew with Steve Trachsel taking the hill for them in Game Three of the NLDS they were going to have to score early and score alot if they were to hold the momentum. The problem was of course, that facing Trachsel and the Mets lineup was going to be Hall of Fame shoo-in Greg Maddux . Hey auld man, wanna play two tonight? "What we need out of Greg (today) is exactly what he's going to give us," Dodgers' meat head manager, Grady Little confidently swooned before last night's game. "It could (be) 60 pitches in the fifth inning. It could (be) 80 pitches after eight. ... We are confident in the fact that whatever he gives us out there is going to be the very best he can give us for as long as he can." OR, it could be...23 pitches in the first inning alone; five consecutive singles with David Wright, Cliff Floyd and Gre...

The initial storm has been weathered. After losing Pedro and El Duque and with the howls of the jackals of media predicting their demise loudly in their ears, the Mets calmly did what they've done all season - win. Last night's 4-1 victory over the Dodgers was perhaps not as surprising as the Cardinals pair of wins in San Diego, but it served to silence a multitude of schadenfreudists and lighten the hearts of nervous Mets fans. Game One's story was multiple; a massive baserunning gaffe by the Dodgers in the second inning, Carlos Delgado's explosive post-season debut and most importantly, a victory that would appear to have righted a leaky Mets ship. Game Two's story was singular; the lone Mets starter with experience left standing solidifying his legacy. Tom Glavine's six shutout inning Mets postseason debut was just what the doctor ordered for this one-two punch; a steady and predictable veteran performance that effectively dashed another breath from the...

(Pay attention because by the time you've gotten towards the bottom you will doubt your own reality...) 21:17 - three up three down. I think I've coined a new phrase! 21:18 - dying over these commercials - colour copies at UPS store? What's up with that? 21:20 - I'm going to try the triple crown of baseball experience: 1. Type ongoing blog entries 2. Type ongoing Metsmerized chat room. 3. Speaking on the phone trans-Atlantic to my mate who is also a Mets fan. (adding one more, doing all three whilst drunk on wine...) 200 homers by the Mets, 41 of them from Beltran. 21:23 - Delgado takes a huge turn at first, as if. Still, first and third, two outs, David Wright to the plate... His first at-bat in post-season. Wonder if he imagines what he's doing... 21:26 no runs. 21:33 Maine working into trouble missing slider by a wide margin...loss of focus in middle innings taking effect already? 21:34 FECKING HELL! TWO outs at home plate! 21:37 oops - you can only give ...

"It's only a game. It's not like nobody's gonna die here or anything like that." -- Carlos Delgado trying to play down El Duque's calf injury just prior to Game One of the Playoffs. Nobody's gonna die? How does Carlos Delgado know this? At the rate the Mets starting pitchers are going down they might be well advised to take out a few extra life insurance policies. So El Duque injures his calf jogging in the outfield and might not start Game One for the Mets. This is the price a team pays for an elderly starting rotation. Although the Mets to a man seemed to be nonchalant there is almost no way this can not bring them down a hair. Or perhaps it will reinstill their determination? Time will tell but this newest blow is almost too much bad luck in one month for the Mets rotation and even though they've had a wild array of names cast in the starting roles this season, with the playoffs here there is no time to recalibrate. Here's hoping that if...

"I have been told to reason by the heart, But heart, like head, leads helplessly; I have been told to reason by the pulse, And, when it quickens, alter the actions' pace Till field and roof lie level and the same So fast I move defying time, the quiet gentleman Whose beard wags in Egyptian wind. I have heard may years of telling, And many years should see some change. The ball I threw while playing in the park Has not yet reached the ground." -Dylan Thomas from Should Lanterns Shine . I'm choosing to think about the 2002 Anaheim Angels, a team with questionable starting pitching, a deep bullpen and good defence that won the World Series. I'm choosing to think about them because that has been the Mets' bread and butter all season long and frankly, it is the Mets' fighting chance to continue. The Pedro Factor : His mystique is what lent credibility but not substance to the Mets rotation this season and thus his disappearance from the post season has evapora...

The Mets won their 97th game of the season last night in Frank Robinson's career finale and have finally learned the identity of their next opponent. In some ways it was all incredibly anticlimactic following the incremental disasters of Pedro , the early clinching of the NL East and a brief tailspin that saw a pair of humiliating losses at Turner and Hooch Field. But they've made it. Last night's season finale, a victory over the hapless Nats of Washington had no impact whatsoever on their postseason other than the outfield collision avoided between Carlos Beltran and Cliff Floyd meant there were no more disasters awaiting the Mets before the postseason begins. Some of the swagger and strut is missing. Perhaps ironically, the Mets' four game winning streak to close out the season left them tied with the hated Yankees for the best record in baseball. Ironic because like the Mets, the Yankees may be facing the postseason sans the pitching star who was supposed to lea...

Goodness, when Pedro falls apart, he really falls apart. I half expect him, like an agèd, overhugged teddy bear to come apart at the seams and leave little bits of stuffing every where he's placed. So the other shoe has dropped with an expectant thud. Not just the strained tendon in the right calf but the torn tendon in the left calf and the torn rotator cuff in the pitching arm; that which had once hung by a thread hangs no longer. Of course for the Mets, this is a double-whammy, not just losing Pedro for the postseason but maybe losing Pedro for good. Coming back from such a surgery at his age and his frail physique will be a daunting task and whilst it wasn't entirely unexpected, losing the number one name of your rotation would hurt any franchise long-term. The impact of his loss on the Mets' postseason has been overstated but next year, with Glavine and El Duque a year older, no Pedro and a collection of rookies, reclamation projects and Steve Trachsel , well Oma...

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...