Mets Offseason Report Card

Ok sure, there isn't much to report yet.

It's nice to see the Republican mouthpiece, clubhouse bigmouth and all around nice guy-but-still-a-douchebag-who-can't-pitch-past-five-and-a-third-innings-an-outing Al Leiter Get Shown the Door. The Mets already have an ageing lefty who can't pitch more than six innings under contract. His name is Tom Glavine. So we don't need another. Good night Leiter. Take you're Republican act somewhere else where they might appreciate it. It only works for Schilling because he won a World Championship for the Red Sox. Leiter has won nothing for the Mets.

I THINK it's good that they signed Kris Benson back for a three-year, $22.5 million contract. Of course, if he spends the next three years like he spent most of the last three, ie; ineffective, hurt or both, well, he'll make a nice 5th starter behind Glavine, (fill in the blank), Trachsel, and (fill in the blank). It isn't just because I want to see more of his bimbo wife Anna or hear them regale us with more of their sex in the outfield sagas (imagine walking around rightfield and having to think of Kris and Anna going it at it, burn marks in the turf all around you...)

Of course, if the Mets want to fill Shea with fit birds, well, why not get ahold of Barry Zito? Apparently, the unreasonably fit Alyssa Milano has dumped or been dumped by Carl Pavano (nix him off must-sign list for stupidity alone) and is now dating Barry Zito. Zito for Human Hammy Reyes, anyone?

I'd still like to see them make a reclamation project out of Kevin Millwood.

Not sure what to make of the recent Pedro Hoopla. It certainly isn't as crazy as portrayed. I've always thought of Pedro as a real whiner and real injury prone, a bad influence on a team. On the other hand, seeing him pitch back in the NL, with no DH, in a pitcher's park like Shea, giving the Mets a 1-2 punch of Pedro and Glavine for starters, well, I can't say as I wouldn't mind seeing it happen.

At this point, it's hard to say how realistic it really is though. Negotiating ploy? It isn't hard to believe that it makes sense for Pedro to go the NL. He's won his World Championship for the Red Sox and defeated his "daddy" demon from the Bronx. Tantalisingly close to King George and the Pinstripes yet far enough away to stay safe. Who knows? Depending on how much and how many years, it seems like not a bad idea.

That reminds me, considering other rumours, I've not really weighed in on the Sammy Sosa Sweepstakes. I'm not concerned about his "bad attitude" in Chicago, nor necessarily his progressively dwindling numbers. He'd be a great publicity and excitement coup at Shea and even he had his one revenga season to prove the Cubs wrong, he might be worth it...for a season. What frightens me is being saddled with more than a season, fat paychecks once he's proved his point and primarily, Sosa's hitting .129 with 1 homer and 6 ribbies at Shea over the last three years. Of course, I remember how much a deal was made of Manny Ramirez's numbers at Fenway when he went to the Red Sox and look at how that turned out.

Bottom line is, under the right circumstances, (no long-term deal and the ridding of either Cliff Floyd, Mike Piazza or both), having Sammy Sosa around for a season or two wouldn't be the same as having Fat Mo around. I'd take a chance on Sammy.

There are still rumours about a $10 million a year deal for 1B Richie Sexton. He strikes out ALOT is all I'll say. 806 strikeouts to 341 walks lifetime. Is that the kind of team Omar is trying to assemble? Strikeout Sammy, Strikeout Sexton, and alot of puffery in between? I dunno about a long term $10 million deal for Sexton. Seems to me, the money would be better spent elsewhere. Either Sammy OR Sexton, sure, we can endure one whiffy bat, let's just not start a trend.

*****

Offerings on Sky 3 for NFL matches were a bit of a snooze yesterday - in theory Minnesota vs Jacksonville should have been good, two teams with winning records fighting for playoff advantages but the 27-16 Viking victory was really nothing to write home about. Maybe it is my continued disdain for artificial turf although frankly, the turf at the Dome seemed a little moist in places. Sure, Randy Moss is exciting to watch and seeing two black starting QBs face each other is still a novelty but really, for my money, watching Channel 5's coverage of The Raiders Stunning Upset of the Broncos in a blizzard was far more exciting (beautiful snow photo by the way). Snow, wind, dirt. Real football conditions, not artificial turf, fake lights, piped in air. When will these bastids learn? The clown coverage, in particular Phat Buffalo MacGuire in the studio, did their best to denigrate the Raiders when they were down 0-10 shortly before the half but give the Raiders credit. They and the Redskins are two of the best worst teams in the NFL.

By the way, in case you missed it, how about this lucky bastard? How do you survive a fiery crash of a private plane that kills two people? Nice one, Dick. Does this mean more crap programming from NBC for the foreseeable future?

*****

It was quite a thrill yesterday to see the Puds Top Arseholenol in the closing seconds of the match. The Puds well outplayed the French Gooners in the first half and deserved their 1-0 lead. When Arsenal equalised in the second half, I thought, "that's it" only a matter of time before they go down 2-1 or the game ends in a 1-1 draw, which in truth, would have been a moral victory for Liverpool considering their injuries. But to see this last second goal drain the air out of Arsenal's sails and leave them a full five points behind Chelsea for the top of the tables.

Quite a thrill indeed. Ever since that whingeing loss to Man U which ended their record streak of loss-less matches and saw them cry like little girls, Arsenal's mystique is being challenged on a weekly basis. They are no longer the kings. They are no longer to be feared. They are the little french squealers exposed en fin.

Good for Liverpool and even better for Chelsea!

No-Brainers

It only takes two weeks for Giants coach Tom Coughlin to discover how ineffective QB Kurt Warner can become and grease the skids for Eli Manning's NFL Debut against the Atlanta Falcons this week.

The Giants and the Jets struggle in Metropolis to see which team can have the most disappointing downslide in the second half of the season. The Jets, with Mr Carter at QB, are a train waiting to be derailed and can only hope Chad Pennington is a faster healer than they dare imagine.

The Giants have Eli and he's got the whole world in his hands. Let's see if he can hold on.

*****

Barry Bonds has earned his seventh MVP award.

Detractors who whinge about steroid abuse should note, as ESPN's Jason Stark does in Bonds In His Own League that:

"Bonds reached base 376 times. Only the Babe ever beat that. Barry had an .812 slugging percentage. Just Ruth -- and Bonds himself -- have topped that. He was the oldest man ever to hit 45 home runs. He was the third to drive in 100 runs in a season in which he didn't even get 400 at-bats. ... And then there were all those walks"

Illegal performance-enhancing drugs might give Bonds an edge but it doesn't send him into the stratosphere of his sport. If it did, we'd all take it and we'd all be famous millionaires whose exploits are ignored in favour of constant harassment by the holy soapbox media.

*****

Bowl Bullocks

In case you've become confused by a certain university's 24-6 rout of a highly regarded Georgia squad last week, it is confirmed here there is no bowl controversy.

No one outside of the south is interested in watching Auburn play for the national championship, even though with three weeks remaining, it's allegedly a three-way battle for the privilege, with USC, Oklahoma and Auburn each 10-0.

The only National Championship that will be worth watching will be Oklahoma and USC. Both teams have a pair of Heisman candidates. Both teams have played a tougher schedule than Auburn. Both teams have been #1 and #2 all season. Now, the argument could be made for Auburn, or any 10-0 SEC team considering the number LSU did on Oklahoma last season. But that was then, this is now, as they say.

Auburn's comical non-conference schedule of Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe and Division I-AA The Citadel, despite victories over Tennessee and Georgia.

"They played three teams that wouldn't win their state high school tournament," said BCS expert Jerry Palm, who operates the CollegeBCS.com Web site. "If Auburn doesn't get to the Orange Bowl, [team officials] might look back and say, `We wish we would have played somebody better.'"

The Enemy Within
"Everyone wants to shoot the messenger when the message is frustrating, but I operate in the arena of truth," super agent Scott Boras once said. "My job is to carry that bulletproof vest and go through it."

There is one common denominator in all the free agent baseball talk so far and that is agent Scott Boras.

The temptation to hate the co-author of the $252 million contract is easy enough. After all, this season alone, Boras represents free agents Carlos Beltran, the most coveted of all free agents, Adrian Beltre, Jason Varitek, JD Drew, Derrick Lowe, Magglio Ordonez and Kevin Millwood. These players alone would probably total about $330 million in new contracts. When considering that most agents earn between 4%-10% on a sliding scale, that means Boras, who neither plays baseball nor pays baseball players, could stand to earn anywhere between $13.2 million to $33 million just for doing his job of milking maximum salaries at inflated rates for his overrated talent.

And let's not mistake hype for reality - as A-Rod has proven, no single player is worth bankrupting a franchise for. Someone signing Beltran, for example, will likely be looking at a 9 figure contract, a crippling contract if you're anyone but perhaps the NY Yankees. And let's be realistic, shall we? Outside of a sizzling postseason, what has Beltran achieved, other than his hype, to merit such an enormous payday? Is it .284 lifetime batting average? Is it how Beltran compares with such certain Hall of Famers as Carlos Lee, Richard Hildalgo, Phil Nevin and Preston Wilson, to name a few?

The point is not to bash Beltran, he's hired a gun to be placed at the head of owners in the name of Scott Boras and whatever wretched things one might say about Boras, he is successful in getting the most money for his clients imagineable.

The point is that Boras has nothing but a negative effect on baseball. Yes, the players hire him and the owners pay him but the players have a responsibility to play well enough to get their inflated paydays and the owners have the ultimate responsibility of generating enough revenue to be able to pay Scott Boras in the end. Scott Boras only has the obligation to make as much money for himself as possible. An argument might even be made that Scott Boras doesn't care about the players he represents, he only cares about how big a contract he can get for that player and thus, how big a cut he can get for himself.

