Where Were You 24 Years Ago Today?

Where were you 24 years ago today? The date was Monday, October 27, 1986. Sound familiar? If you're a long-time Mets fan, that date should be permanently etched onto your brain. The dream came true for many Mets fans that night, as their beloved Mets captured their second World Series championship.

Game 7 was originally scheduled for Sunday, October 26. However, a steady rain forced the postponement of the game until the following night. Red Sox starter Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd was supposed to start the seventh game against Ron Darling. However, with an extra day of rest, the Red Sox chose to bypass Boyd (who had given up six runs to the Mets in his Game 3 loss) and gave the ball to Bruce Hurst.

Hurst had already defeated the Mets in Game 1 and notched a complete game victory against them in Game 5. Although he was pitching Game 7 on three days rest, the Mets were still wary about Hurst. His performances against the Mets in the World Series were reminiscent of Mike Scott’s outings in the NLCS. If the Mets were going to beat Hurst, Ron Darling was going to have to match him pitch for pitch. Unfortunately, that was not the case in the early innings.

Bruce Hurst was his usual strong self in the early innings, keeping the Mets off the scoreboard. Ron Darling? Not so much. After a scoreless first inning, he gave up three runs in the second inning, including back-to-back home runs by Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman.

By the time the fourth inning rolled around, Darling had already given up six hits and walked a batter. He then hit Dave Henderson with a pitch to lead off the fourth inning. After facing two more batters, Darling was relieved by fellow starter turned reliever Sid Fernandez. The score was still 3-0 in favor of the Red Sox and the game was slipping away from the Mets. It was up to El Sid to stop the fire from spreading.

In perhaps the guttiest (no pun intended) performance by Fernandez in his Mets career, he shut down the Red Sox. After walking his first batter (Wade Boggs), Sid retired the next seven batters he faced, with four of them coming via the strikeout. Fernandez did everything he could to keep his team in the game, but his efforts would go in vain unless the Mets could finally solve the puzzle that was Bruce Hurst.

With time running out on the Mets and their dream season, Davey Johnson was forced to make a difficult move in the bottom of the sixth inning. After Rafael Santana grounded out to start the inning, the Mets were down to Sid Fernandez’s spot in the batting order. Would Johnson take Sid out for a pinch hitter, hoping that the Mets would start a rally or would he leave him in the game, possibly giving up on another inning in which to mount a comeback against Bruce Hurst? Johnson chose to pinch hit for Fernandez and it ended up being one of the best managerial decisions he ever made.

Lee Mazzilli stepped up to the plate in lieu of Fernandez. He greeted Hurst with a single to left. Game 6 hero Mookie Wilson followed Mazzilli with a hit of his own, followed by a walk to Tim Teufel. The base on balls loaded the bases for Keith Hernandez and brought the crowd of 55,032 to its feet. The cheering rose to a crescendo when Hernandez delivered a two-run single to center, scoring Mazzilli and Wilson and sending Teufel to third. Since Teufel represented the tying run, Davey Johnson sent in the speedier Wally Backman to pinch run for him as Gary Carter stepped up to the plate. Carter came through as he drove in Backman with a ball that would have been a base hit to right had a confused Hernandez not been forced out at second base when rightfielder Dwight Evans rolled over the ball. Hernandez had to freeze between first and second until he knew that the ball had not been caught.

Despite the out being recorded, the Mets had tied the game at 3. They had finally gotten to Bruce Hurst and hope was alive at Shea. That hope became greater when Ray Knight came to bat in the seventh inning against a familiar face.

Calvin Schiraldi had been brought in by the Red Sox to start the seventh inning. Schiraldi was the losing pitcher in Game 6, having allowed Gary Carter, Kevin Mitchell and Ray Knight to deliver hits off him in the tenth inning. This time, he was facing Knight with no one on base, trying to erase the bitter memories from his previous outing. Knight would not provide him with the eraser.

On a 2-1 pitch from Schiraldi, Knight got under a pitch and launched it to deep left-center, barely clearing the outfield wall. A jubilant Knight celebrated as he rounded the bases. The Mets finally had their first lead of the game and they were going to make sure that they weren’t going to give it back. The hit parade continued in the seventh inning, as an RBI single by Rafael Santana and a sacrifice fly by Keith Hernandez gave the Mets a 6-3 lead. The Mets were in front, but the Red Sox weren’t going to go away quietly.

Roger McDowell had come into the game in the seventh inning once Sid Fernandez had been pinch hit for. He continued where Sid had left off by retiring the Red Sox in order in the seventh. However, things went a little differently for McDowell in the eighth inning. Bill Buckner led off the inning with a single. Jim Rice followed Buckner with a single of his own. After Dwight Evans doubled into the gap in right field, scoring both Buckner and Rice, the lead had been cut to a single run. The Red Sox were down 6-5 with the tying run on second base and nobody out. It was time for Davey Johnson to make one last move, with the World Series on the line.

Jesse Orosco came in from the bullpen, hoping to shut down the Red Sox to preserve the lead for the Mets. His first batter, Rich Gedman, had homered earlier off starting pitcher Ron Darling. This time, he hit the ball hard again, but in the direction of second baseman Wally Backman. Backman caught the line drive in the air, holding Evans at second base. The next batter was Dave Henderson. He had given the Red Sox the lead with a home run in the tenth inning of Game 6. Now he had a chance to duplicate the feat, as a home run would have given Boston the lead. This time, the only thing he made contact with was the air. Orosco struck him out on four pitches and then induced Don Baylor to ground out to short to end the threat. The Mets were now three outs away from a championship, but they weren’t finished scoring yet.

