Choke – [chohk] verb 2007 New York Mets 2008 New York Mets   Should the 2008 New York Mets find their way into the playoffs, should they make to the big dance, should they be crowned World Series Champs this year, I will not look back on the 2008 New York Mets as a team I enjoyed watching.  This is not a winning ball club.  I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed watching a [...]

Last night’s loss will reverberate with this team for a long time. It may just have been the most demoralizing loss of the season. It was clearly a maddening display of poor execution at the plate and a lack of pure baseball instincts and intellect. David Wright swinging wildly at ball four in the ninth inning with the winning run only 90 feet away is an image I won’t soon forget. With the Mets tied, and young [...]

That’s right.  No wild card for us. We want the division.  While it normally wouldn’t matter how we got it in, this year we have something to prove.  After the disappointing finish to the 2007 season, the Mets and their fans should not stand to hand it to the Phillies again.  However, I do begin to worry when I think that even if we do make it to the playoffs, how long can we go with the dreadful [...]

I keep waiting for something positive to happen… I’m looking for a sign… An omen… Anything… What can I say about Jon Niese? Last week against Atlanta I was so wowed by him I couldn’t stop talking about him for days on end. Now, I don’t know what to say. Seeing him serve up that grand slam to the opposing pitcher, Jason Marquis… well let’s just say I knew it was over right there and then. [...]

If the season ended today, the Mets would be on their way to the post season… So why am I so down? Scott Schoeneweis, was speechless after yesterdays loss. “There’s no explanation anymore.  I just don’t know what to say. We’re not consistently making big pitches at big times.  We do it one night, we don’t do it the next night.  There’s really nothing more to say or explain or philosophize about.” What a loser… We’ve [...]

On the surface, the MVP is a bit misleading. The person who does not follow Baseball would think the MVP award goes to the best hitter or top pitcher. This is not the case. The best pitcher wins the Cy Young Award. The top hitter may win the Silver Slugger Award or the Home Run title. The Most Valuable Player is just that: The Most Valuable. It goes to the one individual who has the [...]

It all comes down to this. Going into today’s game, we have seven games remaining. That’s more than enough time to overtake the Phillies for first place and avoid playing the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs. However, here is some food for thought, if after the last regular season game is played and the Mets and Phils are in a dead draw, and both teams still hold a lead over Milwaukee, the Mets [...]

September 22: 1911: At 44 years old Cy Young beats the Pirates for the 511th and final win of his career. 1925: Dodgers pitcher Burleigh Grimes accounts for 7 outs in a single game when he hits into 2 double plays and a triple play. 1948: Stan Musial goes 5-for-5 for the 5th time this season. Musial’s 5 hits come against 5 different pitchers on 5 consecutive pitches. 1954: En route to a 3-0 win [...]

The more I see of Pedro Martinez, the more I worry about whether he is going to be a strong option as a starter for the Mets in the post season. Pedro’s days of dominating hitters are long gone, but I still figured he would give us a quality start whenever he took the mound. I never expected him to go from great to… well… to mediocre. And I’m being kind. It’s no wonder why everyone who’s who in [...]

The Mets won a coin toss against the Brewers today to determine home-field advantage for a potential one-game wild card playoff between the two teams. If the Mets and Phillies tie for first place and have better records than the runners-up in the other divisions, then the Mets will be the NL East champions based on their 11-7 head-to-head record against the Phillies, who would take the Wild Card. There would be no need for [...]