Do you think A-Rod was happy with his $252 million contract in Texas? Do you think the fans were happy? Was the owner even happy? None were happy, which is how and why he ended up in pinstripes. Hang on, one was happy: Scott Boras, because regardless if the Rangers, the Rangers' owner, the Ranger fans or even A-Rod himself were all unhappy, he still got his cut. A rather substantial one at that. And to "earn" that money, Boras didn't have to play baseball, didn't have to pay baseball players, didn't have to pay subsequently inflated prices for tickets to watcht that player. He only had to pay himself.

So rather than get excited about potential free agents and where they might be headed perhaps the focus should be on what greedy agents do to the game of baseball, how overrated each one of his clients really are and examine who, amongst all the teams, will be dumb enough to help Boras earn another fat payday for players who aren't worth what they're paid.

The other agents, by comparison:

Adrian Beltre, lifetime .274 hitter. 48 homers last season but only 57 homers in the THREE years previous, combined. Comparable to Mike Lowell, Aramis Ramirez, functional mediocrity down the line.

JD Drew, lifetime .287 hitter. 31 homers this season. NEVER drove in 100 runs in a season, averages about 110 games played a season (meaning of course, he misses about a third of his teams games every season.

Jason Varitek, lifetime .271 hitter. Comparable to legendary players like Chris Hoiles, Mike Lieberthal, Bo Diaz. Certainly not worth the numbers Boras is asking for and although a valuable member of the Red Sox last season, perhaps just another average Joe playing for some other highest bidder next season.

Derrick Lowe? 72-59 lifetime. 3.88 lifetime ERA. Has started over 30 games the last three seasons running. Perhaps the most solid pitching prospect of the free agent market.

Kevin Millwood, 98-64 lifetime. Has averaged about 30 games started over his career, but has won a decreasing amount of games over the last three seasons: 18 to 14 to 9. Might have to do with his ERA running up from 3.24 to 4.01 to 4.85.

Magglio Ordonez, coming off knee surgery, not the best time to be a free agent, but a .307 lifetime hitter, has averaged nearly 30 homers a season. Comparable to Mike Sweeney, Cliff Floyd, Bobby Abreu, Kevin Mitchell.

Of them all, Lowe and Ordonez might be the only two who might be worth what Boras tries to get for them. The rest are overrated and will soon be overpaid as well.

Peyton Manning Bandwagon:

Following the 5 td pass performance yesterday, the elder brother of Eli Manning now needs 18 td passes in the next 7 games to break Dan Marino's single season mark. Of those next 7 games, he and the Colts will face the Bears at Chicago (8th in TD passes allowed), at Detroit in a dome (20th in TD passes allowed), home in a dome versus Tennessee (21st in TD passes allowed), at Houston Texans (now 32nd in TD passes allowed), home in a dome versus the Ravens (4th in TD passes allowed), home in a dome versus the Chargers (18th in TD passes allowed), at Denver (3rd in TD passes allowed).

METS. WHY NOT?
”The good befriend themselves.”, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus.

For those of you utterly disinterested in the comings and goings of the Mets future, I promise to intersperse this opinion with philosophical, political, literary and sociological scatology so as to appear to make it interesting, so please bear with it and if you aren’t a Mets fan, imagine your own club’s problems…

"Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart, don't know how to laugh either." -- Golda Meir

BULLPEN: When you’ve got two auld starters who can’t pitch more than 6 innings an outing, you’d better have a deep bullpen. It isn’t hard to burn out a bullpen when half of your regular starters can’t be counted on to pitch the team into your set-up man and closer.

Omar Minaya is the kind of GM who can do much with little and thus, should take that philosophy to his bullpen refurbishment. Middle relievers aren’t overly expensive. Set up men are a little pricier but the majority of the budget should be spent on other needs.

LEADERSHIP: Simply put, the Mets have none, on the field at least. Perhaps Willie Randolph will figure out what he’s doing quickly, but I’m not convinced about this player’s player rubbish. That’s how they described Howe. He understood the players. What is important is understanding winning. By whatever method.

Leadership isn’t running your gob, like Leiter or whingeing, like Floyd. Allegedly, the Mets’ most important player is Mike Piazza, and he too, consumed as he is with playing catcher, no matter how poorly he fields, no matter how weak his arm, is no leader.

So you’ve got first base and rightfield up for grabs this offseason for the field and at least one of them is going to have to be a leader. This is especially important because we don’t really know what kind of manager Willie Randolph is going to be.

Who?

I say trade Mike Piazza straight up for Jason Giambi.

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." --Anatole France

Giambi, free to grow his facial hair again, can repeat his imitation of superstar that he performed so admirably under the dim lights of Oakland. Excluding this season’s walk around the block with ill fate, Yeah, he’s 33, but that isn’t very old for a first baseman. He hit 82 homers in 2 seasons with the Yankees before last year. And frankly, the media microscope is trained much more highly on the Yankees than the Mets so Giambi has a little less on his plate to deal with. So I’d bet on his coming back strong. I’d take the risk if it meant ridding the Mets of a dead era.

"Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do." -- Voltaire

Mike Piazza, on the other hand, has a catcher’s body that has been run through the mill and has not responded well, has no leadership qualities to speak of, three hops throws to second, and plays lousy defence in general. What is to like about this guy? That he is quiet, uncomfortable and for two reasons running a disaster as a catcher?

Now you might ask why would the Yankees trade Giambi for Piazza unless they knew Giambi wasn’t coming back strong and didn’t want to waste money on a wasted player.

Answer is: They wouldn’t. Not unless they were wrong. Not unless they were desperate for Beltran and Randy Johnson and would trade Posada to get a top flight starter…all possible scenarios.

I would let Leiter go and sign Millwood.

I would trade Piazza for Giambi.

Jose Reyes’ shelf life is about a half season at this point. If he doesn’t come out this year like hell’s fury unleashed and gets hurt or whatever, his trade value will be a disaster. At the moment, he’d be worth a lot. Hell, if he could go an entire season without getting hurt, I’d venture to say he could lead the Mets to stardom, but that’s a big IF. I rather think he’s just injury-prone and while he might have a career season in him, chances are this injury problem won’t go away for very long, and it’s best to get rid of him now, while he’s still worth something.

Of course, the problem is that the SS market is saturated with free agents.

Could he be traded for equal value? Well, I’d take him with Royce or someone similar for Soriano. Soriano is proven. If Jaramillo is the batting coach wizard his consideration as a Mets manager would lead one to believe, then Soriano must have unlearned a bad habit or two at the plate. But I doubt it. Still, a healthy Soriano is far more valuable than a consistently injured and historically fragile Jose Reyes would be, despite Reyes’ potential.

What I wish for most this offseason as a Mets fan is a reason to feel passion, a reason to believe in them again, believe they have a chance.

There isn’t any one player who will do that – probably the point of the tongue-in-cheek suggestions. An aura has to be created. Omar Moreno, I thought, demanded some interesting things from his potential managers – around the clock coverage including scouting in the Hispanic world in the off season. It’s a wonderful vision of commitment and I hope Willie Randolph lives up to it.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Franchise Scorned
"I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect." -- George Carlin

DC Baseball continues to be an enigma. One blundering moment of stupidity follows another in seemingly predictable patterns and colours yet somehow, something new always happens to jump out at it.

It started with the Selig decision to wait on making a decision. That allowed enough time to pass so that there might be an appropriate handicap to appease Oriole's owner Peter Angelos. That and the decision to put his competition in the slum of a dangerous city instead of an easy Beltway-accessible Northern Virginia suburb.

Then, a move was finally decided and yet, there was no ownership. No one to name the team, no one to budget the team, no one to consider trades and free agents.

Then the owner's ownership cabal decided, hang on, it might be a good idea to at least have a general manager for this team with no name and no confirmed budget because there is no real ownership. So they announced Jim Bowden as the new interim GM.

Bowden said he did not know what kind of budget he had to work with, but he expected it to be more than the $41 million the Expos spent last year. According to a person close to the situation, the Expos are hoping to increase their payroll by $15 million.

But they weren't really sure. Hmmm. How much money will we have to spend? Certainly other than who will own the team, how much they'd be willing to spend is another pressing issue. After all, how in the world will Scott Boras ever be able to find out if some collective of kazillionaires is coming forward to buy the DC Baseball franchise and represent another market to blackmail and extort from.

Then of course, there is still the issue of what the hell will they be called?

What do you call a team that doesn't really exist yet anyway?

You might want to call them The Washington Wishful Thinkers because now all the tinkering and inertia has finally ripened still stranger fruit as the previously unknown player in the game of destroy baseball in DC, DC council chairman Linda Cropp, decided she too wanted in on the fun.

After the fact, Cropp has announced there will be no Anacostia riverfront stadium as promised and agreed to. She says build it instead near the RFK Stadium site. Who cares will they build it, one might think, if you build it, they will come, yaddayadda. Problem is, the agreement was the Anacostia riverfront stadium and Major League Baseball officials have made it clear they have zero interest in a site far from downtown.

The WP reported that Cropp, according to two close friends who spoke with her at length about her decision, felt that if she was going to be a realistic contender for mayor, she had to move now to align herself with the anti-stadium feeling in town. And if that meant losing the Expos entirely, so be it.

Align herself with the anti-stadium feeling in town? What kind of feeling is that for a town luring MLB to it's grim environs?

Well, apparently, there is one. And none other than council member-elect Marion Barry, rearing his cracked up head from the ruins of his political career, has found the head to place upon his political pike and that head is the anti-stadium issue.