The Red Sox called upon Al Nipper to face Darryl Strawberry to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. Nipper was trying to keep the Mets’ lead at one so that the Red Sox could make one last attempt in the ninth inning to tie the game or take the lead. It didn’t take long for that one run lead to grow. Strawberry greeted Nipper with a towering home run to right field that almost took as long to come down as it did for Strawberry to round the bases. After Darryl finally finished his home run “trot” (To call it a trot would be putting it mildly. It was more like a stroll and it led to a bench-clearing brawl the following season in spring training when Nipper and the Red Sox faced Darryl Strawberry and the Mets again.), the Mets had a 7-5 lead.

After a hit, a walk and an RBI single by Jesse Orosco on a 47-hopper up the middle (how appropriate since 47 was Jesse’s number), the Mets had regained their three-run lead. After being held scoreless by Bruce Hurst for the first five innings of the game, the Mets had exploded for eight runs in the last three innings to take an 8-5 lead into the ninth inning. Orosco was still on the mound, hoping to throw the season’s final pitch.

With the champagne ready to be uncorked in the Mets clubhouse, Orosco went to work on the Red Sox batters. Ed Romero popped up to first base in foul territory for the first out. That was followed by Wade Boggs grounding out to second base for the second out. The Mets were one out away from a championship. Nothing was going to stop them from winning this game. Well, nothing except for the pink smoke bomb that was thrown onto the field.

That did not matter to Jesse Orosco or the Mets. After the smoke cleared, Marty Barrett stepped up to the plate. Barrett had already collected a World Series record-tying 13 hits, trying to set the record and keep the season alive for the Red Sox. However, that was not to be. We now turn the microphone over to the late Bob Murphy for the final pitch.

“He struck him out! Struck him out! The Mets have won the World Series! And they’re jamming and crowding all over Jesse Orosco! He’s somewhere at the bottom of that pile! He struck out Marty Barrett! The dream has come true! The Mets have won the World Series, coming from behind to win the seventh ballgame!”

The Mets had completed their dream season with a World Series championship. After 108 regular season victories and a hard-fought six-game NLCS against the Houston Astros, the Mets were able to bring the trophy home. At times, it seemed as if the season was going to come to a screeching halt, but through determination, perseverance and perhaps an extra pebble or two around the first base area during Game 6, the Mets came through for themselves, for their fans and for the city of New York.

In 1986, the Mets owned New York. They were a blue (and orange) collar team for a blue-collar city. Twenty-four years ago today, the Mets became the World Champions of baseball. Victory never tasted so sweet.

One final postscript on the whereabouts of Jesse Orosco’s glove: I’m sure many of you who watched Game 7 remember Jesse Orosco flinging his glove up in the air after striking out Marty Barrett to end the World Series. Have any of you wondered what happened to that glove? Now it can be told!

If you have the 1986 World Series DVDs, watch the final out of Game 7. After Orosco throws the glove up in the air and falls to his knees, he gets up just as Gary Carter and the rest of his teammates mob him at the pitcher’s mound. If you slow it down a little, watch closely as Bud Harrelson (wearing #23) runs around the crowd of players to the left of them. He has nothing in his hands as he goes around the pile of ecstatic players. Right before he goes off-camera, you can see him start to bend over. When he comes back a split second later to celebrate with the team on the mound, he has a glove in his left hand. That’s Jesse Orosco’s glove!

I hope you enjoyed this happy recap of the final game of the 1986 World Series. The memories I have of that classic game remains vivid in my mind as if it had happened yesterday. I wish I could have blogged about it when the game happened, but Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet.

Stay positive, Mets fans. Our dreams of another World Series will come true again. Whether it be next season or a number of seasons from now, always remember to keep the faith alive and keep rooting for the orange and blue. Let’s Go Mets!

Broken News: Alderson To Become Mets GM

Welcome to the latest edition of Broken News, where other people break the news and we break it some more to the point where forensics experts can't even identify it. In today's edition, we discuss the hiring of Sandy Alderson as the new Mets general manager.

According to numerous tweets, including one by Jon Heyman and one by Joel Sherman, the Mets have notified both Sandy Alderson and Josh Byrnes that a decision has been made and that Alderson is their choice to be their next GM.

Since Major League Baseball generally frowns upon major announcements on days when World Series games are being played, the Mets will more than likely not make this signing official until Friday. The Giants and Rangers have an off day between Games 2 and 3 as the Fall Classic moves to Texas over the weekend.

Alderson brings a decade and a half of GM experience to the Mets, as he was in charge of the Oakland Athletics from 1983-1997. Under his reign, the A's won four division titles and three American League pennants. Oakland won the World Series in 1989, when they swept the San Francisco Giants in the series known more for the devastating earthquake that struck the Bay Area before Game 3.

It was Alderson who introduced sabermetrics into the world of general managing, a system that he passed along to his successor, Billy Beane. By using sabermetrics, both Alderson and Beane were able to put together competitive teams while spending as little money as possible by focusing on statistics that help teams win ballgames, but don't necessarily lead to exorbitant contracts. (One such stat is on-base percentage, as detailed in Michael Lewis' book, "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game".) It was this cost-effective system that helped Beane become one of the best and most coveted general managers in baseball.

So now Alderson will be on hand to help turn the Mets around from a fourth-place team to a contender. His plate will definitely be full at the start.

From Hisanori Takahashi's soon-to-expire contract to the search for a new manager to the acquisition of a starting pitcher (especially when you consider the uncertain status of incumbent ace Johan Santana), Alderson will have to make many key decisions early on in his tenure as general manager. It will be these decisions that will serve as the seeds for what Mets fans hope are a return to respectability and contention.

A change is in the air, Mets fans. Let's hope Sandy Alderson is the man who will bring it to us.

A Texas Toast To Jeff Francoeur

Jeff Francoeur was an interesting character on the Mets. Personality-wise, he was great. He gave candid interviews and made no excuses for lousy performances.

