The Yankees will start 21 year old AAA pitcher Tyler Clippard tonight on ESPN's national broadcast against the Met's 5-1 John Maine
Can anybody tell me the last time the Mets swept the Yankees?
]]>The Mets, on the other hand, are looking sharp. The win pulled Perez above the .500 mark at 4-5. With John Maine and Tom Glavine pitching well, the Mets are looking better than they did a year ago.
Unfortunately so are the Braves...
]]>The ball left the bat of Carlos Delgado and bounced beyond the reach of Cubs second baseman Ryan Theriot and beyond the stretch of the Mets' imagination. The final moments of the season's most improbable victory were unfolding, an instant after the final fold of the Cubs dotted-line bullpen.
]]>Source: The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Major League Baseball News
I guess this was obvious, but it is still something we don’t like to hear:
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]]>Anyone who has followed the Mets all season long knows they go hot and cold hitting. Remember that slump against Boston in June? The post season numbers indicate only one thing: the Mets are way overdue due for a hot streak. And as anyone who has followed the Mets all season long knows, when they do get hot they can be devastating.
If the bats come out tonight, the Mets can not only win tonight, I Gotta Believe they can not only subdue the Cardinals, they can tame the Tigers.
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]]>Be sure and visit Some Ballyard!
]]>The 2006 baseball season-for everyone--hinges on tonight’s game. I believe whoever wins tonight will win the NL pennant. I also believe how victory is achieved could very well determine the outcome of the World Series. Right now Detroit believes itself to be the team of destiny. The only team than can beat a team that believes itself to be the team of destiny is another team that believes it has a rightful claim. And, of course, a lineup and a pitching staff-we’re not talking fantasy here, we’re talking faith. But as the Red Sox learned in 2004, and the White Sox learned last year, what makes the difference is…
Ya Gotta Believe.
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]]>Did you notice the grins that spread across the faces of the Mets players in the ninth inning last night? Delgado, in particular, caught my eye. It was almost as if it finally dawned on them just how good this team is, like the playoff win was a validation of what Willie has instilling in them all along: a belief in themselves.
Yet the celebration was somewhat subdued. Willie has this team focused on what it is it needs to accomplish.
Regardless of what happens, I think it will be the smiles I remember.
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]]>Pedro’s contribution is more spiritual than physical. The Mets have won without Pedro all season. A 9-8 record on a team that will finish with 30+ more wins than losses does not indicate a major material contribution. Whether Pedro is able to physically perform or not is only marginally relevant. Pedro’s presence is what is important. What Pedro symbolizes is what is important.
The signing of Pedro in competition with teams like the Red Sox and Yankees announced to the world that the Mets were intent on winning. Pedro himself brings the intangible, the will to win. That is what made him a great pitcher, not his physical talents. And Pedro seems to have the ability to transmit that to those around him. He did it in Boston. He is now doing it in New York.
Pedro is the kind of player an entire team can rally around. That kind of contribution far exceeds balls and strikes.
Check out Inside Pitch’s insightful analysis of the Pedro situation, and Amazine’s poem, both of which inspired this post.
-- Michael Norton
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]]>Cheers to all the wonderful MLBlogs Mets blogs, and the friends I’ve made:
Zen master Evan at Amazine
Insightful Eddie at Willie Ball
The delightful Zoe at Pick Me Up Some Mets!
Carl, Baseball’s answer to Escher, at Inside Pitch
John, the #1 Wrightaholic
And an honorable mention to two other blogs I read regularly, but don’t know the authors--yet:
Met’s Magic Number
Lets Go Mets Go
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]]>Be sure and visit Some Ballyard!
]]>Catching was at a premium in those days. Carter was the highest paid player at $2.1 million. Darling was the highest paid pitcher at an even mil. Of course that was back when a million was still a million, and the champions of the National League East were from New York.
Seventeen years are a lot of misery. But then, we are all just prisoners here of our own device.
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By the way, I want to mention that Zoe over at Pick Me Up Some Mets beat me to the Champagne on ice...
]]>Atlanta has broken the Mets fans hearts so often, however, there will not be a sigh of relief until the Braves are eliminated from wild card contention. Every Met fan can imagine with horror a series at Turner Field, where the Mets haven’t fared well over the years. The Tomahawk Chop in October is a sinister sound.
Tip of the cap to the Atlanta organization for a remarkable job.
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]]>Be sure and visit Some Ballyard!
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