So now, while people still senselessly pick over the carcass of bad names to name their new team with, (really - "Senators" for a city which has no representation in the Senate? - "Nationals" for a city that voted by an overwhelming margin against Bush and clearly does not hum the same tune as the majority of the country?) even as the debate goes on, the debate now shifts to the more important issue: will there even BE a team to name?

Well orchestrated. The competition for who can foul the franchise more, the Commissioner of Baseball or the city itself, has begun. May the best side win.

*****

One thing you could say about baseball in DC that you couldn't say about the Mets at the beginning of the week was, at least they have a manager.

Well, it's official. We won't have Art Howe to kick around any more. Instead, we've got a 50 year old ex-Yankee who claims to have rooted for the Mets as a kid. Better still, he doesn't have ANY managing experience. Not in the Major Leagues, not in Single A, not even in the Little Leagues.

The one thing that immediately jumps out at me is the wisdom that at least Omar Minaya and the Wilpon Idiot Collective weren't allowed the opportunity to hire Wally Backman before it was too late. They dodged a bullet there. They didn't have to wake up this morning with huevos rancheros on their faces like the muppets running the Diamondbacks. And they can even push forward the notion that they aren't the dumbest run team in baseball anymore. But poor Wally Backman. Not only did he get fired in a George O'Leary sort of record time, but now, he might even be facing jail time.

Another thing to consider: last year saw another ex-Yankee coach hired as a first time manager; Lee Mazzili. With questionable talent and a weak-knee'd pitching staff, Mazzili was able to manage to eke out a 78-86 record which isn't really .500 respectable but wasn't bad enough to get him fired in the first season. Hell, some people even think he did a decent job, under the circumstances. But even someone as managerially challenged as Art Howe lasted more than a season, so Mazzili surviving his first season isn't exactly laudatory praise.

Basically what you get with Willie Randolph is some breathing room. No one knows how he manages yet since he's never managed, so no one can point out his losing seasons or his World Championships as any portend of his managerial ability. There isn't a blip in his history to suggest he will fail, win or even just maintain the rule of Met mediocrity. So his critics are still like larvae waiting to come to life.

At the moment, he has the virtueous upside of being from New York itself, from being the first Afro American manager in New York, reasonable, young and accustomed to the heat of the New York media.

Well, he isn't either of my first two choices, Valentine or Piniella. Piniella, by the way, is also a former Yankee who was hired as a manager with no prior experience. But he isn't Wally Backman and he isn't Art Howe and he isn't Jim Fregosi either. That's a pretty good start.

Ex-Yankee To Manage Mets

There will be paens to "doing the classy thing" and hiring New York's first black baseball manager, giving a guy a chance, hiring a manager with NO managerial experience but it's difficult to know what to make of the Mets announcement that they've hired Willie Randolph to manage them.

This isn't one of those smack-to-the-heads, oh-christ-what-are-they-doing sort of moments like when they hired Art Howe to lead them into oblivion and Fast Freddy Wilpon was positively gushing like a schoolgirl at how impressed he was with Art Howe's commanding presence.

It shouldn't be held against him immediately that he is a 13 year Yankee veteran. GM Part Trois, Omar Minaya was pretty clear in what he was looking for: "I'm looking for a person, a manager, that's going to have good work ethics, going to communicate with the players, communicate with the front office on a daily basis," Minaya said. "I'm looking for a manager that's going to be able to delegate to the staff. I'm looking for a manager that's going to interact with the community."

Of course whether or not "interaction with the community" would be on my priority list of qualities for my candidate for manager, let's not start cursing and breaking furniture just yet. Hiring Willie Randolph could prove to be one of those sly, backhanded sort of brilliant decisions that will make Omar look like a genius. One can hope anyway.

In the meantime, the Most Selfish Player In Baseball, Mike Piazza, continues his death watch with the Mets. For Wilponian reasons it appears they are enamoured with Mike Piazza's inflexibility and even more with his stylish lack of talent behind the plate so there will be no DH For Life role in the near future, no unloading of the cancers from the team. In order to justify keeping him on as worst defensive catcher in baseball, Mike Piazza will have to hit around .375 with 45 homers and 150 RBIs. Of course he won't. And whilst he remains with the team, Omar Minaya could have announced Jesus Christ as the new Mets manager and I wouldn't be any less certain that the 2005 will be YAUD, yet another unmitigated distaster.

*****

On the brighter side, it appears Latrell Sprewell has one big family and cannot feed them on $10 million per year. According to Sprewell, the $30 million offer for three more years is an insult.

"Why would I want to help them win a title?" Sprewell whinged. "They're not doing anything for me. I've got a lot at risk here. I've got my family to feed."

Here's a quid for the Feed The Sprewell Family fund. Quick, somebody set it up. I'd hate to see the lovely Sprewell family go hungry.

*****

No End to the absurdities in sight:

As if there weren't any other infielders in the world to pick on, the rumour today is that No Mas Garciaparra wants to include the Yankees in on his offseason shopping wish list.

Maybe he, Jeter and A-Rod can stand for a late March Sports Illustrated cover shot with all of them in Yankee pinstripes crowded into a phone booth strategically placed between second and third base. It's true what my grandmother used to say:

Jaap, you can never have enough shortstops

Indeed. Words I have lived by.

It's All Over - Even The Crying

Be happy I'm not a Red Sox fan and for this not being yet another testimony of the relief of the burden of my suffering.

I tried all week to figure out a sports equivilent to the Red Sox ending an 86 year long draught. There isn't one. In England, everyone dreams of 1966, the last time England won the World Cup. That's 38 years for a tournament that only happens once every 4 years. That's like 756 years in Red Sox suffering years.

The strangest thing I've read about it to date was a piece out of, (if I remember correctly) Bill Simmons who repeated the bit I imagine is well-known: St Louis and Boston history in sports and how if they could've broke the streak against anyone, St Louis was the city.

But kudos to Red Sox fans I know here. Dawson especially - his first hand pieces were a joy to read.

*****

I was never able to jump start any enthusiasm for the latter stages of the postseason. I was in Bratislava with a crunchy hangover one morning in a hostel and got on their lone internet access and saw that the Yankees had defeated the Red Sox by some absurd score (19-6 or something?) and went ahead three games to nil in the series and I thought to myself, like any rational being would think: well, that's the end of that series.

And then a few days later in Hungary, another shot at the internet showed that the Sox had won Game 4 in extra innings and but still, I was like, yeah nice moral victory, chachacha.

By the time I'd returned home, I was able to watch Game 7 at 2 in the morning. They had it on the English equivilent of network television, live, with the feed of the hyperbolic American network coverage. Even when they whooped the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, I still thought, well christ, this won't win them the World Series.

And in England, they broadcast the World Series every night it lasted. And for Game One and Two, the England-side commentators, the ones the network goes to when the American feed goes to commercial, wore tuxedos in celebration of the World Series.

*****

Of course, none of the pageantry excuses Bud Selig. As much as I hate him for his moments of stupidity, I have to respect the fact that under his reign we've seen a stablisation of the union and the introduction of wild cards in the post season. Without those post season wild cards, where would the last three World Champions be?

I don't like how he knee-capped the Washington Expos (or whatever they will be in the end). Nor how he knee-capped the Expos when they were in Montreal. Having them play games in Puerto Rico was either incredibly stupid or incredibly sadistic. Either way it doesn't point to brilliant leadership.

*****

So where are the Mets?

They still don't have a manager. They still have Mike Piazza. They still have Cliff Floyd and this doesn't sound like a very good beginning for the year's prospects. I was happy they made Omar Minaya the whatever he is as one of three unofficial GMs. But if no one in the franchise is going to have the bullocks to shed the franchise of it's excess and damaged weight, it really won't matter who manages them.

I was disappointed to find no more Bobby Valentine references since my three week sojourn. Before I'd left, there was mention of the possiblity of him coming back now that Phillips is gone. When I returned, nada. The new rage is Jim Leyland.

I really liked Bobby Valentine. He brought success and a World Series appearance to the Mets. He brought the fake nose and moustache to the dugout. He brought the "stoned batter facing a 98 mph fastball" stance and face to the late season press conferences. Plus, the thing I loved about Bobby Valentine was that when he was manager of the Mets and I'd go to a game at Shea, there was no doubt that I'd run out of space on the scorecard to keep track of all of his double switches and changes. He was an entertaining manager in all facets and I would have loved to have seen him return to the Mets.

*****

Good luck to you Americans with your election. I hope you're living in the right state for your vote to matter. Good luck Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, etc.

*****

Does the Red Sox World Championship really mean the demise of the Patriots?

0-1 so far. Perhaps the stashed decades of suffering can only be cashed in once.

Ho Hum. Playoffs Have Begun

Wow. For all the excitement generated in the anticipation, I'd have to say the first round of the playoffs spattered with disappointment.

Two of the games were determined by pitcher meltdowns that lasted less than three outs and the other fizzled, with the hometeam Yankees bowing down meekly in the bottom of the 9th in Yankee Stadium in a 1-2-3 inning.

Cards lead Series, 1-0

In St Louis, where Stan the Man threw out the first pitch, the Cardinals went to an early lead, aptly, on a solo shot by Albert Pujols. Larry Walker, 1 for 16 against Dodger's starter Odalis Perez, made it 2-0 in the bottom of the third. The Cardinals broadcasters tried their best to paint a picture for the listeners:

"Standing room only crowd on its feet, red and white flags everywhere..."

St Louis has been waiting half the season, about the time the NL Central was decided, for things to pick up again. Curtain calls for their heroes was the norm for the day. Five homeruns by the Cardinals tied the postseason record.