Francoeur also didn't feel the need to speak in cliches, like a certain local baseball player who claims to have an edge. (To protect his identity, we will use an alias when referring to this edgy player. For now, let's call him "Derek Jeter" to protect the innocent player.)

Frenchy held himself accountable for his actions. If he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, he would man up and not blame it on a runner leading off first distracting him at the plate. If he overthrew the cutoff man, he'd be the first to say it was his fault.

Despite his low on-base percentage, he was still the type of baseball player you'd want on your team. He was aggressive (sometimes too much so at the plate) and was not afraid to play hard. He was a gamer who accepted whatever role he was given, such as when Carlos Beltran returned and Angel Pagan became the everyday rightfielder.

Although Frenchy knew his time at Citi Field was limited, he never badmouthed the team and never punched any fathers-in-law. He was classy all the way, even after he was traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for the ugliest man in baseball since the days of Willie McGee.



While Joaquin Arias, the man with fewer career home runs than Johan Santana, fades into Mets obscurity (we hope), Jeff Francoeur is having a Texas-sized good time in Arlington.

With last night's 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees, Frenchy and his Texas Rangers advanced to their first ever World Series. The team that was born as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961 and moved to Texas in 1972 finally won the pennant with something that had eluded them for what seemed like the entire history of the franchise - pitching.

I mean, considering that Kenny Rogers is second on the all-time Texas Rangers list for wins and only five pitchers in Washington Senators/Texas Rangers history have picked up more than 68 career wins in 50 seasons, clearly pitching has never been the focal point of this franchise.

To this day, David Clyde might be one of the best pitchers who ever put on a Rangers uniform when he went straight from high school to the big leagues. How many wins did he pick up as a Ranger? Seven.

Now with an ace like Cliff Lee anchoring the staff and a better than average rotation, featuring Colby Lewis, C.J. Wilson and Tommy Hunter, teams can no longer depend on outslugging the Rangers. They have to outpitch them as well.

Jeff Francoeur has now joined this eclectic mix of star athletes (Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero, Nelson Cruz), flashy speedsters (Julio Borbon, Elvis Andrus) and the aforementioned pitching staff. Although his role has been limited, he performed well enough at the end of the regular season to be included on the post-season roster.

Now he is moving on to his first World Series, where the Rangers will be playing either the San Francisco Giants or that other team. After playing on a less than mediocre team in New York for a year and a half, Frenchy is now heading to the biggest stage of them all, the World Series, where he hopes to be at the bottom of another celebratory pile.


For everything he had to go through in New York, for all the complaints that Mets bloggers made about him, for having to live with Oliver Perez being his teammate for over a year, we'd like to offer a toast to Jeff Francoeur.

Frenchy may not have been the best player to don a Mets uniform. He might not have even been the best player to wear #12 in Mets history (clearly that honor belongs to Alvaro Espinoza). But Jeff Francoeur played the game hard and played it with a smile. He shrugged off all the negativity that was thrown his way and still played to the best of his ability every day he took the field.

Good luck to the Jeff Francoeur in the World Series. He may have taken the long road to get there and he may not play as much as he used to, but he is now a champion. It's too bad his former teammates in Flushing (the ones who make far more bread than anyone on the Rangers do) haven't learned how to be winners themselves.

If It's October 19, It Must Be Molina Time

Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson was known as Mr. October to baseball fans, primarily because of the three home runs he hit on three pitches in the deciding sixth game of the 1977 World Series.

If Mr. Candy Bar was Mr. October, then the Flying Molina Brothers (Yadier and Bengie) can both claim to be Mr. October 19.

Last night, big brother Bengie became the second Molina to hit a crushing home run against a New York team on an October 19. With the Rangers down 3-2 to the Yankees in the sixth inning, A.J. Burnett intentionally walked David Murphy to pitch to Funky Cold Molina.

Earlier in the game, Burnett harpooned the rotund Molina with a pitch. This time, Burnett decided to add a sixth inning insult to the third inning injury by choosing to pitch to Molina rather than Murphy with two outs in the inning. This time, Molina was the one who hit Burnett hard, as he whaled a pitch over the left field wall for a go-ahead three-run HR. The shot put the Rangers ahead 5-3, a lead they would never relinquish.

New York had been stung by another big home run by a member of the Flying Molina Brothers, as four years ago to the day, little brother Yadier hit a go-ahead two-run homer against former Met whipping boy, Aaron F. Heilman in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.

Editor's note: We'd show you a photo of Yadier Molina hitting the home run off Aaron F. Heilman, but instead we'll show you the cover of the Faith and Fear in Flushing book, written by the Tom Seaver of Mets bloggers, Greg Prince. Go read the book (and the blog of the same name). It's an Amazin' read!


The third member of the Flying Molina Brothers (Jose Molina) played for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010, but he was a member of the World Champion Yankees last year. However, he did not get a chance to play on October 19 last year (Game 3 of the ALCS), as the Yankees were taking on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the Western Hemisphere of the Planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. His sole appearance in a major league game on October 19 came during Game 1 of the 2002 World Series, as a member of the then one-named Anaheim Angels, when he came in as a ninth inning defensive replacement for his brother, Bengie.

Perhaps Jose Molina is adopted, as he has not delivered a crushing blow to a New York team on October 19, which is the biggest national holiday in Molinaville.

Bengie Molina celebrates not being the fattest man in baseball, a title held by the man in the Yankee dugout, C(onstantly) C(hewing) Sabathia.

Regardless, Bengie Molina can now say he is a true Molina, as he joined Yadier in delivering series-changing home runs against a New York team on the 19th of October.

Reggie Jackson might have had a candy bar named after him and might have made the Hall of Fame despite holding the major league record for career strikeouts, but his legacy was cemented by his repeated post-season heroics, earning him the nickname "Mr. October".

