So, after years of misery, the Mets all but ended the Braves season yesterday, sweeping a doubleheader on the arms of Dave Williams and Oliver Perez, and the bats of Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes. For the first time since 1998, the Mets won a season series from the Braves.
Now, I know the Braves have had a number of injuries, and that Larry (I will not call a grown man "Chipper") Jones missed 3 of the series. Too f*cking bad. There were years where the Mets had injuries, or just plain old bad teams, and I did not see any sympathy for them. They still had Renteria, Andruw Jones, Giles and Smoltz this year. They made the decision to not resign guys, or to trade away others, so don't cry for them. Their reign is over, it's the Mets turn now. I loved hearing the war chant at Shea at the end of game 2 last night.
For more on this topic, visit Metstradamus.
Other Met thoughts...
I love Omar Minaya. The man has done a fantastic job assembling this team. Very few trades or signings have not worked out for him. Last year, he picked up Marlon Anderson, and Marlon went on to have a good year. He brought in Roboerto Hernandez, who regained his lost form, despite a poor record. Beltran may have had a poor season last year (playing hurt for most of it) but this year he has been awesome. Pedro? 'nuff said.
This past offseason he picked up Lo Duca, Delgado, Wagner, Sanchez, Oliver, Bradford, Feliciano and others. Nary a deal fell on its face. The Lo Duca second half swoon that many were worried about, did not happen. Wagner has been better of late, though he caused some angst this past weekend (and nearly caused a bad knee injury to Bettran). He obtained Nady for Cameron, Nady did OK, though he could not hit with RISP. When Filthy went down, he flipped Nady for Roberto, and Oliver Perez. Now, Roberto has not been great, but he is allowing Heilman to rest at times, and Aaron has certainly returned to form. Perez, if he can build on yesterday, is going to be a #3 starter next season. To replace Nady when Milledge struggled, he obtained Shawn Green for the soft tossing Evan McClane. Green started well, slumped, but recovered in a big way yesterday. Maybe the only deal that has not worked real well is Julio Franco, but he did well early in the year, and had some key hits, as well as key coaching when he pushed Beltran out of the dugout for a curtain call. I'll take that ratio any day of the week.
As for Willie, despite some moves that are questionable, he has led this team to 86 wins, using a ridiculous number of starting pitchers this season. We fans may bitch about certain pitching moves, but they are the rarity. I do get troubled when he gets really lambasted, as it seems people forget the dark days of Art Howe, but I can understand. Met fans are always waiting for the roof to cave in. We cannot enjoy success until the last out has been recorded. Is Willie perfect, no, and I have done my share of complaining as well. But I do not fear him costing the team a game in the playoffs. The game is won or lost on the field for the most part. I am confident he will put the right guys out there. So long as they execute, the team will be fine. I'm not going to get all twisted about pinch hitting for Williams yesterday. Yes, Perez was going in game 2, and based on his last outing, there was concern about needing the pen for game 2. However, with the rosters being expanded, there were enough pitchers available to cover. The nitpicking needs to stop.
The Brooklyn Dodgers of Los Angeles Dodgers are in town starting today for a 4 game set. Here are the matchups:
Penny v Glavine tonight
Kuo v Maine tomorrow
Maddux v El Duque on Saturday
Hendrickson v Trachsel on Sunday
I want the Mets to slay the last vestiges of the Braves and beat the ever living daylights out of Maddux. Beat him like a rented mule. He has done well since arriving in LA, remind him of his last month plus on the Cubs (where he helped to destroy my Fantasy Team, thanks Greg).
Tonight, I want Glavine to progress in his return. I would like to see Duque and Trax pitch well, and get ready for the playoffs.
The Magic Number is now 8.
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3 comments:
Hey Ed, I just want to say that I've also been singing Omar's praises on other sites today. I told him to his face that I will never ever doubt him. And I don't. I feel like...everything will work out. Isn't that a good feeling, having confidence in someone who actually knows what he's doing?
Coop - it is so nice to know that the GM in place is smart. After years of ineptness, this team has the right guy for the job.
If only he knew hockey as well as baseball, and the Isles could get him.
. . . 7 . . .
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