Odalis continued his meltdown in that third inning, and by the time he was finally done, the Cards were already ahead 6-0. As noted by Sports Amnesia yesterday, the Cards would have to win early because of the Dodgers amazing record in close and extra inning games, and they did.

This series gets a breather already and will be back on Thursday.

Boston leads series, 1-0

I switched off the Cardinals game with the outcome already well decided and nothing left but the crazy yarn spinning of the folksy Cardinal radio broadcasters. The Red Sox were opening at Anaheim. Unfortunately, my MLB.COM broadcast was only broadcasting from the Angel's flagship station, not the Red Sox, so between innings, I was forced to listen to garbled Spanish commercials and idiotic and deflating Angels commentary.

Like the Cards game, this one was over in one inning, the top of the 4th, when the Sox scored 7 runs, equaling their largest single-inning output ever in the postseason, to take a commanding 8-0 on the way to a convincing 9-3 drubbing. Good. I don't like the Angels and hope they get swept. Even if it is at the hands of the Whinge Nation.

Take note: Curt Schilling improved to 6-1 with a 1.74 ERA in postseason play.

Luckily for the Sox, the Angels aren't the Yankees. The Yankees of course, are the team Pedro muttered broken-heartedly, "I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.".

I can't help but wonder if this is the beginning of the end of Pedro. We'll get an indication tonight. Martinez lost his final four starts of the regular season but he's 9-1 lifetime against the Angels. If he doesn't sparkle and give the Sox a 2-0 lead going back to Boston, well, the postseason might be all but over for the Sox already. Beating the Angels is no big deal.

Let's sing it again in unison: Sports Amnesia hates the Angels!

Twins lead series, 1-0

Have to admit, this was the hardest series to predict. I did have the Twins figured as being up 2-0 going back to Minny originally but really, I cannot envision the Yankees losing two straight in Yankee Stadium. Well, I can envision it, hope for it, pray for it even, but I don't think it will happen.

A record setting five double plays saw the Twins through their first game in Yankee Stadium in a 2-0 victory over the Yankees but who, really, can be surprised when the hottest pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana, was on the mound?

I look forward to any humiliation the Astros can pound home on the Atlanta Braves, even IF Roger Clemens is pitching - rooting for the Rocket, blech.

I look forward to seeing if Pedro continues his late season swan dive into mediocrity and gets shelled by the Angels.

I look forward to seeing if the Yankees bats will be as lifeless tonight as they were against Santana.

Post Season Here We Come!
"It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor." Neil Gaiman's Sandman

NLDS:

Braves-Astros: Three things jump out at one straight away: The Astros were baseball's hottest team since mid-August, going 36-10. The Astros one-two starting combination of Clemens & Oswalt went 38-14 with a 3.25, and lastly, the Astros have been knocked out of the postseason three times by the Braves, in '97, '99 and 2001. A few other fringe factors to consider: the last two champions have been wild card teams and the Braves have, ultimately, have disappointed in the post season. Since 2000, they've won 8 and lost 13 in the postseason and have been knocked out of the first round the last two times running. It would appear the writing on the wall couldn't be any clearer. Astros in four

*****

Cardinals-Dodgers: How in the world did the Dodgers reach the postseason for the first time since 1996? You could point to a late July trade that saw the Dodgers send away their top set-up man (Guillermo Mota) and their most popular clubhouse guy and best catcher (Paul LoDuca) in return for a starting pitcher (Brad Penny) who has spent the majority of the second half on the disabled list, a Korean first baseman and a minor league pitcher. This isn't usually the type of trade the trigger is pulled on for a team that wants to make it to the postseason. But somehow, none of it seemed to matter. The Dodgers are put together by tape, string, determination and an inability to quit. They've got a good bullpen and good defence. Perhaps most indicative of their character however, is that the Dodgers are 13-4 in extra inning games, by far the best record in MLB. They are also 32-16 in one run games this season, the best in MLB. In other words, it's best to knock the Dodgers out early and keep them out. But they've had 53 come-from-behind wins and almost unbelievably, 26 of their comeback wins have come in the final at-bat. This is not a team of quitters.

In four previous trips to the postseason, LaRussa's alleged managerial mastery has not led them even as far as the World Series. In 1987, the Cardinals, pre-LaRussa, like this season, had the best record in the National League. They lost the World Series to the Twins. The question now is, will they make it as far again?

The one thing you might say the Cardinals have in their favour is that they appear to have the impression they aren't respected, despite having the best record in baseball. The Cubs, who didn't even MAKE the playoffs, certainly never respected them. The Astros, whom have beaten the Cards 10 of 18 head-to-head games, don't appear to respect them and it would appear that despite all their victories and their formidable batting lineup, it is still difficult to take the Cardinals seriously.

The Cards will have to knock the Dodgers out and knock them out fast, otherwise, they probably won't last. Interesting to note however that in August, the last times these two teams met, three in St Louis and three in LA, four of those six games were one-run games and the Cards took two of them. Look for alot of 7-6 and 8-7 games.

Cardinals in four

*****

ALDS:

Angels-RedSox: Ah, what could be more exciting than the Whinge Nation versus the Rally Monkey? The number two payroll in baseball against the number three payroll in baseball? A team that hasn't won a World Series in 86 years and a team that hasn't won a World Series in uh, two years?

There is a bottom line to this series and that is one starting pitcher worth two victories, Curt Schilling. Yes, the Angels have Sports Amnesia's AL MVP in Vladimir Guerrero, yes the Angels have a formidable and fireballing bullpen led by Francisco Rodriguez, who has struck out 123 batters in 84 innings. Yes, the Angels have rid themselves of the team cancer that was Jose Guillen. But they also lost his bat, they also have an aging, ailing lineup behind Vlad and they also have little to no starting pitching to speak of. Two years ago, they were able to do it anyway, under similar circumstances but this time, the element of surprise is gone.

Red Sox in 4

*****

Twins-Yankees: Only a year ago, the Twins and a pitcher named Johan Santana came into Yankee Stadium and shocked the Yankees by taking Game 1 from them. The Yankees then woke up and swept the next three to win the series.

The Twins are no longer wet behind the ears and the Yankees will no longer take the Twins lightly. Santana is the hottest pitcher in baseball but he will only be pitching two of the five games should this series go the distance.

One thing to remember when listening to the chest beating Bomber fans about the Yankees recent sweep of the Twins is that both Santana and Radke were limited to five inning outings since the Twins had already clinched their playoff spot. They won't be this time around.

The talk every postseason is legitimately about Mariano Rivera however, Twins closer Joe Nathan's ERA, WHIP, hits allowed and strikeouts this season were better than Rivera's. And there is nice righty-lefty combination to set him up. Lefty Juan Rincon has struck out 106 batters in 82.0 innings and righty J.C. Romero went 7-4 with 68 K's in 73.0 innings.

You can't discount Yankee bats, Yankee pride, and Yankee experience. They have homefield advantage and the best record in baseball at home.

This David and Goliath matchup could be a very tight and exciting series.

Yankees in five

*****

Later predictions:

One way or another, Game One of the World Series will see Roger Clemens pitching against his former teammates.

Season Over, Bring On The Season

Full of surprises, the 2004 regular baseball season can finally be put to rest.

Congratulations over the last week of the season to Ichiro for smashing George Sisler's 84 year old record for most hits in a season, Larry Bowa for surviving well beyond his life expectancy as Phillies manager, beating the Mets as the most disappointing team in the NL East, AND to Cincinnati's Adam Dunn for shattering the season strikeout record and easing Barry Bonds' father off the top of the heap.

Some dishonourable mention goes to the KC Royals, who joined the 1985-87 Indians as the only teams to lose 100 games, have a winning season and then have another 100 loss season.

*****

One thing we can say with a modicum of certainty after the past two seasons is that if you are a floundering NL team, be sure to fire your manager in mid season. That way, you too can make the playoffs as the NL Wildcard like the Astros this year and the Marlins the year before.

Since the 14th of August, Houston went into overdrive, going 36-10 for the best record in baseball during that time frame. Raise your hand if you had Phil Garner jotted down as your preseason manager of the year.

*****

Awards

Now that the regular season has ended, Sports Amnesia can release it's awards for the season:

NL MVP goes to Barry Bonds - anyone who was walked 120 times intentionally by his opponents proves the fear he generates and the game-altering capability he has. Note also that without him, the Giants would have been nowhere near the NL Playoff chase at the end. Even if you point out his sole blemish was that fatigued by years' end, Bonds finished the season in a 2-for-16 slump. But perhaps even more fascinating was that at 40, he played in more games than did any of his teammates. Conversely, Adrian Beltre, everyone else's candidate for MVP, hit .185 over the last seven days of the playoff race with a homer and four RBIs in seven games. No one has a more profound effect on a team than Barry does.

AL MVP goes to Vladimir Guerrero - you can wonder all you want about where the Yankees would be without Sheffield, or the Sox without Manny but Guerrero made this team a contender with his signing in the offseason, yet another infamous Met non-signing. Both the Yankees and Sox have great lineups but let's see how formidable the Angels would be without Guerrero's bat. Chone Figgins? Darren Erstad? Jose Guillen? Not to mention that in crunch time, over the last seven days of the season Vlad went 14 for 25, hit 6 homers and knocked in 11 runs.

NL CY YOUNG: I've sided with the Randy Johnson argument for most of the season because the numbers (other than wins) have made his argument for him and I'm not going to back down from that now. A 16-14 record with a 2.60 ERA and 290 Ks versus a mere 66 walks is a pretty damned loud argument. The only NL pitcher with a good argument is Roger Clemens, who finished 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA and a 218 Ks to 79 walks. Opponents hit .197 against Johnson, .217 against Clemens. Had Johnson pitched for a winning team, he'd have won 20 games, easily. The same can't be said of Clemens, who rarily pitches deep into a game anymore.