In addition to sharing a last name, Yadier and Bengie Molina can now share the "Mr. October 19" moniker. Move over, Reggie Jackson. There's a whole family coming after you.

How Will Frankie Knuckles Feed His Children?

Frankie Knuckles (the closer formerly known as Francisco Rodriguez) settled his grievance with the Mets earlier today. In doing so, the rest of Frankie's contract will remain guaranteed, but the Mets will not have to pay him the $3,142,076 that he would have earned from August 11 (the date of the "alleged" beatdown he laid on his never-to-be father-in-law) until the end of the season.

A remorseful K-Rod once again apologized for the incident and acknowledged that his fisticuffs led to the thumb injury that put him on the disabled list.

Frankie is due to earn $11.5 million next season. The Mets also hold a $17.5 million option for 2012, with a $3.5 million buyout. Of course, that all depends on whether Frankie is wearing a Mets uniform or an orange jumpsuit, although the Daily News is reporting that the two sides in the criminal case against K-Rod are discussing a settlement.

Regardless of what happens in this case, this much is certain. Frankie Knuckles is out $3.1 million for this season. He will also either lose his freedom or be forced to hand over a large chunk of change to the grandfather of his children. That's a lot of green that the man in red sunglasses will have to give up.

Perhaps he should talk to former Knicks All-Star Latrell Sprewell. They seem to have quite a bit in common.

On December 1, 1997, Sprewell was also involved in an at-the-workplace altercation when he choked his coach, P.J. Carlesimo, during a practice session with the Golden State Warriors (his team at the time). The Warriors tried to void the rest of his contract, but an arbitrator disallowed the action. The NBA did suspend Sprewell for the remainder of the season, which amounted to 68 games.

Sprewell was later traded to the Knicks, where he played from 1999-2003. After the Knicks traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2003, Sprewell went on to help the Timberwolves reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history, where they eventually fell to the Lakers.

Of course, when the Timberwolves attempted to give a three-year, $21 million contract extension to Sprewell, he was not at all pleased with the "small amount of money" being offered to him, famously proclaiming to the media that he had a family to feed.

Sprewell's NBA career ended in 2005 when he played his last game for the Timberwolves. Since then, Sprewell has been involved in numerous lawsuits and his homes in Milwaukee and Westchester County have been foreclosed.

For Sprewell, it all started with one act of violence. Then everything spiraled out of control and he now leads a ruined life full of financial trouble.

Frankie Knuckles can still get his life and career back together. Today's statement of regret and promise to turn his life around must be more than just words to get back on the good graces of the media, the Mets and their fans.

If Frankie can't carry out the promise he made today, then he can forget about feeding his children. He'll have a hard enough time figuring out how to feed himself with all the problems that will rain down upon him.

If he can keep his hands on the baseball and not on the faces of family members, then perhaps there is hope for the man we call Frankie Knuckles. Unfortunately, for some athletes, that's easier said than done.

Joey's Soapbox: LCS Picks That Appeal To All New York Sports Fans

Hello, everybody! I'm your sometimes prognosticator and always big masticator, Joey Beartran. Now that we've advanced to the American League and National League Championship Series, it's time for some new predictions.

I didn't do too well when I made my Division Series predictions last week, picking only one winner (San Francisco) correctly out of the four series. However, I'm not disappointed about it. After all, Oliver Perez can't even throw one strike every four pitches, so as long as I'm more effective than El Perez-idente, I know I can continue to be Studious Metsimus' resident baseball psychic.

So why is the title of the blog "LCS Picks That Appeal To All New York Sports Fans"? Read my predictions and you'll see exactly what I mean.

American League Championship Series

New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers

The Yankees have never lost to the Texas Rangers in the playoffs, defeating them in the ALDS in 1996, 1998 and 1999. Over those three seasons, both teams had explosive offenses, but the Rangers did not have the pitching to contain the Yankees' high-powered bats, finishing the regular season with ERAs of 4.65 in 1996, 4.99 in 1998 and 5.07 in 1999.

This year is another story, as the Rangers finished the regular season with a team ERA of 3.93. It was the first time since 1990 that the Rangers kept their ERA under 4.00, when Bobby Valentine was their manager.

Note: To this day, Valentine remains the Rangers' all-time leader in managerial wins, in addition to his second-place standing on the Mets' all-time ranks.

The previous Ranger teams that were disposed by the Yankees could not compete with their softball league pitching staff. This year's team has a legitimate ace in Cliff Lee, who sports a perfect 6-0 postseason record and a sparkling 1.44 ERA in seven career playoff starts. In addition, he was undefeated in three starts against the Yankees this year, including a complete game victory on June 29, when he was a member of the lowly Seattle Mariners.

Lee isn't the only Ranger starter who pitched well in 2010, as C.J. Wilson (15-8, 3.35 ERA) and Tommy Hunter (13-4, 3.73 ERA) also excelled during the regular season.

Consider this. If the series goes seven games, the Rangers will get two starts from Cliff Lee and one start against A.J. Burnett. That looks like three victories there. Also, one cannot expect that the tandem of Wilson and Hunter, who combined to go 28-12 this season, will go winless during the series.

The Yankees might have had the Rangers' number in previous postseason meetings, but this time Texas is armed and ready for them. It'll be a hard-fought series, but Cliff Lee in Game 7 (against a Yankee starter NOT named C(onstantly) C(hewing) Sabathia) will be the difference.

Rangers in 7.


National League Championship Series

San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies may have the odds-on favorite to win this year's Cy Young Award in Roy Halladay, but the Giants have the pitcher who's won each of the last two Cy Young Awards in Tim "No, I Was Not In Dazed And Confused" Lincecum. Therefore, even a no-hitter by Halladay might not be enough against the Giants, who boast one of the best and most complete pitching staffs in baseball in Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan "I Threw A No-Hitter Before Halladay Did" Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner.

