The Word of the Weekend

sinister (sin'i-ster) adj. 1. Suggesting or threatening evil; a sinister smile. 2. Presaging trouble; ominous; sinister storm clouds. 3. Attended by or causing disaster or inauspicious circumstances. 4. On the left side; left. [Middle English sinistre, unfavorable, from Old French, from Latin sinister, on the left, unlucky.]
On the night of August 24 I became the proud possessor of a ticket for Monday night, Sept. 18 — Mets vs. Marlins. Given our magic number of 22, one had to wonder: Could that be a Wonkaesque golden ticket, a mezzanine-row seat for the first clinching in 18 years? Seemed possible. But then our magic number hurtled toward zero, and that ticket lost its maybehood and eventually took on Just Another Game status, not that there's anything remotely wrong with that. Unless, of course, something went wrong.
Cue Pittsburgh, where something did indeed go wrong.
The fact that our clinching was delayed by X number of days won't matter much at all — the sight of a gaggle of leaping, shouting, champagne-spraying Mets will blast Gorzelanny and Duke and Maholm right out of our collective conscious. Heck, if anything we've taken mild solace in the fact that the same thing happened to the mighty '86 team. A good sign: The once-maligned back end of the rotation stood strong — El Duque was masterful, and John Maine quietly pitched a very good game, avoiding gopher balls despite not having his best stuff. (Pedro…well, something tells me he'll answer the bell when it matters. It doesn't quite yet.)
The Pirates won a moral victory? Good for them. We had to go home to clinch? Fine. (And possibly good for me and Greg.) None of that worries me. What does worry me is our sudden inability against lefties. Because games are running short, and it's awfully late to be cavalier about October problems. (Fortunately, when it comes to lefties the potential playoff team that's most worrisome is the Phils, with Wolf, Moyer and Hamels. We can't see them until the NLCS. Though if we do….)
OK. Deep breath. Going to be positive. Everything's gonna be fine. So, any pointers for sneaking a bottle of bubbly into Shea? Because repeat after me: Brian Moehler is right-handed. Brian Moehler is right-handed. Brian Moehler is right-handed….