AL CY YOUNG: goes to Johan Santana. This is another two man race, between Santana and Curt Schilling but Santana has a better ERA, more Ks, a better K-BB ratio, and has pitched more innings while surrendering fewer hits.

NL Manager of the Year: goes to the Dodgers Jim Tracy. Tony LaRussa has managed a team which has had more players having career seasons than any other. Plus, how hard can it be with a lineup including three of the best hitters in baseball? Bobby Cox's Atlanta Braves surprised alot of people (although not Sports Amnesia, who picked the Braves to win the NL East in the preseason) but the reality is, the Braves are simply a better organisation, top to bottom than anyone else in the NL East. After they're knocked out in the first round this postseason, the calls for Manager of the Year should die with the Braves.

AL Manager of the Year: goes to Minnesota's Rod Gardenhire. The Twins continue to win despite a meagre $50 million payroll and whilst some of this is because of smart front office decisions, it matters what is done on the field and no AL manager has done more with less than Gardenhire.

*****

NCAA Top Ten

After two week's absence, SA's NCAA Top Ten Poll returns with few alterations:

1. Oklahoma (4-0) defeated Texas Tech, 28-13.
2. Virginia (4-0) was idle.
3. USC (4-0) was idle.
4. Georgia (4-0) defeated LSU 45-16.
5. Miami (4-) defeated GA Tech, 27-3.
6. California (4-0) defeated Oregon State, 49-7.
7. Texas (4-0) defeated Baylor, 44-14.
8. Purdue (4-0) defeated Notre Dame, 41-16.
9. Minnesota (4-0) defeated Penn State, 16-7.
10. Wisconsin (5-0) defeated Illinois, 24-7.

*****

Tomorrow: MLB playoff analysis.

CUBS SUCK!!!!

In the histories of failures, this has to rank high. The Cubs have not disappointed, they have commited a higher crime: FAILURE in the face of success.

The Cubs, unlike the Red Sox, aren't cursed, they just suck.

How the hell do you not even make the fucking playoffs with that team, with that manager?

Watch now - the White Sox already did their crash n burn but the one the Cubs do will defy odds.

Best pitching staff in baseball, a starting lineup and a bench without holes and yet still

GAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!

You suck Cubbies!

Choke of the year.

Insomnia in Warwickshire

One of the primary benefits of these bouts of insomnia in the silence of the Warwickshire countryside is that they allow me to listen via the internet to a plethera of baseball games in America that I'd have otherwise blissfully slept through.

In the instant moment for example, I've just finished listening to the Astros sweep the MLB-best Cardinals and vault themselves into the NLWC lead. Unpleasant giddiness from Astroland, I assure you. But to erase the ugliness from my mind, I've switched now to top of the 8th between the Texas Rangers and the Anaheim Angels in the battle for the AL West (and final playoff spot) where the Rangers have just taken a 6-5 lead and Angels manager Mike Soscia is arguing about an early take off from third on a sac fly that broke the tie.

Later, there will be the Giants, currently ahead of the Padres by a 2-0 margin in the 2nd inning and Oakland is at Seattle. Four games, within an hour, each of them with heavy playoff implications. This time of year is always when I think of Bob Costas' idiotic mewl against the wildcard in baseball. As it is, there are two of eight playoff spots left. Without the wildcard, we're only interested in the AL West in the last week of baseball. Well, that and Ichiro's chase. Now just three away from Sisler's ancient mark.

(Update: Rangers are leading 6-5 in the top of the 9th, with Erstad, Glaus and Guerrero to go to put themselves two games behind the Angels with four games remaining)

Sad to say, I've not bothered listening to the Mets and their triple A train in several weeks since none of them, save for a few undeserved upsets against the rapidly choking Cubs, have had any playoff implications. On the bright side, only a year too late, it appears they've finally hired Expos GM Omar Minaya. Of course, in typical Mets fashion, they haven't hired him to be their GM, they've hired him to be their "head of baseball operations" which means that the Mets now have one "official" GM in Jim Duquette, one "unnamed" GM in Jeff Wilpon and one "head of baseball operations but certainly not GM" in Minaya. Idiots. They'll need another six or seven GMs if they hope to avoid imminent disaster - the rumours are aswirl that for the second time in a row, they will be bridesmaids to Lou Piniella and will hire another LOOOOser in his stead - this time in the form of a manager with a CAREER LOSING RECORD, Jim Fregosi. Good luck to another crap series of seasons. One very damning stat in examining Fregosi's record: "In each of his four managerial stops, Fregosi left on good terms with the players." - Sounds like another recipe for disaster. If that (hiring Fregosi to manage the Mets) comes to pass, I'm going to seriously consider renouncing the Mets for something more helpful to my psychological well-being, like a lobotomy...

(Update, D'Oh! After two quick outs, Curtis Pride hits a triple to drive in Vladimir and tie the game, Francisco Cordero blows the save...6-6 going into the bottom of the 9th)

I've decided that if I'm forced to renounce the Mets for general incompetence and hostility towards success for signing a managing miscarriage like Fregosi to manage them into fourth place every season, then I'll probably have to root for a team that at least tries every year, despite the absurd odds pitted against them; yes, Les Expos.

Washington Johnsons?

Of course, I could never abandon my Mets for another band of pathetic yelpers, but it will certainly be an interesting story as baseball returns to Washington.

Although they couldn't possibly become the Washington Expos, I wouldn't think anyway that not even Selig is THAT stupid, I've not heard much about what they will be called. According to the Washington Times, a petition was circulated to name the team the "Washington Grays" in tribute to the Homestead Grays, a Negro League team that played in Washington in the 1930s and 1940s. "The Senators" seems rather stupid since despite their best efforts, DC has no representation in the Senate, not to mention the fact that it's already been done, to miserable reviews.

Perhaps they should be renamed the Youppies, in honour of the Expos Mascot Who Will Probably Bite The Dust. Youppi, in fact, was the first mascot to be thrown out of a Major league game. On Aug. 23, 1989 -- 10 years after the mascot arrived in Montreal -- the orange, hairy giant was ejected in the 11th inning after Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda complained to the umpires about Youppi danced atop of the visitors' dugout.

The official Sports Amnesia nomination for new team would be the Washington Johnsons, in honour of the greatest pitcher in Washington baseball history, Walter "Big Train" Johnson. Of course, "Johnson" is also slang for dick - and wouldn't it make a great mascot, a giant dick - apropos for a city of politicians like DC.

In any event, by waiting so long to make the announcement, baseball has another royal cock up on its hands. Realistically, the new ownership could not take over until after next season has already started which means budgetary constraints, personnel decisions, decisions about what to name the team, what their logo should be, who their GM and manager should be, etc. - will be decided by the consortium of baseball owners that have run Les Expos into the ground for the last several seasons. A very ominous beginning, despite the obvious joy there must be in DC.

(Update: more bad news for Rangers reliever Cordero - in the top of the 11th, he just surrendered a two run homer on to Green's Hill at the 404 foot mark in dead centre field to Troy Glaus, giving the stinkin' Angels an 8-6 lead. A loss by the Rangers will mathematically eliminate them)

Postseason

I don't mind saying that of the several teams with hopes of making the postseason, the Angels and the Astros are the only two teams I definately don't want to see make it. The Cubbies, in the midst of their annual choking free fall, have now lost four of their last five games (against the Mets and Reds of all teams), to allow the Astros to move ahead of them by a half game with a game in hand in the NLWC race. The Astros are now tied with the SF Giants for the NLWC as the Giants face the Padres in SD - winning would put the Giants up by a half game)

(Update: The Rangers new season hits record holder, Michael Young with 211, made the final out against Angels reliever Troy Percival to seal the Rangers season in an 8-7 loss in the bottom of the 11th. Now the question is whether to switch to the Giants NL chase tied in the 7th against the Padres 3-3 OR to see whether or not the A's can keep pace with the Angels at Seattle - A's are currently leading the Mariners 2-1 in the 7th - switched to the Giants game - listened to it yesterday at 4 in the morning as the Padres were virtually eliminated from the NL postseason)

So, looking ahead at the knowns of the NL postseason, we've got the Cardinals, Atlanta and the LA Dodgers as likely or certain division champs and the Cubs, Astros, and Giants as possible wildcards - if the Cubs or Astros make the WC, the Cards would open against the Dodgers and the Braves, certain first round losers would face the Cubs or the Astros. If the Giants squeak in as WC, the Cards would face them in the first round and the Dodgers would face the Braves. Since the All Star break, the Cards are 1-5 against the Astros, 2-4 against the Giants and 4-2 against the Dodgers. The Cardinals would be best off rooting for the Astros or the Cubs to win the WC and set up an exciting NLCS against their NL Central rivals. The only sure thing is that whomever the Braves face will advance to the NLCS.

In the AL postseason, you've got the Yankees, Twins, Red Sox and either the Angels or the A's. Depending entirely on how the Twins fare the rest of the way (tied with the Angels for the best record after the Yankees), the Red Sox would face either the Twins or the Angels/A's. If the Angels win the AL West and finish with a better record than the Twins (likely, considering the Twins have lost six of eight since clinching its third straight AL Central title) - then the Red Sox would open against the Angels and the Yankees against the Twins. Of course, if the Twins suddenly wake up in their season ending series against the Toronto Blue Jays and earn the second best record in the AL, the Twins would face the Sox and the Yankees would face either the Angels or the A's.