The difference in this series will come down to two things - who scores first and who has the better bullpen.

The Phillies and Giants had the two best records in the major leagues when they scored the first run of the game, with the Phillies going 64-13 and the Giants finishing 63-19 in games where they put up the first run. Since runs may be few and far in between, the team who scores the first run might be the team who scores the only run.

So once the starters come out of the game, it'll be up to the bullpens to keep the runs off the board. That's where the teams differ. The Phillies have Ryan Madson (6-2, 2.55 ERA) and Brad Lidge (27 saves, 2.99 ERA), but none of their other relievers posted an ERA under 3.34, and that ERA was claimed by 99-year-old Jose Contreras, who once chose Jackie Robinson as his idol because "he hit his changeup better than anyone else could".

The Giants, on the other hand, can trot out four excellent relievers. Ramon Ramirez gave up a two-run HR to leading NL MVP candidate Joey Votto on August 25. Those were the only earned runs he gave up as a San Francisco Giant. His 0.67 ERA in 25 appearances led the bullpen, but the three-headed monster of Sergio Romo (2.18 ERA, 0.97 WHIP), Santiago Casilla (1.95 ERA in 52 appearances) and closer Brian Wilson (1.81 ERA and a major league leading 48 saves) aren't too far behind.

The Phillies may have a number of weapons on offense, but the old baseball adage of good pitching defeats good hitting will determine the series. The Phillies have excellent starting pitching, but the Giants have outstanding pitching both in their starting rotation and in their bullpen.

Philadelphia will not become the first National League team since the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals to three-peat as pennant winners. They will leave their pennant in San Francisco.

Giants in 6.


So let's get back to why these picks will appeal to all New York sports fans. Clearly, if you're reading this, you're more than likely a Mets fan or a confused person who's wondering how on Earth you got to a site where a bear is making baseball predictions. Let's assume you're the former and not the latter.

No Mets fan is going to want another Doomsday Series in which the despised Phillies play the hated Yankees. Those Mets fans have probably turned off baseball for the season and have now moved to football and hockey. Perhaps the football fans root for the New York Giants. Maybe the hockey fans root for the New York Rangers.

Therefore, for those Mets fans, you can take comfort that this year's World Series will feature your Giants and your Rangers.



Say it with me. Let's Go Giants! Let's Go Rangers!

Maybe this won't be such a bad postseason after all.

When The SUMMER Is Gone, MY FAMILY Will Remain

See the glowing Mets fan to the left? That's no David Wright fangirl. That's the Coop, writer extraordinaire. For the past three years, she has shared her thoughts on the Mets and everything associated with the team on My Summer Family, one of the most unique and respected Mets sites around.

However, it has come to our attention that the Coop has retired My Summer Family, as announced in her most recent work, "Roll Call 2010: A Very Special Post".

The Studious Metsimus staff could only think of one word that could describe our feelings accurately regarding this surprise retirement, and that word is...

Sigh...

My Summer Family was always one of the first places we would turn to for thought-provoking, insightful and entertaining pieces on the Mets. Where else could we be told to "just forfeit" to avoid suffering from "Post-Traumatic Mets Disorder"?

The Coop was never afraid to tell it like it is, even if it involved using language that only soon-to-be Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven would love.

There has been an overwhelming display of love and support for the Coop from the blogging community. From Joe D at Mets Merized Online to Greg Prince at Faith and Fear in Flushing, there has been no shortage of respectful goodbyes for the writer known to the Studious Metsimus staff as "The Better Half".

Wait. The Better Half? What, you didn't know? That's right. The Coop and I have taken the plunge and tied the knot in an Amazin' Met-rimony.

For those of you who don't understand my not-so-cryptic previous paragraph, I'll come right out and say it. WE'RE MARRIED, Y'ALL!!

Although our wedding day was on Cinco De Mayo (which celebrates the Mexican Army's victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862), there was one particular Mexican-born pitcher who was not invited to the day's festivities. Sorry, Ollie.

So the My Summer Family era has come to an end. But don't worry. Although you won't see the My Summer Family blog anymore, the Coop will find a way to make her presence felt. Whether it be applying for the still-vacant Mets' GM position (COOP FOR GM!!) or trying to arrange the latest Citi Field Sit Out, her unique perspective will always be at the forefront of any discussion on the state of the Mets. If you build it, Coop will come.

Ted Williams retired after hitting a home run in his final turn at bat. So did Todd Zeile. There's now a threesome in that department (Señor Solly and Bert Blyleven would certainly approve of that statement), as My Summer Family is going out on top.

Retirement is never easy. Just ask Mike Schmidt. (see video below)

Congratulations to an excellent writer, a passionate Mets fan and the most incredible and loving wife in the world. I'll try my best to continue what you began at My Summer Family here at Studious Metsimus, but I know I'll never compare to you.

You have been my inspiration, my muse and my reason to continue writing about anything that pops into my head regarding the Mets. The sun has set on My Summer Family, but it will never set on us. I love you and wish you the best wherever that takes you. Just promise to take me along for the ride.

Win Some, Lose Some, Draw None

It has been well-documented that attendance at Citi Field suffered a significant drop-off from its inaugural season in 2009 to the just-completed 2010 season. Last year, a total of 3,168,571 tickets were sold to Mets home games. That number dropped to 2,559,738 in 2010.

The significant drop-off in home attendance can be attributed to numerous things, such as the luster of the new ballpark wearing off and the team's second consecutive losing season.

The new ballpark might have been enough to attract fans in 2009, but a good product on the field is what usually keeps fans in the seats. The Mets were not able to give the fans a good product on the field, so they didn't show up as often as they did in 2009, averaging only 32,401 fans per game in 2010.