The danger mouse is of course, the Angels. (update: The A's have now fallen behind the Mariners, 3-2 in the 8th) - since the All Star break, they've got a 2-5 record against the Red Sox, swept the Yankees at Yankee Stadium and were an indecisive 3-3 against the Twins. If like me, you're rooting for a Yankees-Red Sox ALCS, you'd be best rooting for the Angels (if they win the AL West) to have a better record than the Twins (meaning a Twins-Yankees, Angels-Red Sox opening pair of series).

Oh good god, it's mind-boggling! If this, then that. If that, then this.

Homeside Baseball Blogs

Props for the season to the following bloggers who have kept me updated on their home teams with wit and verve not normally associated with baseball reportage:

East Coast Agony (Mets & Red Sox)

"At long last, erstwhile Expos GM Omar Minaya has reportedly gnawed through the steel chains binding him to that sinking ship of a franchise and escaped in the nick of time. He washed up on the idyllic sandy shore of baseball unemployment, and found himself beset by two choices: he could wait for a passing ship to pick him up and return him to civilization, or he could agree to rule a host of ignorant cannibalistic savages who populated the island, used dollars for kindling, and traded their young for the aged and infirm of other tribes."

Uncouth Sloth (Cubs)

"I'll leave the thoughtful analysis to fellas like Cub Reporter. Today, I'm going to tell you what I think of the St. Louis Cardinals, who rolled over like coke whores last night for Houston.

It's bad enough that we still have to worry about shit stains like Jeff Kent and Roger Clemens. But if we had a REAL commissioner, who gave a rat's ass about things like competition and fair play, there would be an order for the goddamned puke-spewing Cardinals to play ball this week. There's no way the two teams should be allowed to conspire to keep us out of the playoffs. This isn't the motherfucking WWF..this is baseball, Porter, we play on a real diamond. Except for Rolen, they're all a disgrace to the game.

It starts with the crank-cooking pudwhack who shits out the lineup card. Sure, fucking LaRussa hates the obnoxious Dusty Baker. But isn't it the true test of just how much of a maxi-pad LaRussa is, when he comes out of it looking way more fucked up than Baker? You don't see Dusty getting all red, spitting, waving around like a raghead fertility dancer. LaRussa is a filthy-ass pig who dives in dumpsters behind proctologist's offices looking for something to eat, and spends his off days wiping his scabby, infected dick all over the curtains in fancy restaurants in St. Louis."

Three words, Anger Management, baby. But a great daily rant.

and since they were referenced above, yes, The Cub Reporter

Waiting For Boof:

"...At several points during the season, Giants fans wanted to tie Tomko in a mail sack and toss him into the Bay. Metaphorically, of course. Or perhaps lock him in a dark room, having someone in a Lou Seal costume shoot t-shirts at him from a t-shirt gun while repeatedly screaming, “IF YOU DON’T RETIRE, I AM GOING TO BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE! DO YOU HEAR ME?” Metaphorically, of course."

I sense a recurrant theme of anger and frustration in these pennant chases. Imagine that.

Against the Grain (Milwaukee Brewers, which in itself, is amazing - who'd have thunk there was a Brewer fan out there willing to write a daily blog who hadn't drown himself in misery and bad Midwestern beer already? Every time I think how much it sucks to watch the Idiot Explosion at Shea Stadium, I just remind myself gently, hey - at least you're not a Brewers fan!)

"THIS JUST IN, MILTON BRADLEY IS A PSYCHO
If you haven't seen the highlights from last night, I'm sure you will eventually. A fan at Dodger Stadium threw a bottle at Dodgers outfielder MILTON BRADLEY and then Bradley went back to be Milton Bradley...That is in essence a psychopath.

I understand that the fan is completely wrong for throwing a bottle at Bradley, but his reaction was inappropriate and absolutely insane. His team is in the final week of the regular season, that has them playing the second place Giants this weekend for what could very well determine the NL West Champion and now the Dodgers will be without one of their best players."

Others well worth visiting:

Petco Padres
El Lefty Malo (Giants)
Across the Seams (Giants)

Admittedly, I'm not much of an AL fan. My favourite team plays in the NL, the AL has a DH, which I've always hated (unless of course, it's existence allows the Mets to dump Mike Piazza on some AL team before next season) plus, I revile the two teams which are considered the best in the AL (Yankees and Red Sox), I abhor the Angels for reasons I've never been able to express other than the listless retelling of the word "Anaheim", AND, the only team I've ever been remotely interested in the AL, the Orioles, despite Peter Assholangelos, haven't fielded a competetive team in about a decade or so. About the only thing the AL has going for it is the hysterical hatred between the Yankees and the Red Sox which is simultaneously sickening and fascinating.

Elephants in Oakland - quality writing.

Mariner Musings -

(Update: Giants and Padres are still tied 3-3 in the top of the 10th and the A's have lost to the Mariners 4-2 giving the Angels the lead in the AL West and reaffirming the A's with the Cubs as probable choke co-champions of 2004, snatching away the title from the two-time reigning champion Seattle Mariners)

Cub Demise

"Not since the concrete fell has anything at Wrigley Field crumbled so hard and so fast.

A strike away from winning a very big game, the Cubs blew it, if I may borrow a couple of Dusty Baker's favorite words, big-time."

Mike Downey's analysis in the Trib today on The Crumbling Cubs

(More updates: As it nears 6:30 in the morning here in Warwickshire, the Padres have the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the 10th following two consecutive Giant errors and former Met reject Jay Payton at the plate...

Payton grounds to second base, force at home despite a terrible throw, bases loaded, one down. Mark Loretta coming to the plate.

Fly ball to right field. Ball is dropped, no, caught -- Giants RFer Dustin Mohr caught the ball and then fell down allowing the winning run to tag up and score, uncontested. Oh Misery are the Giants as well! Padres win in the bottom of the 10th.

Astros take the NL Wild card lead.

Ugh.

I Am Not An Idiot
"I AM not an idiot, I am not abrasive, I am not running the day-to-day workings of the baseball operations, I "feel the pain" of Mets fans because I am passionate about winning and - most important - I am not going anywhere." - Jeff Wilpon, he who doth protest too much.

So goes the report of an extensive Jeff Wilpon interview with the NY Post. Joel Sherman notes:

"...when asked when Met fans could expect a winner, Jeff said, "I think in the next three years things will be turned around." That sounds like rebuilding from an organization that seven weeks ago traded a group of its best prospects, notably Scott Kazmir. Jeff insisted the pitchers obtained, Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano, will be part of the transformation back to the family goal of "sustained contending."

It's three years now? Isn't that setting the bar a little low? I don't know about the rest of Metsdom, but I don't think it is reasonable to expect us to wait three years for a winner when nothing the Mets Idiot Collective has done in the LAST three years has indicated we're gravitating towards winning anytime soon. In fact, if the last three seasons are any indication, you might as well guess three HUNDRED years.

But the one consistency of these last three seasons has been that the sole joy of Mets fans has been the final ejaculation of relief when local punching bags and scapegoats are finally jettisoned. Each season has had its poster boy for Met disgust and each season has seen the eventual elimination of that poster boy.

In 2002, it was arguably Rey Ordonez, the hitless, whimpering wonder who, after making a career high 19 errors, had the temerity to call Mets fans "stupid" for booing a team that was (little did we know) just beginning to set new standards of mediocrity in the 21st century. I saw "arguably" because there were a host of scapegoats like Fat Mo, Steve Phillips and/or Bobby V.

In 2003, it was a tag team of Steve Phillips and Armandogeddon which received the brunt of fan disgust. Phillips was finally fired in June as a human sacrifice to the frothing mouths of fan frustration but it wasn't until Armandogeddon was finally dumped on the Yankees that we were willing to accept the fate of losers for the season quietly.

And this season, who else but manager Art Howe, the manager no one but Fred Wilpon wanted managing the Mets and the manager whom the A's didn't even want managing for them after he'd blown a few postseasons almost singlehandedly for them.

We're already warming it up, it seems, on our targets for 2005 - The Wilpons - and deservedly so. Systematic incompetence will no go away with the wave of a magic wand and the annual sacrificial firing.

And we certainly aren't going to be satisfied with some three year plan that merely deflects attention away from the source of the current incompetence.

So far, two pitchers who I really question should be pitching for the Mets next season, have reaffirmed their tepid desire to pitch for the Mets next season. First, Al Leiter says he isn't sure he wants to be back and then says he does. Great. Where else are we going to find senior citizen lefty to pitch five innings an outing? Oh yeah, we've already got Tom Glavine.

Kris Benson, who faces his old team today in Pittsburgh, also says he might be interested in pitching for the Mets next season, IF, of course, they overpay him enough for a history of injuries and inconsistency and IF, of course, they ever decide on which sad sack they are bringing in to manage these aging clowns next season.

*****

As it IS Sunday, after all and one can not help but harken those woebegone days of America yore when that meant NFL Football, please allow me the pleasure of introducing the single funniest NFL commentator I've had the pleasure of reading:

The Mighty MJD:

"And now the barking Browns fans have turned to what may be an even more annoying habit: stealing someone else's chant. They're singing, "Here we go, Brownies, Here we go! WOOF, WOOF!" Good, I'm glad they mixed in the barking, because while I hate them, I hadn't actually wished for any of them to get in car accidents on the way home. Now I have."

Read it and weep tears of laughter.

Bonds Joins Aaron and Ruth at 700

It's no secret that Sports Amnesia's runaway choice for NL MVP, Barry Bonds waited until he'd left the doldrums of Selig-land and Milwaukee to return home to hammer number 700 last night thereby not only making history, but leading his SF Giants to a 4-1 victory over San Diego in the process and keeping the Giants ahead of da Cubbies for the NL Wildcard chase.

It was his 42nd homer of the season which seems almost Herculean considering how often he is walked most games (207 times in 133 games). And still, as Dale Hoffman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal pointed out yesterday, Bonds' 700th doesn't put him in Ruth's and Aaron's company, he's already been there:

"As home runs become more common, they seem to be getting less exciting and clearly less marketable. The ball that Mark McGwire hit for his 70th in 1998 fetched $3 million on the memorabilia market, while the one that Bonds crushed for his 73rd had a garage sale tag of $450,000 three years later. His 600th got pulled off the market when it couldn't draw a minimum bid of $50,000.

Maybe the collectors are getting thriftier, or maybe the public's paying closer attention to detail. It's not as if Bonds would have stepped into the company of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron by hitting his 700th here.

He has been with them since April, when he became only the third man to hit 661. Not that he seemed to notice."

Perhaps more importantly, it was also the Giants' sixth win in a row and while they still hold the WC lead over the Cubs, they are fast closing in on those damned Dodgers as well, now only 2 1/2 games out of first with several 6 more games still to play against those Dodgers, including the last series of the regular season.

In fact, Bonds will have to continue to be Herculean for the rest of the season because the Giants don't get any breaks the rest of the way. This Padres series is followed by a series against the Houston Astros, then the Dodgers, then the Padres again before closing out against the Dodgers again. Their destiny is, as they say, all in their own hands.

*****

Lost in the excitement was the Yankees last inning loss to the Red Sox last night which dropped their lead to 2 1/2 games. Realistically, this series and the one to follow it next weekend, barring any major disasters or meltdowns, is probably not all that important in the scheme of things. Even if the Red Sox overtake the Yankees, there is slim to no chance that someone like the Angels will catch up to them and snatch the wildcard spot. The Red Sox can take all the revenge they want in the regular season and it won't mean anything if they can't do it again in the postseason when it counts.

That said, it is perhaps somewhat ominous to note that Mariano Rivera's meltdown last night was not his first against the Red Sox this season. Two months ago, in their last meeting, he blew a save against the Sox on a Bill Mueller homerun in the bottom of the 9th. So in his last two outings against their biggest rivals, Mariano hasn't lived up to his name. It is something certain to be pondering in great outpourings of hysteria and concern by Yankees fans in the weeks to come. Over the last three years, Mariano has had 17 save chances against the Red Sox and has missed five of them. In fact, over that same period of time, the Red Sox are Mariano's biggest nemesis of all the AL teams with a chance to face the Yankees in the playoffs.

Against Boston, he sports a less-than-glittering ERA of 3.34 since 2001. Comparatively, he's not allowed an earned run by the Twins in those same three years, he has a 2.08 ERA against the A's and a 2.84 ERA against the Angels.

Of course, only five teams have scored on him all season and of those five, only the Angels and the Red Sox are teams with any prayer of the postseason.

Mariano doesn't seemed too concerned though. "They beat me tonight," Rivera said. "But I will be back."

Indeed he will but the aura and fear factor is swiftly dwindling.

Besides the race for the AL East and the AL Wildcard, this series is also showcasing what is arguably, the two strongest AL MVP candidates in Gary Sheffield and Manny Ramirez. Oddly, both of them seem more recognisable by their respective histories of controversies than they do by their output, but these are the two best players on the two best teams (statistically anyway) in the American League. Their numbers on the season are tightly similar,(Sheff .298-34-113-.402 OBP,-.547 Slugging and Manny .311-41-118-.402-.623) so if we're boiling the water into steam to find who is more valuable of the two, you might have a look at how each performed against their other half thus far this season:

Sheffield is hitting .240 with two homers and 10 rbis in 50 at bats against the Red Sox. For the season, Sheff is hitting .333 with runners in scoring position.

Manny is hitting .281 with six homers and 12 rbis in 57 at bats against the Yankees. For the season, Manny is hitting .326 with runners in scoring position.

Last night, Manny went 0-2 with 2 walks while Sheffield had a hit and a walk in 4 trips to the plate. At this pace, Manny should get the nod over Sheff but if the Yankees were to win the AL East and the Red Sox fail to make the playoffs, well, there would go all of Manny's votes in the rubbish bin.

Something worth keeping an eye on. That, and the fact that A-Rod, the coup of the offseason for the Yankees, is still hitting a pathetic .238 with runners in scoring position this season and Jeter is hitting only .286 with runners in scoring position.

And then of course, the forgotten MVP, David Ortiz, whose stats for the season are frighteningly similar to Ramirez's (.298-37-125), against the Yankees, is hitting .340 with a pair of homers and and 7 rbis in 53 at-bats and hits .331 with runners in scoring position. Not to mention a fat .370 average at Yankee Stadium as the enemy this season.

Oh the choices! Oh the excitement! At this rate, the fans in both cities may suffer a collective aneurysm before the postseason even begins. To pass the time before the first pitch of the next game in about 5 hours, have a glance through the Yanksfan-Soxfan Stretch Drive Quiz.

And amid all the hullaballoo, I stand back and think about how lucky I am to be a Mets fan. Look how calm, cool and collected I can be, counting down the days to the end of the Art Howe Era. No pennant race jitters. No agonising games to die little deaths over, inning by inning. No post season fears. No worries about anything but the latest trend in Mike Piazza's facial hair and whether or not the Expos, a mere two and a half games behind the Mets for second-to-last place, (oh irony! the same number of games that separate the Yankees and Sox!) can claw their way out of the basement and kick the Mets down there, down in to that Saddam-like spider hole of futility and mediocrity, the Mets home away from home, the NL East cellar.

*****

Since today is Saturday, that means college football, none of which, unfortunately, I can watch over here. However, I can see images and this one of 20th ranked Fresno State head coach Pat Hill leads me to question if he looks more like Satan or just another HILLbilly.

The idiocy that is the BCS does not sweat the Fresno States of the world, nor should they. The more silent Coach Hill is kept, the better, as far as I'm concerned, so I'll be rooting for Division 1-AA Portland State to end this absurdist gobbing before it has a chance to take root by knocking off Fresno State tonight. I mean, who is kidding who here? Fresno State? For the NCAA beach volleyball championship, maybe. For the NCAA frisbee football championship, sure, why not. But the BCS will not come calling.

Three games of note this weekend:

LSU (2-0) at Auburn (2-0).
Maryland (2-0) at West Virginia (2-0)
Florida (1-0) at Tennessee (1-0).

All six teams are ranked in the top 25 in the country and all three games will have a significant bearing who is getting knocked out of consideration by the third week of the season. Sports Amnesia's betting pool has Auburn, Maryland and Tennessee winning and carrying their seasons further.

*****

No!No!No!

Imagine my shock and awe and horror at reading the NY Post this morning and finding out that the Mets Idiot Collective already have placed Jim Fregosi near the top of their wish list.

Jim Fuckin Fregosi for crissakes! The corpse of failure that was Art Howe's managerial stint with the Mets hasn't even finished decomposing yet and already, they are confounding the Laws of Extreme Stupidity and Failure To Learn From Past Mistakes by even DARING to consider a lifetime loser like Jim Fregosi.

Jim Fregosi, let's make this loud and clear so even the addled brained twats in the Mets front office can hear us: HAS A LIFETIME LOSING RECORD AS A MANAGER!!!!

That's LOSING RECORD as in, 1028 wins and 1095 LOSSES or what is otherwise known as a sub-.500 winning percentage, generally recognised in most circles, as being a LOSING RECORD.

Why would the Mets replace a manager with a losing record with another manager with a losing record?

Consistency is my guess. Keep expectations low. Then if they make another miraculous run near .500 next season and manage to spend more than a day or two out of last place, we can all get all goose pimply again about the illusion that the Mets will ever be anything but losers whilst the Wilpons destroy the team with their crass stupidity and appalling lack of baseball acumen.

There are only two legitimate names to be bandied about when mentioning the replacement for Art Howe. Lou Piniella or Wally Backman.

If the Mets hire Jim Fregosi to run the ship into another two season long iceberg, I'm renouncing my support for good and jumping ship to the Washington Expos (or whatever the hell they'll end up being called).

*****

Last note: The View From the Bleachers has moved. Click on the magical name and you will find it. So when you're looking for insight on the next Cubby Collapse, look no further than here.

Why Not Randy For Cy?

Last night, the bottom feeding Arizona Diamondback's best pitcher, Randy Johnson, won his second consecutive outing and surpassed the last great pitcher to pitch for a crap team, Steve Carlton, in all time strikeouts, with 4137.

In and of itself, this isn't sufficient merit for consideration for the Cy Young, but if you look at all the key stats in the NL outside of wins, something that Randy Johnson can do little of without any run support, you see that Randy Johnson is either leading or within the top two in every category.

And let's not forget: Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game this season.

There's nobody out there with huge victory numbers this season.