Fair enough. The home fans had no desire to invest their time and money on a team that couldn't compete for a post-season spot. So how do you explain what happened to attendance figures once the Mets went on the road?

Believe it or not, out of the sixteen teams in the National League, the Mets finished dead last in road attendance. That's right, my friends. The Mets drew fewer fans on the road than the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'll give you a moment to take that in...

...moment's up. The Mets drew an average of 29,318 fans per road game, slightly lower than the Washington Nationals' average of 29,664. No team in the National League brought fewer people to the ballpark on the road than the New York Mets. (By contrast, the New York Yankees led the major leagues in road attendance with an average of 34,939 fans per game.)

So what could possibly be the reason for the lack of interest in Mets road games? There may be a few.

The Mets don't have the marquee name that fans in other cities want to see. The Nationals, despite their last-place finish in the NL East, had phenom Stephen Strasburg on the mound for 12 starts, five of which were on the road. The following numbers are the attendance figures for Strasburg's five road games, followed by the average home attendance figures per game at that particular venue:

• June 13 @Cle: 32,876 (17,385)
• June 28 @Atl: 42,889 (30,989)
• July 16 @Fla: 27,037 (18,825)
• July 21 @Cin: 37,868 (25,438)
• Aug. 21 @Phi: 45,266 (45,027)

The average attendance for those five Strasburg road games was 37,133, which was 7,469 more than for an average Washington Nationals road game. Other than the road game in Philadelphia, which normally sells out all home games regardless of the opponent, the other four teams saw significant increases in their attendance in games that were started by Stephen Strasburg.

Who do the Mets have that fans in other cities want to see? Johan Santana? David Wright? Jose Reyes? Although they're all good players, they no longer have the superstar label attached to them. Fans don't stop what they're doing to see Johan throw another change-up and they don't rush back from the concession stands whenever Wright or Reyes step up to the plate.

The Mets haven't had a must-see, get back in your seat-type player since the early days of Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. Until they bring up a can't miss phenom (something they don't currently have in their minor league system) or sign/trade for a potential Hall-of-Famer in the prime of his career, the Mets won't be appealing to fans on the road, especially if they continue to be a mediocre team. This brings me to the other reason.

The Mets are just not interesting enough for fans in other cities to come watch them play. Among the leaders in road attendance in 2010 were the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, Giants, Rockies and Braves, all of whom either made the post-season or contended for a playoff berth. Two non-contending teams (Dodgers and Cubs) finished in the top five in road attendance, but those teams have huge followings nationwide and will draw fans on the road regardless of their won-loss record.

Teams like the Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox can boast recent success and teams like the Cubs, Dodgers and Giants have the history that attracts fans to the gates. The Mets can't claim either recent success or the long-term history that the other teams can.

Let's say the Mets are playing at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. A Pirates fan doesn't have much to root for on his/her own team, so he/she might choose to attend a Bucs game depending on the opponent.


If you were a Pirates fan, who would you rather pay to see? The perennial contenders from St. Louis, featuring the most complete hitter in the game, Albert Pujols? The cross-state rivals from Philadelphia, who have All-Stars wherever you look? The westerners from San Francisco, who can give you a Cy Young-caliber performance from Tim Lincecum and others? Or the New York Mets?

More than likely, that fan would choose any of the other teams listed above before choosing to see the Mets, especially if he or she is there to see players not dressed in Pirates uniforms.

Mets fans in New York are not going to come out to Citi Field in droves until management can put a competitive team on the field that will be playing meaningful games well into September and perhaps October. Similarly, if the Mets don't give fans in other cities a good enough reason to come out to the ballpark other than the promise of mediocrity and good, but not great players, empty seats will continue to follow them wherever they go.

Looks like the only place the Mets are making themselves at home is at the bottom of the road attendance figures.

What If Roy Halladay Had Been Traded To The Mets?

In Game 1 of the National League Division Series, played Wednesday between Philadelphia and Cincinnati at Citizens Bank Park, Roy Halladay did what no other National League pitcher had ever accomplished in a postseason game. He held the opposition hitless. The masterful 104-pitch performance helped the Phillies take a 1-0 series lead over the Reds.

The former (and perhaps soon-to-be) Cy Young Award winner had pitched for the Blue Jays from 1998-2009 without ever sniffing the playoffs. If he had any butterflies churning in his stomach before his first postseason start for the Phillies on Wednesday, they certainly did nothing to prevent him from making history.

Ever since the Phillies acquired him via a trade with Toronto, Halladay has been nothing short of brilliant. He led the league with 21 victories in his first National League season and pitched a perfect game against the Florida Marlins in May.

But what if Omar Minaya had swung a deal with the Blue Jays to acquire Halladay before the Phillies did? Would it have been the Mets playing in October and not the Phillies? A quick look at Mets history should provide us with the answer.


Had Omar Minaya acquired Halladay, the bearded righty would have succumbed to an injury in May. Needing his leadership on the mound, the Mets would have rushed him back to the rotation (especially since the longer he stayed out of the rotation, the better chance that Jerry Manuel would have given Oliver Perez another chance to start). That would have led to a period of ineffective starts, which would have also included key losses to the Phillies and Braves.

Once Halladay righted his ship, Dead Manuel Walking would have tried to save his pitcher from overexerting himself by removing him from games after a number of seven-inning, 90-pitch efforts. Since the Mets never had quite the firepower found in the Phillies' offense, Halladay would have found himself leaving games with small leads that Frankie Kunckles would eventually give up.

Therefore, had Halladay been a Met, he still would have had a good season, but he would have led the league in no-decisions. He also would never have pitched a no-hitter or perfect game because signing with the Mets automatically prevents any pitcher from ever throwing one.

Perhaps it's for the better that Omar Minaya didn't trade for Roy Halladay. For one thing, we might never have seen R.A. Dickey become the quality starter he became. (You can ignore the fact that Dickey lost his only head-to-head matchup against Halladay at Citizens Bank Park on August 8). Also, it is a well-known fact that bearded players don't do well in blue and orange. Just ask Jeff Reardon.

Face it, Mets fans. Roy Halladay was never going to become a Met. Neither was Cliff Lee last season at the trade deadline. Neither was Roy Oswalt at this year's trade deadline. They all went to the Phillies because our now ex-general manager didn't have the clout he thought he once had.

Five years ago, Omar Minaya could just show up at any star player's door and say "if you can live with the fact that I say 'that being said' every other sentence, then I can give you more years and more money than anyone else is willing to give you." Now, players stay away from Flushing like if it had blue and orange cooties.

Jason Bay came to New York last year because no one else was willing to give him the exorbitant deal the Mets gave him, not because of Omar Minaya. The bottom line is that Omar Minaya couldn't give players what Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro Jr. could, and that was the promise that his team would be successful.

The Phillies have become one of the best teams in recent memory, while the Mets have become the team no one wants to play for. Roy Halladay is lucky the Phillies traded for him. Had he been a Met, he'd be trying to leave through the same door that Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel used on Monday.

San Francisco Owes A Giant Thank You To The Mets

Leapin' lizards! For the first time since Barry Bonds left his syringe in San Francisco, the Giants are champions of the National League West. They won their first division title since 2003 (and only their sixth NL West title overall) by defeating the San Diego Padres on the final day of the regular season, capping a tremendous second half that saw them rise from mediocrity to the top of the division.

At the midway point of the season, the Giants were 41-40 and were a season high 7½ games behind the Padres. They were also 4½ games out of the wild card lead, with five teams ahead of them.

The final week before the All-Star Break saw the Giants playing the lowly Brewers and Nationals. They took both series to inch closer in the wild card race, but were still in fourth place in the NL West, with the Padres, Dodgers and Rockies ahead of them. Enter the New York Mets.

The Mets played better than expected in the first half of the season. At the All-Star Break, they were 48-40, which put them a game ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the wild card race. The two teams then played each other in the first series after the break. Everything changed after that series was completed.

The Giants took the first three games of the four-game series at AT&T Park, shutting out the Mets in the first two contests. In fact, the Mets were held scoreless by Giants pitchers for the first 24 innings of the series. The Mets did manage to salvage the final game of the series, but even then, they needed a blown call by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi to win it.

Cuzzi called Giants' pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa out at home when replays showed that the tag by Henry Blanco was late. The gaffe prevented what would have been the winning run from scoring in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Mets went on to win the game in ten innings.

The series with the Mets was the beginning of a stretch where the Giants won 15 out of 19 games to move into the wild card lead. The hot streak also moved them to within one game of the Padres for the division lead.

As Mets fans all know, the trip to San Francisco was the beginning of a 2-9 road trip that saw the Mets get swept in Arizona, followed by three losses in four games in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Giants won two out of three in Los Angeles and followed that up with a four-game sweep in Arizona. The Mets never got close to the Giants again.

The series with the Mets seemed to awaken the Giants' pitchers, who were already among the best in the National League prior to the All-Star Break. Consider these first half versus second half numbers for the Giants' starting rotation and bullpen.

• Starting Pitchers (before break): 34-30, 3.65 ERA, 1.29 WHIP
• Starting Pitchers (after break): 27-25, 3.39 ERA, 1.21 WHIP

• Relief Pitchers (before break): 13-11, 3.17 ERA, 1.47 WHIP
• Relief Pitchers (after break): 18-4, 2.78 ERA, 1.12 WHIP

The starters showed a nice improvement in the ERA and WHIP department, but the bullpen took things to another level. They were nearly unhittable in the second half, led by closer Brian Wilson, who led the National League in saves and finished with a career-best 1.81 ERA and 1.18 WHIP.

Pitching wins championships and the Giants have plenty of pitching. The top four pitchers in the Giants' rotation (Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner) all had ERAs of 3.40 or less. No other staff in baseball can lay claim to four starters with ERAs as low as the Giants' quartet. In fact, Lincecum, who is the staff ace and the winner of the last two National League Cy Young Awards, is the starter with the 3.40 ERA. (However, he is the only one of the foursome who can claim to being the love child of Jennifer Aniston and Mitch from "Dazed and Confused".)


The Phillies might look like the team to beat in the National League, especially after today's no-hitter by Roy Halladay, but Halladay can't pitch every game. The Giants have four quality starters, all of whom are capable of keeping their opponents to a low hit total. (Like Halladay, Jonathan Sanchez can also claim a no-hitter on his résumé.)

Watch out, Atlanta. Don't start selling World Series tickets yet, Phillies. The Giants are red hot and their pitchers are leading the way. They took off once the Mets came into town and have never looked back. Therefore, on behalf of the Mets, I have two words to say to the Giants.

You're welcome.

Joey's Soapbox: My Very Biased Division Series Picks

The 2010 season has mercifully come to an end for the Mets. For the fourth consecutive season, the boys in orange and blue (and sometimes black and sometimes those cream colored uniforms that I wanted but spent my money on chicken nachos instead) failed to make the playoffs.

That's now 42 out of 49 seasons with no postseason baseball to look forward to. So what's a bear to do when there's still baseball, but no Mets?

In honor of the Mets finishing with their second consecutive losing record, I'm proud to share my very biased predictions on who will LOSE each playoff series in the Division Series round. Why pick the winners when I'd much rather pick the losers? And away we go...

American League Division Series

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins

The Yankees have faced the Twins three times in the postseason (2003, 2004, 2009), winning all three times. However, the Twins did not have home-field advantage against the Yankees in either of those series. They will this year, which is to their advantage as their 53-28 record in their home ballpark was the best in the American League.