IP

1. R Johnson ARI 223.2
2. L Hernandez MON 223.0
3. R Oswalt HOU 210.1

ERA

1. R Johnson ARI 2.74
2. C Zambrano CHC 2.80
3. B Sheets MIL 2.83


Batting Average Against

1. R Johnson ARI .190
2. J Schmidt SF .202
3. O Perez PIT .209

K/IP

1. O Perez PIT 11.08
2. R Johnson ARI 10.78
3. J Schmidt SF 10.18

K/BB

1. R Johnson ARI 6.12
2. D Wells SD 4.50
3. G Maddux CHC 4.72


STRIKOUTS

1. R Johnson ARI 268
2. B Sheets MIL 228
3. J Schmidt SF 224

A Staggering Night of Nearly Nothingness
Barry Bonds failed to collect a hit in his bid to join the 700-homer club, but he did score a run to help the San Francisco Giants edge the host Milwaukee and keep grip on NL WC

The hobgoblins continue to circle the rotting corpse of Art Howe's managerial stint with the Mets as documented on a rolling basis by FIRE ART HOWE ALREADY!. Once the firing squad has finished their dirty work, I'm thinking of renaming the site Please Sell the Team Mr Wilpon!. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks the Mets Idiot Collective is ruining baseball for Queens.

Joel Sherman of the NYPost thinks it's time for the management to Ownup to Failure.

"Of course, Howe has to go, but that is merely a symptom of the problem. Jeff Wilpon refused any comment, and Fred Wilpon would not discuss Howe's status. But when asked if the mess that is the Mets ultimately fell to him, Fred responded, "It certainly would reflect on any CEO, and I'm the CEO." Then Wilpon disputed the Mets are a mess during much of a 20-minute interview, and sounded as if a small change like Bowa is in the offing, but not the substantial philosophical shifts that so clearly must be made."

Of course, part of the idiot savant genius that is the Mets Idiot Collective involved themselves in the trade of one of the Mets' brightest young pitching prospects for a man with a broken arm in Tampa Bay. Now, former untouchable/untradeable Met, Scott Kazmir continues to humiliate his former bosses by pitching in the Major Leagues when they said he wasnt' ready. Last night, Kazmir shut down Pedro Martinez and the Boston Red Sox just in case there were any doubts about his potential, whiffing nine over six shutout innings.

*****

Meanwhile back in Chicago, the Florida Marlins continue to entertain Chicago fans with their "home" victories at the White Sox's U.S. Cellular Field, allowing the poor bastids to see some winning baseball for a change. Jay Mariotti thinks Chicago finally has a home team we can root for.

"With no apologies whatsoever to the Cubs, I am rooting for the competition. That's how warmed I am by the saga of the Florida Marlins, Chicago's house guests, who've been burdened by a real-life ordeal yet are handling it with all the stress of frat guys on a panty raid. All you need to know is that the Fish have won 12 of 15 games while three hurricanes -- Charley, Frances and Ivan -- have paralyzed their state."

*****

Lastly, in a seemingly never-ending provocation against baseball fans, Sports Amnesia has been cheating by spending the first half of the night watching Chelsea poach PSG by a 3-0 margin on the road, hopefully sealing their advance into the next round of the Champions League.

Unfortunately, PSV Eindhoven were unsuccessful in their bid to oust Arseholenol away and will have to go back to Eindhoven to eind it all.

But all hope is not yet lost for the Dutch teams as Ajax face Juventus tonight at Ajax Arena.

Let's root for Liverpool over Monaco at home and that Man U fail miserably at Lyon. In fact, quite possibly the only side Sports Amnesia are rooting stronger against than Arseholenol would be the Man U side, so allyons Lyon!

Nano Information

Due to a crawling travel through Yorkshire, Northumbria and Scotland, Sports Amnesia missed all the excitement of the weekend of sports in America although did manage to catch a snatch or two of the EPL matches. However, pacing through what was missed, here are some of the stories, helter skelter tidbits both with and without comment and or merit:

Carlos Beltran - nears the 40-40 club to join Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez (what a divergent bunch) -- currently, he's stuck at 38 homers and 36 stolen bases - his last stolen base was August 30th -- legs might be getting a bit fatigued but he's still hitting .317 in September with a pair of homers and 4 ribbies, even though the Astros have done a

Cubs-Marlins - leaving Warwickshire on Friday, this was the most anticipated series of the weekend as hurricane detritus, last season's amazing Cubbie flop and a slew of games in a short span all combined to make what would be, according to the Sports Amnesia offices, the series of the weekend and the season. Meanwhile the Astros, who'd temporarily taken the wildcard slot, lost three of five to spin out of control. As for the Cubs-Marlins series, Wood was slammed in Game 1, Prior won Game 2, Cubs took Game 3 by scoring 5 in the last two innings off the Marlins bullpen and Game 4 was an 11-1 pasting by the Marlins to even those four matches out at two apiece. interesting to note that The Sammy is hitting .211 during this September push. If there were ever a least valuable player out there, Sammy just might be the poster child.

NL Wildcard - Meanwhile, the sneaky San Fransisco Giants by winning only 6 of 10, have managed to push their way, like the head of a cesarean baby, into the top spot of the NL Wildcard, a half game ahead of the Cubs and three games ahead in games played - that is: the Giants have played 144 and the Cubs have played 141. The Astros are still only one back (144 games played) and the Marlins, after after winning a home game in an AL park, are two games back having played only 140 games). You can say what you want about the Padres, only two and a half behind after 143 games, but this is a four team race that no one seems truly willing to grap hold of. Oh yeah, in sharp contrast to the Sammy, The Barry seems to be bringing it on for the playoff push. In September, Bonds is hitting .458 with 3 homers and 6 ribbies in 10 games with a .958 slugging percentage. Ding-a-Ling! Any clowns out there still want to make a case for anybody but Barry for the NL MVP?

The Marlins next four games are against Montreal, in Chicago. The Cubs have two against the Pirates and one against the Reds, the Astros have three at home against the Cardinals and the Giants play three in Milwaukee.

Fighting Irish Fans can breath a temporary sigh of relief. After being humiliated by the Mormons at BYU in an opening season loss, the Irish faced the "mighty" Michigan Wolverines in a match which all who winge'd thought would be the end of poor Coach Tyrone Willingham. Aye, not to be. Instead, as hoped, the Irish prevailed over Michigan to save their season, in a 28-20 must-win victory at South Bend to even their record at 1-1. Perhaps a bigger story still was emergence of freshman tailback Darius Walker, who rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the winning effort.

*****

Sports Amnesia College Football Poll

1. Oklahoma (2-0) defeated Houston, 63-13 to remain at one.
2. Florida State (0-1) lost to Miami, 16-10
3. UVA (2-0) defeated North Carolina, 56-24.
4. USC (2-0) defeated Colorado State, 49-0.
5. Georgia (2-0) beat South Carolina, 20-16.
6. California (1-0) game postponed due to Hurricane Ivan.
7. Michigan (1-1) to our great relief, lost to Notre Dame, 20-16.
8. Texas (2-0) defeated Arkansas 22-20.
9. Miami (1-0) defeated #2 Florida State 16-10.
10. Purdue (2-0) defeated Ball State 59-7.
10. Minnesota (2-0) defeated Illinois State 37-21.

New standings:

1. Oklahoma (2-0)
2. UVA (2-0)
3. USC (2-0)
4. Georgia (2-0)
5. Miami (1-0)
6. California (1-0)
7. Texas (2-0)
8. Purdue (2-0)
9. Minnesota (2-0)
10.Florida State (0-1)

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. --George Orwell, from Animal Farm

First Annual Sports Amnesia College Football Top Ten Poll

In the spirit of uselessness and random arbitration of team talent, Sports Amnesia hereby unleashes its first NCAA Football Top Ten Poll of the season.

1. Oklahoma (1-0) defeated Bowling Green 40-24
2. Florida State (0-0) washed out by hurricane (not a good sign against Miami)
3. UVA (1-0) defeated Temple 44-14
4. USC (1-0) defeated VA Tech 24-13
5. Georgia (1-0) defeated GA Southern 48-28
6. California (1-0) defeated Air Force 56-14
7. Michigan (1-0) defeated Miami OH 41-10
8. Texas (1-0) defeated North Texas 65-0
9. Miami (0-0) washed out by Hurricane (fitting for the Hurricanes)
10. Purdue (1-0) defeated Syracuse 51-0
10. Minnesota (1-0) defeated Toledo 63-21

Rules are: you don't go down if you don't lose. If everyone stays undefeated, everyone keeps their place. Their is no such thing as an unimpressive victory, just as their is no such thing as an impressive loss - the both count for one digit in the win or loss column and comparing apples and oranges and team schedule strength, etc., is a load of rubbish that Sports Amnesia will not consider in its poll.

*****

Now that the massive idiot Kevin Brown has broken his left hand, it leads you to think perhaps the Yankees are better off without him in the postseason. After all, if you look at the following numbers from July to the present, you get the following:

1. Kevin Brown 3-3, 7GS, 45.6 IP, 42H, 18ER, 15BB, 32K 3.55 ERA
2. El Duque 6-0, 10 GS, 58.1 IP, 48H, 17ER, 25BB, 62K, 2.62 ERA
3. J Lieber 5-3, 11 GS, 74 IP, 83H, 32ER, 12BB, 47K, 3.89 ERA

El Duque is flat out pitching better than Kevin Brown and Lieber eats more innings just as effectively, giving the bullpen a break. Either is more valuable to the Yankees rotation than Kevin Brown.

*****

Sidney Ponson of the Orioles, 0-6 with a 6.46 ERA in June that dropped him to 3-11 on the season.
Sidney Ponson of the Orioles, 6-2 since, with 10 GS, 66.2 IP, 77 H, 35 ER, 23 BB, 43K - now a pitcher rather than a power pitcher. If he'd have been this consistent all season, the O's might have had themselves a slightly more interesting season.

*****

I'm rooting for the Mets' losing streak to keep working wonders for the Anti-Art movement. The way I see it, the more humiliated the Mets are, the more likely the Idiot Collective is to disregard whatever $5 million payout for Howe, fire him, and then, well, we'll have to see, perhaps hire the RIGHT manager this time.