The Yankees will employ a three-man rotation against the Twins, led by C(onstantly) C(hewing) Sabathia. The hefty lefty lost seven games this season, but five of those losses came on the road. The pivotal Game 1 is at Target Field.

Although the Yankees hit .297 against Minnesota this year, their on-base percentage was only .329. Compare that to the Twins, who only hit .262 against Yankee pitching, but managed a .339 on-base percentage.

One more thing. The Yankees are the wild card team this year. The previous three times they made the playoffs as a second place team (1995, 1997, 2007), they were ousted in the first round. Therefore, the Yankees will lose this series in five games.


Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays

This one is quite simple. The Tampa Bay Rays are the beasts of the East. The Texas Rangers are the only franchise in baseball that has never won a playoff series.

From their inaugural season in 1961 as the expansion Washington Senators (a team that had a certain Mr. Gilbert Raymond Hodges as their manager from 1963 to 1967) to their current incarnation as Nolan Ryan's team, the Rangers have only appeared in the postseason three times, losing in 1996, 1998 and 1999 to the New York Yankees. In fact, the franchise has won a total of one playoff game in its fifty seasons.

The Rangers will finally get their second postseason victory, but will eventually lose the series to the Rays in four games.


National League Division Series

Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Let the photo below give you my prediction for me.


The Phillies will lose the series to the Reds in five games, causing all their fans to vomit on each other in disgust.


Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants

When the Braves made the postseason every season from 1991-2005 (a streak snapped by the Mets in 2006), they made it as the division champion every year. 2010 marks the first time the Braves have entered the playoffs as a wild card winner.

The Giants were actually behind the Mets in the wild card standings at the All-Star Break. Then they took three out of four from New York in the series that changed the seasons for both teams. San Francisco hasn't stopped winning since, taking their first NL West title since Art Howe was the manager of the Mets.

Bobby Cox will end his career getting ejected from the game in which the Braves are eliminated from the postseason. Atlanta will be swept by San Francisco.


So it looks like we'll have a Twins-Rays ALCS and a Reds-Giants NLCS. The small market teams with the sub-$100 million payrolls will be popping champagne corks come this time next week. Let's just hope they have room in their budgets for that bubbly.

Please join me next week when we see that my opinions were not only very biased, but they were also correct. I'll have my League Championship Series predictions ready for you at that time, and oh yes...they will be biased.

It's The End of Their World As They Know It (And We Feel Fine)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled day of blog reading to give you breaking news that's already been broken. Omar Minaya has been relieved of his GM duties and Jerry Manuel's option for the 2011 season was not picked up.

Of course, this wasn't even breaking news before it became official. It was a foregone conclusion that the man famous for inserting the words "that being said" into every other sentence and the man known as Dead Manuel Walking were not going to retain their positions after the completion of the 2010 season.

The team had underachieved since the end of the 2006 season. The players were performing below expectations and if there was camaraderie between the players, it wasn't as evident as it should be with winning teams.

It is the general manager's job to put the team together and the manager's job to get them to perform between the white lines.

Omar did his best to put Los Mets together. That being said, that also included offering contracts that were far too long to the ostracized Oliver "El Perez-idente" Perez and Luis "Squeam Queen" Castillo. Other players that were signed for more years than they should have been were Orlando "The Dookie" Hernandez, Pedro "I Left My Fastball In Beantown" Martinez and Carlos Beltran (sorry, we like Don Carlos, so we won't give him a demeaning nickname). He also traded for fan-favorite, but now increasingly fragile Johan Santana.

Jerry Manuel was forced to manage an oft-injured group of ragtag players, a job that most managers would have difficulty doing, although a fellow Manuel (Charlie) had no problem doing that when his star players were dropping faster than Citi Field's paid attendance figures.

Part of Charlie Manuel's success with being able to survive his club's injuries was that his GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., was able to provide him with the right players to fill in the holes left by the disabled players.

When Rip Van Winkle (Jamie Moyer) went down with an injury, Amaro swung a deal with the Astros for Roy Oswalt. All four infielders for the Phillies (Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco) were also hurt at some point of the season. Amaro made sure each player had better than adequate replacements in Ross Gload, Ben Francisco and Wilson Valdez. Those three players combined to hit .266 (170-for-640), which was higher than the team's collective batting average (.260). In those 640 at-bats, which are about the same amount an everyday player would collect over a full season, the trio collected 37 doubles, three triples, 16 HR and 85 RBI, while scoring 77 runs and going a perfect 16-for-16 in stolen bases. They also excelled defensively, combining to make a total of four errors in 569 total chances.

While the Phillies didn't miss a beat when one of their star players got hurt, what did Omar Minaya give us? Either not yet ready for prime time players (Ruben Tejada, Jesus Feliciano, Lucas Duda) or the curious case of Joaquin Arias, who, like Benjamin Button, seemed to age backwards as seen by the photos below.



A general manager is the head talent evaluator. His job is to put together the best team possible so that his manager can put the best possible lineup on the field. Unfortunately for Jerry Manuel, the best team possible was never THE BEST TEAM. There were 25 guys, or 23½ as suggested by The Better Half in her recent post for Mets Merized Online, but these guys were never a team. Ruben Amaro has put together a team of guys in Philadelphia, not guys who were part of a team, like Omar Minaya put together in New York.

The new general manager has to realize that teams win games. He has to give the manager not just the best individual players, but the guys who stand the best chance to become a cohesive unit that can all contribute to winning ballgames. Twenty-five individuals don't lead teams to championships, but one team of players can do that.

Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel had early success with the Mets because they had a team of guys. Over the past few years, that team dissolved into a group of guys whose only common trait was the shirts on their backs. The formula is simple: Have team, will win. If the new general manager can't get the new manager a team of guys to work with, then they stand a good chance of being shown the same door that Omar and Jerry were last seen walking through.